Andrew Hill published this Financial Times Companies article on September 13 2026. Tom Monahan, chief executive of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, says headhunters are not simply choosing who is best. They ask who fits a company and team. Geopolitical volatility, political polarisation, economic uncertainty, rapid technological advances, demographic change and supply chain whiplash are making that choice harder. CEO turnover, which reached a record in the past two years, has begun to stabilise, but boards are still updating succession plans amid what Russell Reynolds Associates’ CEO Constantine Alexandrakis calls “the certainty of uncertainty”.

Executives are no longer hired mainly for their record. Boards increasingly want systems thinking, curiosity, adaptability, drive, resilience, social intelligence, self-knowledge and clarity of purpose. Alexandrakis says boards need “catalyst CEOs” who distribute power, build teams and energise organisations.

Aileen Alexander, who heads Philadelphia-based DSG Global, says the pace, intensity and velocity of change have increased. DSG Global, founded as Diversified Search Group in 1974 to help close the gender gap among executives, now stresses critical thinking, decisive action and tech fluency. Gary Burnison of Korn Ferry says the best leaders begin task-focused and action-oriented, then become creative, complex thinkers. Continuous learning is today’s “number one predictor” of leadership success. Boards also seek humility, recognising that prediction is less reliable than before.