The problem didn’t start with COVID or Brexit: it manifested in primary education…

“Supply chain issues” — it’s a phrase we’re now hearing more and more, whether connected with the increasingly-empty shelves prevalent in supermarkets or the fact your builder has been unable to complete your house renovation because of a lack of materials and lack of those able to direct and execute the work. 

And while we might be tempted to think that COVID or Brexit are the sole causes, I’m convinced it’s actually a problem that is far more deeply rooted and has in fact been brewing for much longer.

For years, we’ve been fixated with the idea of what a CEO should look like. In the main it has been built around the older white gentleman, the guy who studied at Oxbridge, and followed a predictable career path all the way up to the boardroom.

And here’s why it’s a problem:

For some organisations, many of these identikit CEOs base their decision-making on standard assumptions, ideas, and strategies they’ve been using for years. As such, the results can be reactive when they should be proactive and as the pandemic has highlighted the need to be prepared for all eventualities. 

We seem to be missing what the supply chain of the future needs, what the boardroom of the future needs to look like, and what the CEOs of tomorrow will want from their working life. 

But here’s the surprising thing. 

If we want to make significant changes — if we want to create forward-planning, proactive C-Suite executives that seek to avert problems rather than reacting to them after the fact — we can’t start in the boardroom. 

We need to start thinking about primary schools….and make changes at every level, all the way up to executive search.

I’d love to talk to you about how we make those changes, from primary school age kids upwards, and how I plan to play my part as the founder of one of the very few female-led executive search companies in the UK.

You can contact me at jacquipaterson@jpexecutivesearch.com for more information or to arrange an initial  conversation.