Building leadership
Egon Zehnder chairman Damien O'Brien explains how his firm is leading the search for leadership talent in a changed world as a 'global, equal partnership'.
IN JUNE 1964, a 34-year-old Swiss named Egon Zehnder founded Europe's first executive search firm. Named after him, the firm went on to redefine its industry by challenging the pre-existing rules of the game. For a start, it refused to define itself as a "headhunter" - a common term for those in executive search; it sought a broader engagement with its clients that went beyond "hunting heads".
It also declined to define itself as a "business". "We refer to our firm, our profession, not to our 'business'," wrote Mr Zehnder to an incoming colleague in 1969, "and we mean it that way, because we put interests of the clients ahead of the interests of our firm".
In a major departure from existing practice, it also decided it would be an "equal, global partnership" in which all partners share equally in the firm's profits, regardless of the performance of individuals or specific offices. In this respect, it still stands apart from its industry peers.
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