The Alexander Group – Page 3 – The Alexander Group

A few months ago, I reached out to an individual at a Fortune 500 company about a potential opportunity with a client. His background was unusual in that he had leaped from a domestic role into a position with substantial global responsibility. As it turns out, there was a story there.

In his prior role, he had been in close competition with a colleague for an Asia Pacific position. He had more experience than his colleague and had been working long hours in preparation for the move. When his colleague was awarded the role however, he was dumbfounded. He’d been passed over for the promotion, and his spirit was crushed.

This is not an uncommon story. Many strong performers are ambitious and enthusiastic for their next internal role. Getting passed over is disheartening. The real question is, what do you do next?

Take a deep breath… keep your cool

After taking a few days to process his emotions, this executive spoke to his managers to garner a better understanding of the situation. They reassured him that big things were in the works. They encouraged him to maintain his work ethic and get better acquainted with what the company was doing—not only in Asia, but on a global scale.

Two years later, a global position opened in the organization and, today, he manages every region across the globe. And the colleague who was promoted to the APAC position? That colleague now reports to him.

He is a perfect example of what to do when faced with professional setbacks. Disappointment, anger, and frustration are natural reactions but “in the moment, those emotions may prompt you to vent to the wrong people, snap at your manager or, worse—quit,” warns Mike Guerchon, Chief People Officer at Okta. It’s crucial to remember that “how you confront difficult situations is a reflection of your maturity and readiness to take a leadership position.” Keep your composure and maintain a professional demeanor.

Also, be sure to not let this disappointment reflect poorly on your performance. You still have a team to manage, targets to achieve and numbers to nail. “Don’t let those emotions interfere with your productivity,” writes Forbes contributor Andy Molinsky. Resilience is key. How you deal with disappointment demonstrates your EQ and readiness to take on additional leadership responsibilities.

“It’s not always possible to make things better, but it is always possible to make things worse,” advised Ben Dattner, author of The Blame Game and founder of Dattner Consulting. This is critical to remember while emotions are running high. Take a deep breath, go through the emotions once you have left the office, and collect your thoughts on how to proceed.

Talk to your manager

After the heat of the moment has passed, and your emotions have calmed, approach your manager and have a candid conversation. Listen closely, and be inquisitive.

While a combination of variables can influence internal talent decisions, here are a few common culprits that may be at play:

Background is too light. Every organization has specific needs. If the role encompasses a broad range of responsibilities, you may be missing a key component, such as international experience, change management or business development.
Too experienced. Yes, it happens! Fulfillment requires a balance between the knowledge to get the job done and the opportunity to grow. If you can do the role in your sleep, you’ll be bored in less than a year and casting your eye to the horizon.
Lack of gravitas. Do you project a polished, professional approach? Are you engaging, calm and confident? Consider how you connect with clients, colleagues and the highest levels of management.
Politics. “As much as we all wish promotions would go to the most talented, hardworking and dedicated people,” writes one Forbes contributor, “decades of office politics tell us that’s not always the case.”
Bad timing. Are you halfway through a critical project? Been in your role less than a year or two? Are organizational changes in the works that may impact your position? Timing is everything, and sometimes beyond your control.
It’s not you. Sometimes, there is simply someone better suited for the role. Maybe the person you were up against has slightly more experience or contributed to the bottom line in a way you’re not aware of. Or there could be broader, long-term factors involved.

Plan your next move

Now that you’ve gone through the emotions and have gained a clearer understanding as to why you were passed up, it’s time to transform a negative situation into a springboard for opportunity.

If you discover you are missing specific experience, talk to your manager about a career plan so you get that experience. Reinvest in your current role, and look for opportunities to innovate and expand your scope of work.
Are you missing soft skills, such as diplomacy, communication skills or emotional intelligence? Ask a mentor for honest feedback and get coaching if you need to. Take up a management training course to hone leadership qualities.
Bad timing? Short tenures and unfinished projects reflect poorly on you and disrupt your organization’s productivity. Invest more time in your current role. It will pay off in the long term.
If you suspect politics are at play, find a way to heal bad blood. Network with the people in the department or region to which you aspire. Build a base of positive support, especially among top leaders.

Know when to leave

Internal opportunities for advancement can be limited, especially as you rise to more senior levels. If, after careful assessment, you believe you’ve reached an impasse, it may be time to explore external opportunities.

While conducting a search for a Chief Marketing Officer for an Am Law 100 firm, I met a potential candidate who at the time served as a Director of Marketing. I asked her why she was considering a new opportunity. She told me that there had been turnover in the senior leadership at her firm, and most of the C-suite had turned over in the past two years. When the CMO announced his retirement, she was confident that she would be offered the position. Around the same time, however, a new Chief Operating Officer joined the firm and, rather than promoting from within, he brought the CMO from his former firm on board.

This candidate handled the situation with grace and humility, but quietly started exploring the market. She knew she was ready for the next step in her career, and without a viable near-term option at her current firm, she prepared to make her move.

Today, she is Chief Marketing Officer at a prestigious and profitable international law firm. She left her former firm on good terms and exemplifies the type of individual our clients retain us to recruit.

“Getting passed over for a promotion can feel like an impossible-to-overcome roadblock in your career path,” advises one Forbes contributor. “But by learning as much as you can from what went wrong and staying resilient, you can turn a negative into a positive that’ll help you land the next one.”

Kevin Herglotz has joined The Milken Institute as Executive Vice President, Institutional Advancement . Mr. Herglotz is a decisive business, government, and non-profit executive with more than 25 years of experience managing and solving complex operational issues and exceeding financial objectives.

Learn more about Mr. Herglotz here.

This search was conducted and completed by Jane Howze and Sarah Mitchell.

Sharlene Jenner has joined The American Heart Association as SVP, Digital Marketing. Ms. Jenner is an award-winning senior executive with more than 18 years of experience.

Learn more about Ms. Jenner here.

This search was conducted and completed by Amanda K. Brady and Jean Lenzner.

Tangela Richter has joined Geico as General Counsel. Ms. Richter is a creative, results-focused adviser with exceptional problem solving, client service and communication skills, adept at delivering sound legal and business advice.

Learn more about Ms. Richter here.

This search was conducted and completed by John Lamar and Sarah Mitchell.

Anyone who has ever been involved with a not-for-profit will at some point be asked to serve on a search committee or lead a search committee’s search for a new CEO/President or senior officer. We have written previously about the responsibilities of search committee members and how candidates can prepare for a search committee interview but wanted to take a deeper look at the role of the Search Committee Chair. We turn to Steve Taylor, a leader in the not-for-profit community for nearly 30 years, who is currently serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Mission Officer of the Arthritis Foundation. Steve recently chaired the search committee for the President & CEO of the National Health Council which has been widely viewed as a well-run search with an outstanding result. Below, Steve answers the questions we are frequently asked as not-for-profits recruit using search committees.

How big should a search committee be?

I believe the ideal size is seven, including the Chairman who should also have a vote. You could possibly do nine or five, but frankly, if the Committee becomes too large, it can be hard to coordinate schedules. You have too many opinions in the discussions, and you want every voice to be heard. You’ll also want to make sure it’s an odd number; that way there is no tie.

Who should be on a search committee?

Much of it depends on the position. Ideally, one to three members of the Executive Committee should be on the Search Committee and supplement that with volunteers who represent different parts of the organization. I recommend looking at the various responsibilities of the position you are trying to fill. Which volunteers can best represent and understand these responsibilities? The key to a successful search committee is that you want members with perspective but who are not living in the past. On the other hand, you don’t want search committee members being so free-spirited they are substituting their vision for that of the Board’s.

The ideal Search Committee member understands the history of the organization as well as its future vision.

And that is what is so important when selecting volunteers to serve on a search committee: they need to be familiar [with] and embrace the Board’s vision for the organization and also represent different constituencies of the organization.

Should current employees sit on a search committee?

That is a question that many organizations wrestle with. Sometimes it can make sense, especially when you have long-term employees who understand the organization. But this is not a choice without challenges.

If there are internal candidates for the position, it can be difficult to ask a colleague [to] make an unbiased choice.
Secondly, a staff member on the Committee may not have the strategic view of the organization that a high-ranking volunteer or board member will have.
Thirdly, it can be sensitive for an employee to be involved in salary discussions involving the successful candidate.

What I typically recommend is that one of the Search Committee members serve as a liaison to a group of employees/staff. On the recent search I led for the National Health Council, I personally maintained contact with the senior leadership team. While I did not discuss individual candidates, I asked the search firm to solicit their opinions for the type of leaders we were seeking, and I communicated to them on the progress of the search.

Who selects the search firm, and what should be considered?

I can’t overemphasize the importance of a strong partnership with the search firm. You want it to be a partnership, not just a firm presenting resumes. The Chair should have meaningful input on selecting the search firm because they’ll be the one working [most] closely with them. Of course, the Search Committee reviews proposals and meets with a small number of finalists. But ultimately the Chair of the Search Committee should have a strong voice in selecting a search firm.

For me, it was critical that the search firm had experience in organizing and administratively providing infrastructure to the committee so that I and the Committee could focus on the candidates.

I also believe the Chair shouldn’t rely on the Search Committee or search firm to do all of the coordination. There will be times that it is important for the Chair to jump in to either facilitate meetings or deal with scheduling or personnel challenges. The search firm should be willing to do more than just conduct the search as many members of a search committee have full-time jobs.

I advise my colleagues running search committees to be very specific with what you would like the search firm to do.

Do you want them to:

Attend search committee meetings?
Set the agenda for search committee meetings?
Provide interview questions?

I believe you need a search firm to do anything the Search Committee and its Chairman cannot or do not want to do because of time restraints.

It is a given that a search firm needs to have a robust Rolodex, but I’m still trying to figure out how to evaluate that. [laughing] What you can evaluate is recent searches a search firm has conducted for similar positions. As we evaluated search firms, some listed searches they conducted more than a decade ago! That was a lifetime ago in the not-for-profit world.

And finally, I believe you need to find a search firm that is upfront and honest with you about who the lead staff will be—and that you have the opportunity to meet with that lead staff to ensure compatibility and understanding of the process you envision—before you finalize your selection on a firm.

What allowances did you make during COVID in the most recent search you chaired?

Overall, it worked out well. In certain ways, the process moved more efficiently given the Search Committee met by Zoom and the candidates were interviewed by the search firm and us for first-round interviews by Zoom. One advantage we had as a search committee is that we all knew each other—some better than others—but this familiarity allowed us to work together well virtually.

Once we narrowed the process to our finalists, we asked them to meet face to face, of course, social distancing, wearing masks, etc. with another search committee member and me. Despite adapting to video conferencing, meeting the candidate in person makes a big difference. To have a candidate being willing to invest the time, to travel to a meeting, meet a group of people, some in person, some virtually, was critical to the final steps of our process.

We were able to observe how they handled themselves in the middle of a pandemic, watch how they coordinated their presentation, and even how they arranged the papers on the conference table. In a virtual interview, you have no idea if the candidate has sticky notes all over their computer screen providing possible hints to questions. That was important to us because that’s what the job is going to be (ultimately): face-to-face meetings working with different constituencies and being able to communicate and think on their feet. Interestingly, I believe we would have ended up with the same candidate if we had conducted the search before COVID.

How do you, as a search committee chair, handle candidate withdrawals and surprises?

As a search committee chair or member, you understand that many of the candidates currently are in good positions, and you are hoping to attract them to your organization. You can’t get too nervous about that. It is part of the process. You reach for candidates, and some you attract, and some you lose. And if a candidate pulls out, I believe it’s better that they do it in the search process rather than later.

As for the second part of your question, as Chair, you have to be flexible, responsive, and nimble because issues arise that need to be acted on quickly. Several times, I had to reach out to Committee members individually to keep the process moving either because an issue arose on a Friday night or there was simply not the time to call a full committee meeting. You establish that at the beginning of the search so there is no misunderstanding. In every search, there may be small decisions made either by the chair or by a smaller group on the committee, because trying to get everyone together all the time isn’t possible, but ultimately the big decisions are made as a group.

How much time does it take to do a good job?

The time required ebbs and flows during the search. If you have a good search firm, as we did in using The Alexander Group, there’s less time initially because you allow them to do the search and trust their judgment on the candidates they’re presenting. The search committee chair is then free to focus on the higher-level items most important to finding the right candidate. Once the interview process is underway, you will need to be available for the search committee, search firm, [and] staff as the process unfolds. There is a significant time commitment required for the Chair. The organization needs someone who can make that time commitment because, if it is not a priority, you’ll never finish the search.

Who should be the Chair?

Choosing the right search committee chair is critical to a successful search. It needs to be a leader in the organization who understands its past but also understands the future vision of the organization. It does not have to be the current board chair. It could be a past board chair who might have more time because they’re not the current board chair. It is important that the chair can lead without supervision and is trusted by the board.

Liz Sobe has joined Robinson + Cole as Director of Business Development. Ms. Sobe is a growth-driven leader with more than 25 years of experience driving strategic growth and delivering value for lawyers, legal professionals, and clients through seamless collaboration with firm-wide business operations teams.

Read more about Ms. Sobe here.

Summer travel season has arrived and with it comes opportunities to catch up on New York Times bestsellers, beach reads, and inspiring and informational books written by modern thought leaders. This holiday weekend, Alexander Group team members are sharing the books they are reading for pleasure, personal enrichment and professional development.

John Lamar, Managing Director

From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks

Book Description:
Many of us assume the more successful we are, the less susceptible we become to the sense of professional and social irrelevance that often accompanies aging. But the truth is, the greater our achievements and our attachment to them, the more we notice our decline, and the more painful it is when it occurs.

What can we do, starting now, to make our older years a time of happiness, purpose, and yes, success?

At the height of his career at the age of 50, Arthur Brooks embarked on a seven-year journey to discover how to transform his future from one of disappointment over waning abilities into an opportunity for progress. From Strength to Strength is the result, a practical roadmap for the rest of your life.

Drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, Brooks shows us that true life success is well within our reach. By refocusing on certain priorities and habits that anyone can learn, such as deep wisdom, detachment from empty rewards, connection and service to others, and spiritual progress, we can set ourselves up for increased happiness.

Jean Lenzner, Managing Director

Managing Director Jean Lenzner is a voracious reader and the ultimate TAG source for book recommendations from every literary genre.

Favorite Audiobook:

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett narrated by Meryl Streep

Book Description:

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today

“I would gladly listen to anything with Meryl Streep as the narrator. This explores love, family dynamics and the lives people lived before marriage.”

Favorite Fiction:

The Women by Kristen Hannah

Book Description:

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

“A young American woman coming of age novel set against the backdrop of the of the Vietnam War.”

Favorite Non-Fiction:

Crooked by Nathan Masters

Book Description:

Many tales from the Jazz Age reek of crime and corruption. But perhaps the era’s greatest political fiasco—one that resulted in a nationwide scandal, a public reckoning at the Department of Justice, the rise of J. Edgar Hoover, and an Oscar-winning film—has long been lost to the annals of history. In Crooked, Nathan Masters restores this story of murderers, con artists, secret lovers, spies, bootleggers, and corrupt politicians to its full, page-turning glory.

Newly elected to the Senate on a promise to root out corruption, Burton “Boxcar Burt” Wheeler sets his sights on ousting Attorney General Harry Daugherty, puppet-master behind President Harding’s unlikely rise to power. Daugherty is famous for doing whatever it takes to keep his boss in power, and his cozy relations with bootleggers and other scofflaws have long spawned rumors of impropriety. But when his constant companion and trusted fixer, Jess Smith, is found dead of a gunshot wound in the apartment the two men share, Daugherty is suddenly thrust into the spotlight, exposing the rot consuming the Harding administration to a shocked public.

Determined to uncover the truth in the ensuing investigation, Wheeler takes the prosecutorial reins and subpoenas a rogue’s gallery of witnesses—convicted felons, shady detectives, disgraced officials—to expose the attorney general’s treachery and solve the riddle of Jess Smith’s suspicious death. With the muckraking senator hot on his trail, Daugherty turns to his greatest weapon, the nascent Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose eager second-in-command, J. Edgar Hoover, sees opportunity amidst the chaos.

“Jazz Age story of corruption and scandal perpetrated by our most corrupt US Attorney General and a US senator who goes against all odds in his fight to bring him down, while also documenting the rise of J. Edgar Hoover. Hard to believe this book is non-fiction.”

Sarah Mitchell, Director

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

Book Description:

Meet Casey Han: a strong-willed, Queens-bred daughter of Korean immigrants immersed in a glamorous Manhattan lifestyle she can’t afford. Casey is eager to make it on her own, away from the judgements of her parents’ tight-knit community, but she soon finds that her Princeton economics degree isn’t enough to rid her of ever-growing credit card debt and a toxic boyfriend. When a chance encounter with an old friend lands her a new opportunity, she’s determined to carve a space for herself in a glittering world of privilege, power, and wealth—but at what cost?

Set in a city where millionaires scramble for the free lunches the poor are too proud to accept, this sharp-eyed epic of love, greed, and ambition is a compelling portrait of intergenerational strife, immigrant struggle, and social and economic mobility. Addictively enjoyable, Min Jin Lee’s bestselling debut Free Food for Millionaires exposes the intricate layers of a community clinging to its old ways in a city packed with haves and have-nots

“I’m always reading fiction! I try to read for an hour every night before bedtime – my brain appreciates going somewhere a little less real at the end of the day before sleep. Up next in my queue is Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee. She wrote Pachinko – I read that book last year and never got it out of my mind. Right behind it is South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami, one of my top five novelists of all time.”

Abby Buchold, Senior Research Associate

Never Lie by Freida McFadden

Book Description:

Two newlyweds are searching for their dream house visit the remote home of a renowned psychiatrist who disappeared four years prior. They wind up stuck there overnight due to a bad snowstorm. While looking for something to read to pass the time, Tricia finds a secret room containing audio transcripts for all of the doctor’s patients. Tricia listens to the tapes and discovers the horrific events leading up to Dr. Hale’s disappearance. All will be revealed when she listens to the final tape.

“I have not gotten very far into the book yet, but I’m thinking it will be a good mystery for summer with plenty of twists and turns.”

Jodi Smith, Manager of Administration Support

The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman and Paul White

Book Description:

Dramatically improve workplace relationships simply by learning your coworkers’ language of appreciation.

This audiobook will give you the tools to improve staff morale, create a more positive workplace, and increase employee engagement. How? By teaching you to effectively communicate authentic appreciation and encouragement to employees, co-workers, and leaders. Most relational problems in organizations flow from this question: do people feel appreciated? This audiobook will help you answer “Yes!”

A bestseller—having sold over 300,000 copies and translated into 16 languages—this audiobook has proven to be effective and valuable in diverse settings. Its principles about human behavior have helped businesses, non-profits, hospitals, schools, government agencies, and organizations with remote workers.

When supervisors and colleagues understand their coworkers’ primary and secondary languages, as well as the specific actions they desire, they can effectively communicate authentic appreciation, thus creating healthy work relationships and raising the level of performance across an entire team or organization.

As graduates across the country turn their tassels and embark on life’s next chapter, The Alexander Group team is applauding their efforts with collective words of wisdom.

Our thoughts for 2024 graduates veer more toward the practical, but we also value resilience, a trait needed no matter where you are in life.

Golden glitter number 2024 with graduated cap. Class of 2024 concept

John Lamar, Managing Director

Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Try to exercise every day. It’s a great reliever of stress.

Communicate with clients every day. Past, present and future clients. It is what I do, and it is how I try to set an example. Jane does it, Johnny does it and Amanda does it. It’s so important for any person in business.

We all make mistakes. Admit it. Apologize for it and move on.

Jane Howze, Managing Director

Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Over communicate. No one complains about over communication.

John Mann, Managing Director

Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Maintain a sense of urgency and anticipate and exceed your client’s expectations; take leadership, ownership and responsibility in your career and work; find a career that you enjoy (I know it’s cliché, but true).

Kyle Robinson, Director of Research

Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Best tip I could give: utilize a second brain.

Don’t try and remember all the tasks and deadlines you have, both professionally and personally.

As soon as a thought pops into your mind, write it down in your second brain (a notebook, the notes app on your phone, your calendar) and reference it later when either finishing your day or planning the next.

De-clutter your mind so that you can be more intentional with your daily projects.

Jacqueline Griffin, Director of Accounting and Administration

-How have you fostered resilience throughout your career? Why is resilience important?

By adapting to change and developing a growth mindset by believing in my ability to learn and grow from experiences. View change and challenges as opportunities to develop rather than obstacles.

Resilience is important because it enables one to overcome obstacles and pursue goals with confidence and determination.

William Lepiesza, Director

Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Put in the time upfront to ensure success at the end: conduct thorough due diligence, know your client as well or better than they know themselves, and do your best to anticipate where problems or issues might occur

When issues or obstacles do arise, don’t simply communicate problems, communicate solutions: don’t leave it up to the client to figure out the answer, provide alternative paths, and recommendations to overcome hurdles.

There are many external factors and things we can’t control, so do your absolute best to control the things that you can.

Sarah Mitchell, Director

Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Don’t forget to find inspiration and fulfillment outside of your job.

It can be from family, a rich social life, making art, a physical practice (yoga, running, team sports, weightlifting, whatever), adventure travel, and so on. Finding a sense of self-value outside of your job will help you weather the inevitable ups and downs in your career. And beyond that, it will lead you being a more authentic, inspired, and interesting person–that’s the kind of person others want to work with.

Beth Ehrgott, Managing Director

Q: How have you fostered resilience throughout your career? Why is resilience important?

A: A few thoughts:

Aristotle quote:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

And these are my own thoughts:

You will have to fight to have a seat at the table…and then keep it. Be resilient and relentless.

You will be pushed to your limits and resilience and being relentless will empower you with the mindset to embrace setbacks as opportunities.

Show up everyday and there will always be adversity and more to learn and conquer.

Commit to lifelong learning.

Always act with integrity and compassion and they must never be compromised.

Anthony Ott, Senior Associate

Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Find the right balance between pushing boundaries and drawing from life’s lessons. You must do both.

The only way to create life lessons is by pushing the boundaries. It will always be a consistent pendulum swing. Life lessons learned can shape how you should push the boundaries. Pushing those boundaries will shape new life lessons.

You will never know if you don’t try. Always be willing to set your pride aside, make necessary adjustments, then push the boundaries again.

Jonathan Daniels, Associate

Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?

A: Use a calendar for everything in your life, and proactively plan your days. I have missed lots of events and deadlines because I was not organized. Today, my calendar helps keep me on track for everything I need to accomplish, a good record for follow-up with clients, and plan trips with friends.

Proactively Communicate. Despite Elon Musk’s best efforts, we cannot read minds yet. Always share updates with your supervisor, clients, and other stakeholders so they are aware of your work and can better partner with you.

Assume Positive Intent. Life is too short to worry about other people. Be kind, do your best, and always assume others are doing the same.

Document everything. You will forget your notes and you will need to show proof to others. Clients and Courts alike need paper trails.

HOUSTON—As leading executive search firm The Alexander Group, celebrates its 40th anniversary, it continues to evolve and grow with the integration of sister firm Alex & Red, and the launch of the firm’s Professional Services Division. The integration of Alex & Red into The Alexander Group expands the firm’s ability to provide a holistic solution to recruiting high-quality executives across an organization unrelated to its size. The merger is effective March 13, 2024.

The Alexander Group, led by Managing Directors Jane Howze and John Lamar, established Alex & Red in 2011, with The Alexander Group’s executive John Mann at the helm, to help entrepreneurial organizations recruit their leaders, as well as recruit future C-Suite leaders for existing clients. Under Mann’s leadership, Alex & Red was an immediate success, building a national client base in multiple industries and functional areas. The firm was recognized for successfully completing “hard to fill” positions with superior talent.

“Prior to the creation of Alex & Red, our clients asked us to help them recruit outstanding mid-level managers who would be future C-Suite leaders. At the time we hadn’t focused on how few options our clients had for getting the quality of search The Alexander Group offers at the Board and C-Suite level for mid-management positions. Combining Alex & Red’s success with ours, we can better serve our clients by offering an integrated firm that fills all their leadership needs,” said John Lamar.

Lamar adds “in addition to offering clients one home for all their executive needs, the merger allows the firm to tailor search teams with uniquely broad industry, capabilities, and functional search experience.

“I was privileged to build and lead the team at Alex & Red that brought The Alexander Group’s commitment to client service and excellence to younger and more entrepreneurial companies. As a result, both Alex & Red and its clients have grown in a very short time to the point that it makes sense to integrate both firms into a seamless organization that will fulfill all our clients’ needs,” said John Mann, Managing Director, The Alexander Group.

Alex & Red Managing Director Jonathan Verlander joins The Alexander Group’s robust staff of executive search consultants including founder Jane Howze, CEO John Lamar, Managing Director and Chief Client Officer Amanda Brady, and Director of Research, Kyle Robinson.

ABOUT THE ALEXANDER GROUP

Established in 1984, The Alexander Group has been an industry-leading global executive search firm for more than 40 years, conducting searches for Board and C-Suite positions in a wide array of industries including Legal and Professional Services, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Financial Services, Industrial and Manufacturing, Energy and Not-For-Profit. The Alexander Group is recognized for its commitment to long-term client relationships, highly acclaimed research capability and recruiting leaders who make a difference.

Much has been written lately about emotional intelligence and the role it plays in a successful career. But what is emotional intelligence? I suppose I could take the position that the U.S. Supreme Court took with pornography: “I can’t define what [it] is…but I know it when I see it.”

Let me start by saying what emotional intelligence is NOT.

Emotional intelligence has nothing to do with your intellect or IQ. We all have seen many executives who are incredibly intelligent but don’t have a modicum of common sense. Recently, I interviewed one of the top software executives in the country. He arrived at the interview late with no apology and, after ordering a glass of wine at 3 p.m., continued to take call after call. And he really wanted the position for this start-up technology company.
Emotional intelligence is not friendliness or empathy. While solid interpersonal skills play a role in emotional intelligence, all recruiters have stories of candidates who overstep boundaries by being overly familiar and talkative. My colleague Bill recalls an executive who sends him birthday and Easter greetings every year despite the fact he met her once eight years ago. While Bill enjoys the shout out and it makes for a good story, he is not sure that the candidate has appropriately sized up their relationship or lack thereof.
Emotional intelligence has nothing to do with honesty and integrity. Actually, I believe that some of the best con artists, embezzlers, and self-promoters have a high degree of emotional intelligence, which makes them effective at their dubious profession.
Emotional intelligence is not equivalent to good judgment, though they overlap. Good judgment is synonymous with making solid business decisions and choices. While someone who has emotional intelligence often has good judgment, many make sound judgments from facts but miss the unspoken cues that someone with emotional intelligence gets.

There is substantial disagreement over what emotional intelligence is, how it is measured, and whether it can be taught. Emotional intelligence starts with reading the environment, listening to your audience, and assessing the appropriate response based on spoken and unspoken prompts. Here are five ways that it or the lack thereof has played out in the interview process.

You have a meeting scheduled from 5 to 6 p.m. Evidence of poor emotional intelligence is arriving at 4:10 p.m. or taking 45 minutes to address the first question of “tell me a little about your firm or background.”

Your meeting is at a hotel restaurant at 10 a.m. Your host orders black coffee. You, on the other hand, notice there is a lavish breakfast buffet and excuse yourself before it closes, so you order a custom-made omelet and pile your plate with an assortment of pastries.
For your meeting with a top recruiter for a CMO position, you think the best way to show why you could work from Frankfurt rather than move to London is by bringing your newest squeeze to the interview. You fail to notice the look of horror on the recruiter’s face as your companion orders snacks for the table and monopolizes the conversation.
You are meeting the CEO of a company and, granted, it is a sunny day outside, but did you really have to don a red dress and heels when on your prior meetings you noticed that navy suits were the order of the day?
You meet with executives for a company for which you want to work or do work. The executives disagree among themselves about the position or project. While it would be easy to spout off a quick response and jump into the fray, the better tack is to pause, listen and ask more questions so that you are not jumping in on an internal political issue or have not misread the underlying communication that was taking place.

These are obviously blunders that require you to bury your face in your hands. But the news is not all bad. Many executives have highly developed emotional intelligence.