Despite my many years of campaigning to establish that my profession is Executive Search, for practical reasons I’ve titled this post using the most common term for what we do.
A blog is a good place to admit that, in over 20 years, I haven’t yet succeeded in getting a single client or candidate to call me an Executive Search Consultant… though I’m still trying.
The origins of this service can be traced back to a natural extension of strategic and management consulting, emerging in the United States. One of the recognized pioneers was Sidney Boyden, who founded the firm that still bears his name in 1946. Sid had worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, where it was said: “Often, the solution to a management problem lies in the person.” BA&H began searching for suitable executives to solve their clients’ challenges, until realizing that charging fees to recommend another service from within the same firm could lead to a conflict of interest. In 1951, Ward Howell founded his own firm after a tenure at McKinsey.
Shortly thereafter, in 1953, also coming from BA&H, Gardner Heidrick persuaded John Struggles to co-found the firm that still bears their name in Chicago. One of their consultants, Spencer Stuart, went on to establish his own firm in 1956. This consulting background led all of these pioneers to establish strong professional and ethical foundations: method, rigor, objectivity — all of which legitimized the work as a specialization within consulting. This would later lead, in 1959, to the founding of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), which today includes 18 Spanish member firms and upholds a widely accepted code of ethics: not presenting the same candidate to multiple clients, not headhunting from client companies, not misrepresenting information during the process, etc.
Coming from audit firm Peat Marwick, Lester Korn and Richard Ferry founded Korn/Ferry in Los Angeles in 1969—the same year Russell Reynolds established his firm in New York, this time from a banking background.
The profession expanded into Europe and became international in the 1960s. Egon Zehnder, a Swiss consultant at Spencer Stuart, founded his own firm in Zurich in 1964. Around the same period, Berndtson began operations. Later, Christopher Mill in London and Leon Farley in California co-founded Penrhyn International in 1979, with EuroGalenus as the Spanish partner. The major international firms began operating in Spain during the 1970s (a topic we’ll save for another time), and in the 1980s and 1990s, executive search consolidated as a global practice.
Any historical overview of the profession would be incomplete without recognizing the foresight of a true visionary: Thorndike Deland. In 1926, this New Yorker realized how difficult it was for companies to fill certain roles. Armed with a pocket full of coins, he launched what would become his firm from a telephone booth, proactively calling candidates. His most important legacy was the creation of the retainer model—charging a fixed fee for the search, along with a commission based on the hired candidate’s salary.
The illustration is from a 1970s Herbie Hancock LP, an important piece in the Jazz Fusion genre.
