Board & CEO Services

It's where the buck stops and transformation begins

Our board and CEO consultants know what it takes to lead

The growing influence leaders have on industry and society is driving real change in what it takes to be successful in the boardroom. CEOs and company directors face new challenges and pressures unheard of by their predecessors. Today’s most successful enterprises have leaders that can simultaneously transform the business while driving performance. They welcome innovation and change. They’re digitally minded. They’re optimistic and proactive. And, they’re inclusive—they recognize the value of diverse perspectives and actively seek them out.

We’ve helped thousands of organizations recruit and develop their leaders. Our clients trust our board and CEO consultants because we know what it takes to lead. We work with you to build diverse boards and optimize the expertise and voices of all directors into a cohesive and high performing team. And we help you assess, develop and plan for the skills needed in the CEO role. We help you build an effective bench of talent ready to strengthen your organization from the inside out.

The result? A high performing senior team and a leadership pipeline that ensures your board and CEO are future focused and ready for whatever lies ahead.

How we can help

For over 50 years, we’ve guided organizations through critical leadership development processes, from board and CEO selection, to evaluation, transition and succession. We draw on proprietary data and insights—including the world’s largest normative CEO database—to build a picture of the leader you need now and in the future. Our consultants offer you access to the world’s most extensive network of ready now board talent across all sectors and functions. And we have world-class assessment and development programs to help you make your company’s most important decision: choosing your next leaders.

Let us help you evaluate your current board and executive talent and create a plan that prepares you to succeed in an uncertain tomorrow.

Ensure your board is effective and future-focused

It’s no coincidence that high-performing companies and high-performing boards often go hand in hand. But what leads to stellar board performance? Highly effective boards have the right people, structure, oversight, culture and values. But it’s hard to get it right in all of these areas. That’s why boards turn to us for help.

We provide an opportunity for your board members (under the leadership of the chair) to reflect in a confidential and neutral setting on their expectations, contributions and impact, as well as talk openly about issues, concerns and ideas on ways to improve how the board operates. Specially we work with you to:

Improve your strategic alignment, ensuring that board members are aligned with each other and with executive leadership on the organization’s strategy and the role the board should play
Define the board’s future composition and structure, making sure that it is able to support the organization’s strategy and market trends.
Build an inclusive board culture within the team and improve board effectiveness
Make sure that all board members contribute to their full potential through development opportunities and constructive feedback loops

Build a board succession plan

Failing to plan for the future of your board is planning to fail—especially since 21% of all public board members are over 70 and nearing the mandatory retirement age. Few events carry greater risk to shareholder value than a sudden, unexpected change of leadership. Boards that take a strategic approach to succession planning are prepared to meet future challenges without disruption. We help you:

Conduct a gap analysis, reviewing the company’s vision and strategy, determining the skills and experiences needed to support it and building a matrix of current director skills.
Build future focused success profiles that fit into a holistic view of the complete board. These profiles identify the perspectives, mindsets and experiences board members will need and benchmarks these against a selected peer group
Develop an appropriate timeline for board refreshment
Identify and attract future board members that match the success profile, are a fit within the culture and strategy, and also have a diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences to enrich the board

Find the right directors for your board

A future-focused board is a powerful strategic asset. There is no room for error in the selection of directors. Our consultants have the world’s largest network of ready now board talent across all sectors and functions. And our process is designed to leave as little to chance as possible. We help you build the gold standard of boards:

Discover the competencies, thinking styles and interpersonal skills that fit your culture, strategy and governance structure, and will add value continuously.
Consider the collective board profile so each director is considered in the context of the whole board and how they will advance the future strategy of the company as a cohesive group. Each appointment we work on brings thoughtful analysis to meet long-term strategic objectives
Balance experience and perspectives. Diversity encompasses the full range of human differences and plays a critical role in robust board discussions and debates. We consider the perspectives directors bring alongside the skills and experience they need to keep in mind when assessing future directors and building the new board
Evaluate candidates using assessments, interviews, and references focusing on the four dimensions of talent — competencies, traits, drivers and experiences — proven to be highly predictive of performance, engagement and leadership effectiveness

Build a pipeline of future CEOs

In order for CEOs to be able to drive performance while simultaneously transforming their organization, they need to transcend the boundaries and interests of their experience, geography and organization. However, the transition from executive to CEO leadership doesn’t happen overnight. It requires you to move from succession planning to ongoing progression planning. We can help you:

Develop a future-focused, inclusive CEO Success Profile, anchored in your company’s strategic priorities and cultural values, that highlights the skill set and mindset that your next CEO needs
Identify potential, readiness and development needs of successors using multiple assessment methods. We produce powerful insights for the board, enabling them to make confident decisions about their next CEO while also providing development plans for those in the CEO pipeline
Accelerating readiness for a CEO role experience alone is not enough to prepare a potential CEO for the top role. Our differentiated approach to CEO development adds in-depth reflection and exploration, feedback from key constituents, and hands-on work with a team of senior advisors who are selected for their expertise in CEO development and onboarding

Select and transition a new CEO

Today’s CEO looks very different from CEOs of the past. Before, CEOs only had to improve performance as they ran the business. Today, CEOs must drive performance while transforming their organization, enabling it to win tomorrow. And they need to lead beyond their organization to influence society as a whole. We help you find the right leaders who have the right skills and competencies to thrive through disruption, are motivated by your purpose and strategy and fit with your culture. We work with you to:

Identify both the skillset and the mindset that your candidates need to succeed, by using the world’s largest normative CEO database and our data-driven Success Profiles to show you what good looks like
Identify potential leaders and predict candidate performance by using our market-leading assessments, so your board can make confident decisions
Attract and recruit external candidates, if the right leaders aren’t already in your business. Our executive recruiters’ have a global reach, vast database of executives and large network of Korn Ferry relationships to support you
Advise you on competitive pay and rewards packages to entice top executive talent using our Executive Snapshot process, which embeds job grade, description and salary benchmarking
Facilitate the transition into the CEO role, whether your new CEO is an internal successor or external candidate. We help them develop their 100-day plan and forging the close partnerships they need with the board, senior team and other leaders