Executive Candidate Area

Stress-testing the CEO: Why a polished CV is no longer enough

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 12:15:58 Z

Some characteristics remain fundamental to today’s CEO, says Fredy Hausammann, Managing Partner of Amrop in Switzerland. Communication skills. Strategic ability. And cognitive and creative intelligence, "are amongst the most validated success factors.”

Meanwhile, the need for other qualities is evolving. Naohiro “Nakki” Furuta is the Managing Partner of Amrop Jomon in Japan. He places less value today on overt charisma and power. “The current CEO needs more moderation, objectivity, an ability to stay calm.” And empathy is just as important.

Read our report: The CEO Struggle - Part 2: The Quest For Resilience

First Time NEDs: Nervousness is Healthy

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:06:38 Z

Elin Wrammerfors - Sweden

Here’s why, and what to do about it.

Geopolitical shocks, ESG pressure and cyber threats are complicating today’s risk landscape. Shareholder scrutiny and ESG reporting are increasing the visibility of board decisions. NED candidates are worried about personal liability. But the real risks for NEDs come from weak governance, passive boards, and groupthink.

There is good news. As an independent board member, you don’t bear the burden alone. Nor are you judged on clairvoyance. What matters are proper oversight, independent judgment, and robust decisionmaking processes. How you reached a decision is almost more critical than the decision itself - following every step correctly, serving the company’s best interests.

Career Renewal After Age 50: Navigating the New Landscape

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 13:24:08 Z

Much like everything else in today’s turbulent world, perpetual flux characterizes the job market. And executives aged 50+ are increasingly finding themselves at unexpected crossroads, often facing unintended career transitions. As companies pivot and restructure, many seasoned executives who once felt secure in their positions, grapple with the question of “what’s next?” According to Eelco van Eick, Managing Partner at Amrop in The Netherlands and an executive search leader with expertise in assisting executives move onto their next chapter, this demographic is waking up to stark new realities.

“In my role, I often invite executives into my office for a candid conversation about their future,” van Eick explains. “I always ask them, ‘What’s your value proposition for your next job?’ Surprisingly, many have little to say, and some even talk for 20 minutes without addressing the core question I asked them.”

According to Amrop’s latest global study The Meaning of Work, economic pressures continue to motivate career paths post-50, albeit without a matching motivation for leadership or 'ambition' per se. This lack of focus reveals a broader problem: many experienced professionals, despite their successful career trajectories, find themselves unprepared for a job market that now demands a proactive approach to personal branding and self-promotion.

People with Talent (Like Us) 2 | What Motivates You?

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 12:42:00 Z

Motivation is a complex - and vital - subject. Several researchers have sought to explain its influence on human behavior. We’ve all heard of one theory or another. It’s normal to take an interest in better understanding what motivates us, pulls us out of inertia and gives us the strength to overcome the difficulties of everyday life, as opposed to giving up and doing nothing.

People with Talent (Like Us) | 10 Pillars to Build Your Dream Career

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 12:50:00 Z

A specialist in leadership and talent management, Maria da Glória Ribeiro is the Founder and Managing Partner of Amrop Portugal. With a Masters in Psychology from the University of Porto, and specialized in business organizational development, she has over 20 years’ experience in strategic consulting and organizational behavior. She is called upon to evaluate, guide and recruit talents for companies from diverse professional sectors. She has been recognized as one of the main Portuguese headhunters by Nancy Garrison-Jenn, (The Global 200 Executive Recruiters).

Based on her recently published book, Maria Da Gloria presents 10 pillars to build a fulfilled professional career, each drawing inspiration from a true life story. Telling Francisco’s story, this first chapter looks at Life Strategy.

Mental Wellbeing in the Age of Covid | An Interview with Dr. Hazel Harrison

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 03:00:00 Z

Despite recent advances, the approach to mental health and wellbeing at work is still a burgeoning topic for many organizations. Covid-19 has disrupted routines and office-based working environments. The stress and anxiety caused by the economic and public health climate, combined with a loss of purpose and meaning, is posing an unprecedented challenge.

Lifelong Learning: Executive Hazards Ahead - Keep your Dissonance

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 02:00:00 Z

A venerable multinational is forced to search in unusual places to reverse a creeping decline, and emerges stronger than ever. After a series of painful experiences, a senior executive questions his assumptions and unearths invaluable lessons. His quest for lifelong learning begins.

In this turbulent business environment, shareholders and stakeholders, in particular young leaders, are demanding that organizations are able and willing to learn. Recent research (including Amrop’s exploration of ‘wise decision-making’) leaves little room for doubt: in order to effectively embrace change, leaders must constantly call into question the way in which they lead, and more importantly still, learn.

I Am My Biggest Project: New Horizons For Executives - Chapter 4

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 02:00:00 Z

A career is just one part of life, one of its many roles. And we know that life is rarely a freeway without bends, bumps, or obstacles - it’s a winding and complicated road. The important thing is the resilience that gives us the courage to fight adversity and continue our journey.

I Am My Biggest Project: New Horizons For Executives - Chapter 3

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:00:00 Z

When we reach the summit of our career, we feel a sense of completeness and accomplishment. It dawns on us that we’ve finally achieved everything we aspired to. The air suddenly and magically feels oxygenated, clearer. It’s as if we have become lighter, floating on the top of a mountain.

And then it hits us. Nothing stops. The frenzy goes on: other people invade our territory with fresh ideas and solutions. Our newfound stardom, achievement and recognition, evaporate before we’ve had time to drink it all in.

With Maria da Gloria Ribeiro, Amrop Portugal

I Am My Biggest Project: New Horizons For Executives - Chapter 2

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 03:00:00 Z

Maria da Glória Riberio, Managing Partner of Amrop Portugal, has spent two decades interviewing and learning from business leaders.

In this 2nd article based on her well-received book, Maria translates some core principles of strategic marketing into self-marketing - presenting ourselves to the right audience, in a unique and compelling way.

I Am My Biggest Project: New Horizons For Executives - Chapter 1

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 03:00:00 Z

If ‘I am my biggest project’, and other people are affected by its outcomes, I’d do well to know myself.

But building this relationship is a lifelong exercise. It takes sincerity, authenticity and self-regulation.

Maria da Glória Riberio, Managing Partner of Amrop Portugal, has spent two decades interviewing and learning from business leaders. She has identified some recurrent levers that play a core role in success and failure, strengths and pitfalls. These boil down to three major factors: Determinism, Ambition, and Resistance to Change.

Personal Governance 8: Reputation

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 03:00:00 Z

What would a client say about you, after you leave the room? This will be passed on and over time, coalesce into your reputation. So we could summarize reputation as the opinion formed by different people, with a high degree of consistency, over a long period, about a subject (a person or a company). Experience leads to labels: fast, dependable, performance-oriented, etc. Over time, these start to bear considerable weight for a reputation and brand. Our ‘active references’ – people with positive attributions about us - pave the way to fruitful relationships and business development.

Managers with good Personal Governance carefully cultivate their personal reputation, and by association, the reputation of their organization. Doing so has never been more critical.

The Age of No Age: It’s all in the eye of the beholder

Wed, 30 May 2018 03:00:00 Z

When it comes to senior talent management and board composition, why do we think of ‘old’ age the way we do?

Fredy Hausammann, Managing Partner of Amrop Switzerland, argues that it’s time to ring the changes in a maturing world.

The New Shape of Work: Why the Only Way Up is No Longer Up

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 02:00:00 Z

Any credible career should follow an uninterrupted, upward trajectory, or so the assumption goes. Many hiring organizations, executive search firms and leadership candidates still exercise this kind of ‘up or out’ thinking.

Yet a growing number of successful executives are seriously questioning What’s Next.

The prospect of ‘more of the same’ is unappealing, and for different reasons. For millennials, the ‘career for life’ is becoming an irrelevance, and many corporates no longer offer one. Many senior leaders peak at the age of 50 and feel pressured to climb a mountain that no longer interests them – a pressure compounded by the rise of the retirement age in many markets.

Personal Governance 7: Personal Interests and Passions

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 02:00:00 Z

If your Personal Governance is in good shape, your life won't begin and end at the office. You will be known as someone who cultivates strong interests - passions, even - besides your heavy professional commitments. You may also be a rarity.

Outside their professional framework, too few senior executives set aside enough time for family and friends, let alone for deep personal interests or passions. It follows that just as few are consciously structuring their personal time. It’s time to bring some balance into the equation.

Personal Governance 6: Personal Development

Mon, 06 Mar 2017 02:00:00 Z

Good Personal Governance incites lifelong personal development, or éducation permanente. This is a dynamic journey, linked to our personality development, aptitude for reflection, coping strategies, the way we communicate and interact, our ethics - and beyond. And managers must be shining examples.

As an executive search consultant and management coach, Amrop's Fredy Hausammann sees senior managers mainly emphasizing professional experience as a way to round out academic foundations, supplemented at best by a short-lived executive development program. When it comes to holistic development, this is not enough.

The Great Executive Rebrand: How Top Executives Are Rediscovering Their Core

Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:00:00 Z

More senior executives than ever are taking the opportunity to ‘rebrand’ themselves. In the past, that meant a visit to a stylist and a new mantra to practice in front of the mirror.

But now, instead of offering a simple makeover, a new breed of executive coaches are seeking out the real you, warts and all, to make that the centrepiece of your next career move. They refrain from extravagant claims, but they help to redefine your career and make you feel more fulfilled than ever before.

Personal Governance 5: Pressure and Stress, Coping and Coaching

Wed, 08 Jun 2016 03:00:00 Z

The CEO of a leading airline is hospitalized following a heart attack. The CEO of a global auto manufacturer collapses on stage after a “period of extensive travel.” And as a Canadian pharmaceuticals major faces criticism from lawmakers and two federal probes, its CEO is hospitalized with pneumonia. All three executives were aged under 60. And all three incidents occurred in the space of a year.

Personal Governance 4: Self-Reflection, Self-Assessment, Self-Regulation

Wed, 27 Jan 2016 02:00:00 Z

In today’s turbulent and pressured environments, managers all too often find themselves in a metaphorical prison. They slavishly replay old thought patterns, trapped by static world views.

It’s hard to see things in a new light if we don’t know what our resources are. Or when anxieties and self-protection stop us from seeking out help, or feedback. This holds back our personal development, as well as our ability to set out the Life Plan that will give us a sense of purpose and guide our decisions. So we drown in the day-to-day, often in a role (or conflicting roles) that miss our sweet spot, for reasons we can’t explain. No wonder so many managers are gasping for air.

Personal Governance 3: Ethical Behavior

Fri, 09 Oct 2015 03:00:00 Z

Ethics has become a common word in today's business lexicon. But what do ‘ethics’ actually mean for you, as a leader? In Part 3 of our series, we take a journey into the Second Principle of Personal Governance. In this tour of the often-confusing ethical landscape, we provide signposts for Leaders who are seeking to do – and be – ‘the right thing’.

Personal Governance 2: Life Plan and Goals

Wed, 05 Aug 2015 03:00:00 Z

Just as a well-run organization has a guiding Mission, so do managers with good Personal Governance. This ‘Life Plan’ is an ongoing project, far-reaching and carefully orchestrated. It serves as a common thread, a ‘leitmotiv’, to guide, motivate and inspire executives through uncertainty and change, success and opportunity. As a personal, core Mission, its translation into action needs regular monitoring.

Personal Governance I: The Cornerstone of Corporate Governance and Leadership

Wed, 20 May 2015 03:00:00 Z

Trust in leadership is an uphill struggle. The business press still carries too many tales of incompetence, negligence or even malpractice. Other reports paint a grim picture of executives whose health, private lives and values are collapsing under the weight of information and work overload. How can senior managers make a change for the better in their own lives and, by association, in Corporate Leadership and Governance?

Strong and sustainable Corporate Governance can only happen if those in charge of organizations can demonstrate solid Personal Governance, argues Fredy Hausammann, Managing Partner, Amrop Switzerland and Member of the Amrop Board Services Practice.

In this 8-part Amrop series, Hausammann sets out the 7 building blocks of Personal Governance. These are concrete, practical and enriching ways for leaders to bring out the best in their teams, their organizations and society as a whole. This first article sets the context for Personal Governance and introduces its 7 Principles as the basis for effective Corporate Governance and leadership.

The New CHRO: Balancing, Designing, Leading

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 15:40:00 Z

Simultaneous shifts in environmental, regulatory, sustainability and geopolitical dimensions have transformed management and placed exceptional demands on leaders. If, as a consequence, human and leadership capital are an unprecedented source of competitive advantage for organizations, what are the implications for the CHRO?

While this offers a great platform for HR leaders to re-envision the function, not all are ready to assume the new leadership requirements.