Confidential Collaboration

We fill Top Executive Positions

We specialize in filling top executive positions at the first and second management levels, as well as roles on supervisory and advisory boards, through direct search. To achieve this, we approach candidates in a targeted and personal way with specific search mandates.

Throughout the search process, we are deeply committed to addressing the individual needs of our clients and candidates. Instead of offering ready-made solutions, we provide customized project work tailored to each situation. That is why a structured market analysis is the foundation of every search process.

Within a confidential setting, we bring together the right personalities, enabling our clients to gain a comprehensive market overview, refine their strategic perspective, and make well-informed, sustainable decisions.

We ensure high transparency by providing detailed written documentation of the project’s progress and evaluating candidates based on clear and measurable performance criteria.

THE PROCESS

Client Briefing and Specification Development: 

• Client briefing and creation of the position specification

• Analysis of the company profile

• Definition of the position and candidate profiles

Market Analysis:

• Conducting a market analysis

• Establishing the search strategy and target company list

• Market and data research based on client and functional groups, recommendation management

• Structured identification of suitable candidates

Direct Approach:

• Initiating contact via phone or digital channels, assessing suitability and readiness for a career move

Interview by HEADSAHEAD:

• Conducting personal, structured interviews

Preparation of a Confidential Report:

• Analyzing and evaluating professional, intellectual, and personal qualifications

• Consultant’s evaluation

Presentation of Suitable Candidates:

• Personal guidance and moderation of discussions

• Recommendation for decision-making

Reference Checks/Candidate Assessment (Hogan)

Final Candidate Integration:

• Support during contract negotiations

• Guidance and assistance with onboarding

WE FILL SUPERVISORY AND ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER POSITIONS

The quality of work within supervisory and advisory boards is a crucial success factor for the sustainable development of companies. The right appointments to these boards significantly influence their effectiveness. We advise our clients in filling their board positions and identifying the most suitable person.

With our own extensive experience on supervisory and advisory boards, we have the expertise to understand your specific situation and collaboratively define the critical requirements for candidates.

We also engage in ongoing dialogue with highly qualified candidates as a member of the Arbeitskreis deutscher Aufsichtsrat (AdAR).

OUR SERVICES IN THE FIELD OF BOARD CONSULTING

Below you will find an overview of our board consulting services. For detailed information, please click here:

SUCCESSION PLANNING
The Supervisory Board’s foremost and most important task is to select suitable, qualified and experienced members for the Management Board and Supervisory Board and to recruit them for the company. The Supervisory Board must ensure that the members of the Management Board and Supervisory Board have the knowledge, skills and experience required to properly fulfil their duties at all times.

ONBOARDING
The most important objective of a structured onboarding programme is for new members of the Management Board and Supervisory Board to gain an appropriate and rapid understanding of the business strategy, the functioning of the business model, the structure and culture of the company and the associated requirements.

EFFICIENCY REVIEW
Most supervisory boards of listed companies follow the recommendation of the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC) and regularly review their work. But is it just the fulfilment of an unpleasant duty to produce a report on one’s own work, or can the efficiency audit be used as a source of inspiration for improved supervisory board work?

COACHING
The demands on management and supervisory boards, especially their chairmen, are increasing, and their continuous professional development is becoming correspondingly important. In addition, company managers expect both their management board members and the chairman of the supervisory board to adopt an attitude – in an environment that is exposed to many challenges. In practice, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board is the linchpin of successful Supervisory Board work, as he is the only member of the Supervisory Board who is continuously and intensively involved in all important issues by the Management Board, even between meetings. This gives him a considerable information advantage, which implies a special management responsibility.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The Supervisory Board is the central element in the system of corporate control. Its core task is to ensure that the Management Board fulfils its duty of care. Whereas in the past the Supervisory Board mandate was often regarded as a quasi-honourary office, the German Corporate Governance Code now stipulates that every member is obliged to undergo training and further training in all relevant areas of Supervisory Board activity. Regular further training and its implementation in practice are key factors in being able to adapt to new situations and areas of expertise. 

Advising family-owned businesses is our passion. They have shaped our economy for generations, and their success is based on their established corporate culture, value orientation, and high sense of responsibility towards employees and society.

We advise family businesses on the structuring of their corporate governance, corporate succession, and the appointment of non-family management. We also provide support in the targeted contracting and selection of advisory and supervisory board members. It goes without saying that we make sure that the personalities fit in with the corporate culture and contribute to the sustainable success of the family business.

Our consultants have many years of expertise and are often themselves members of supervisory and administrative boards in family businesses. As reliable sparring partners for important business decisions, we bring a professional external view and contribute to decision-making and accuracy. We pay particular attention to the individual interests of the family. The knowledge of the entrepreneur’s personal connection to their company and respect for their special responsibility are the basis for a trusting collaboration.

In our projects, we talk intensively with all parties involved, be it the shareholders’ advisory board, the supervisory board, individual shareholders, or trusted representatives of the shareholders. We reflect the market openly, transparently, and with a sure instinct.

In addition to traditional executive searches, we support family businesses in important questions of strategic corporate management – in fundamental issues, the regulation of corporate governance structures, the management structure, or the design of participation models.

Let us talk about how we can advise you in your Executive Search.

We are experienced partners of private equity companies and know the German market. We build bridges between the interests of investors and medium-sized companies.

In addition to traditional PE funds, we support family offices, especially mid-cap investment companies and wealthy private individuals in the development of their company investments. We advise them on the search for entrepreneurial leaders for their portfolio companies and on the appointment of investment professionals and senior advisors for the advisory board. We have a robust network of auditors, lawyers, investment banks and consultants. We also use our experience to design deal and growth-oriented salary and participation models for management.

We are involved in buy-and-build considerations at an early stage and start the search parallel to the usually exclusive due diligence. We get to know existing shareholders personally and obtain a meaningful picture for a successful search that is also supported by all shareholders. As experts for family businesses and SMEs, we have the special market knowledge and, above all, the necessary understanding of the culture of the acquired company. In this way, we support you in achieving the desired increase in company value – and in a sustainable manner.

Let us talk about how we can advise you in your Executive Search.

We systematically advise and support our clients with additional aptitude diagnostics validation tools such as executive assessments and management audits. The focus here is on leadership and management competencies and, above all, the candidate’s personality. The objective is to find the person who fits with the relevant corporate culture and who will further develop it in a future-oriented way. Our consulting experts who implement the specific diagnostics tools relevant for this have excellent methodological competence and their own management expertise.

As certified advisors, we work with the recognised Executive Assessment Hogan. This web-based assessment tool validates managers’ behaviour. It is tailored around global research conducted for decades and, among other things, it refers to the “Five Factors Model” that is classified as the reference model in personality psychology.

On request, we also use individually designed management audits for the selection process with in-depth interviews and presentations as well as detailed feedback to the candidates. These management audits consider the special features of the industry, position, organisation and corporate culture of our clients.