Our approach

The work happens before the shortlist.

Six stages, front-loaded deliberately. Most failed appointments were mis-specified long before anyone was interviewed, so we spend a disproportionate amount of the engagement before the first approach is made.
01

Calibrate

We start with the business moment behind the role, not the job description.

  • A working session with the board, CEO, or sponsor to name the decision the organisation is actually making.
  • Agreement on success measures, decision rights, culture context, and the risks a new leader must absorb.
  • A written leadership brief that both sides can defend six months later.
02

Map

The visible market is the smallest part of the market that matters.

  • Systematic mapping of the addressable market, including leaders who are not looking and will never answer a job post.
  • Sector, adjacency, and geography scenarios so the shortlist is a choice, not an accident of who replied.
  • Calibration review with the sponsor before a single approach is made.
03

Engage

Senior candidates respond to senior people, handled discreetly.

  • Every approach is made by an advisor who can answer strategy questions on the spot.
  • Confidentiality protocols protect both the client's intentions and the candidate's current position.
  • The opportunity is presented with the seriousness the mandate deserves.
04

Assess

Evidence of leadership behaviour, not a recital of credentials.

  • Structured interviewing against the agreed evidence model, with tradeoffs made explicit.
  • Optional assessment centres, psychometrics, and leadership simulations where the stakes justify them.
  • Referencing that tests the story rather than confirming it.
05

Decide

A calibrated shortlist with a point of view attached.

  • Three to five candidates, each with a written case for and against.
  • Interview guidance so the client's panel tests the right things.
  • Offer strategy, compensation benchmarking, and counter-offer planning.
06

Embed

The mandate is not complete when the contract is signed.

  • Structured onboarding support through the first hundred days.
  • Check-ins with both the leader and the sponsor at 30, 60, and 90 days.
  • Replacement commitment on retained executive search engagements.

Why front-load it

A brief that could belong to any company will produce a shortlist with the same problem.

The most expensive phase of a search is not the outreach. It is the six weeks spent evaluating candidates against criteria nobody ever wrote down, followed by the quiet drift in requirements that turns a defined process into an open-ended one.

Calibration and mapping account for roughly the first third of a Talentstra engagement. That investment is what makes the remaining stages fast, and what allows a shortlist to arrive with a defensible point of view attached.

See how it played out in practice
Three advisors reviewing a leadership brief in a private working session

Our commitments

What a client can hold us to.

The method only means something if the firm can be held to it.

The advisor you meet does the work

Mandates are not sold by one team and delivered by another. The senior advisor in the first conversation stays on the engagement to the end.

We will tell you when not to hire

Some leadership problems are not solved by a new leader. If the diagnosis points at structure, mandate, or sponsorship instead, we will say so before taking the fee.

Confidentiality runs in both directions

Client intentions and candidate positions are protected with the same seriousness. Neither is used as currency in another conversation.

Every shortlist carries a point of view

Candidates arrive with a written case for and against. A shortlist without tradeoffs is a list, not advice.

Next step

Start with stage one.

The first conversation is a calibration session, not a pitch. Bring the decision you are trying to make.

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