by Mark Oppenheim
Real people are being reduced to data points in a way that was never before possible. This has certain negative consequences that should be managed, especially when recruiting CEOs and other c-suite executives.
Resumes are the primary mechanism used to convert a real person into data. The resulting material should be read as a form of professional branding that only includes selected information on that person’s accomplishments and knowledge. A resume doesn’t reveal much about leadership, rarely provides context on how results were delivered, and the information might not be accurate or comprehensive. When resume data is routed through a platform like LinkedIn or Indeed (and people increasingly work this way because it’s so convenient), the data seen by the parties will be shaped and selected based on platform interests.
Trying to find professionals to lead a real org based on resume and online data is like trying to use a search engine to find a stock photo, of a painting, of a sculpture in order to reach conclusions about human anatomy.
We’re the ones who created the illusion that we’re all just data, and we can fix that by coming back into the light of reality. How many of us really know our customers or the practices of businesses we buy from? Do we really know our constituents and our employees? We increasingly get our information from media orgs and social media platforms that encourage our acceptance of THEIR data as a complete representation of reality regardless of whether supplied data is accurate or complete. As a consequence, a certain alienation is beginning to inform our attitudes toward one another. We are becoming more transactional and are losing interpersonal communication skills. We see it in our children and should see it in ourselves. Once we believe that platforms are the only efficient way to communicate, direct phone calls, meetings and in-person work environments become a thing of the past. Our interactions are all through chats, messaging and screen appearances through platforms, with AI summaries telling us (and those platforms) what’s really important about what we just said. Everything is done at a distance.
Employers are subtly encouraged to view their employees and perspective employees as just bundles of interchangeable data. Employees are increasingly encouraged to view employers similarly. Very transactional. No loyalty, no real relationship, no trust. The individual person or org doesn’t really count. That is, until the first day on the job. At that point, reality takes a bite out of the illusion that data is anything more than a thin semblance of, well, reality.
Organizations have real attributes, real objectives, real metrics of success, real workflows, a real culture, real products & services and real people who are served. The individuals we hire have real skills, a real work ethic, real ways of thinking, real experiences, real motivations and real behaviors. Data on resumes and online platforms provide slivers of information, and not necessarily accurate slivers at that. Slivers of data can be copied from someone else’s resume, embellished via AI and shaped by people or machines hired to create various entries and material. Performance statistics can be provided that have no contextual anchor and are therefore meaningless. There can be claims of accomplishments that are not real, or outcomes that are real but were actually delivered by others.
The first day on the job for a new CEO or c-suite exec is when we suddenly realize that the data we saw previously was just an image. The real job – the real employee – is far more complicated. The real person will make our org a success or cause it to weaken.
To know about a person who might be your next CEO, to understand that person’s values, leadership qualities and how they are likely to perform, we must go deep. We must actually delve into how that person thinks. We must follow trails of accomplishment to determine how those accomplishments hang together with workflows. We must understand the views of their colleagues. We must, in fact, get to know the actual person who could “walk into a bar.”
How do you do that?
Well… how do you get to know a person sitting at a bar? Start by talking with that person.
Not just once. Not just in a shallow sense, and not just you. Have others talk with prospects multiple times before even considering them to be candidates for a c-suite position. Talk with them more when they are candidates. If a person is a finalist for a role, have meetings with each finalist personally before selecting one for your open position. Going into those meetings, don’t make the mistake of being pre-sold just by resume data, personality or charisma. Look instead at verified accomplishments and the context in which those accomplishments were delivered. Is that context relevant to you and the objectives you have for the next years?
As you talk with prospects, candidates and finalists, find out what motivates each. Analyse their career segments. Deconstruct their sector and functional knowledge. Listen to their stories about their families and their personal lives. Get a sense of their values. How does the candidate take advice or criticism? How many different challenges has each candidate overcome? Can they interact and work with diverse personalities? How does a particular candidate take apart a problem and solve it? Are there signs that particular candidates are rigid or flexible? How much does each value stability, and do they embrace change? Does the candidate cause drama or avoid conflict? Are candidates job jumpers or do they hold onto one position forever and avoid new environments?
One of the biggest mistakes that smart people make when selecting leaders, is overconfidence in their own ability to get to the bottom of these questions through brief encounters.
While we might all be observant when hiring leaders, we might not be experts in the particular areas that are important to success in a role. Board members, regardless of their own professional accomplishments, might not be particularly well equipped to judge whether a person will deliver outcomes for a museum, a human services org, a performing arts center, an environmental nonprofit, a foundation or advocacy group. A CEO, regardless of their own personal accomplishments, might not be best equipped to judge the technical abilities of CFO or CIO candidates. That’s okay – there are other volunteers and paid experts who can help undertake the analysis. This kind of inquiry is what search firms should orchestrate, although many today find it more profitable and convenient to just function as the human interface pass-through for platform data.
Bottom line – get to know the real people you are considering to be your next CEO or c-suite executive. The resume is useful as an introduction but isn’t enough. Go deep. Get into the weeds. Meet the person multiple times online and in-person. Talk and interact with the actual person who could walk into that bar… or into an office on their first day at work.
Acquiring deep insight into candidates before you hire leaders for your org is so very important. It will make a real difference in the lives of those your nonprofit serves.