Blog

What We’re Working on this Quarter Whole Organization Work: Strategy + Search OE recently completed a year-long collaboration with the Mind & Life Institute, co-founded by the Dalai Lama, focusing on applying rigorous scientific methods to understand the mind and foster compassion globally. This partnership involved creating the conditions for [...]

Since attending and presenting at Exponent Philanthropy’s 2023 Annual Conference in October, I’ve spent some time reflecting on how foundations and non-profits relate to one another and engage in social change. In particular, I’ve been thinking about the challenges grant-makers experience in understanding and demonstrating the ‘difference’ they make. In [...]

What executives so often get wrong about talent acquisition. Many years ago the CEO of an American Fortune 50 company told me that for the first twenty years of his career, he optimized for skill set in his senior hires. Eventually he realized that, when he had to fire someone, [...]

What We’re Working on Now - Summer 2023 No summer slowdown over here. The search side of the business is working on various stages of a dozen executive placements, three of them connected to strategic and organizational design engagements. Here is a brief overview of just a few of our [...]

Spoiler Alert: It's probably not what you think If you ask 100 executives what is most likely to cause underperformance in an executive search 90% will get it wrong. Most don’t realize that a high risk of failure is frequently built into their processes before the position is even publicized. [...]

What Is an Executive Search Firm? An executive search firm provides specialized, hands-on recruitment services designed to identify, contact, and cultivate candidates that possess the skills, talents, experience, and character that clients have identified as crucial to their success.  At OE Consulting, we combine our executive search practice with decades […]

What Is Consulting, and Who Needs It? Consulting has become a catch-all term loosely referring to the provision of business advice across a range of issues, but it is much more than this.  Consulting engagements are typically designed to solve focused and specific challenges for clients, using experts in problem-solving. […]

The terms executive search and recruitment are often used interchangeably, even within the industry. They are, however, different in important ways. Put succinctly, recruitment is best suited to finding multiple entry and mid-level positions for common roles. Executive search is best applied to senior, specialized, unusual, or otherwise hard-to-find roles. […]

While both consulting and advising involve bringing in experts for strategic problem-solving, these services differ in a few key ways. Consulting engagements are typically designed to solve focused and specific challenges for clients. Advising engagements are generally longer-term and more systemic. An advisor may spend many months or years helping […]

How to Choose an Executive Search Firm — Ask The Right Questions If you don’t already have a go-to partner, choosing an executive search firm can produce justified anxiety. The fees are significant, and a poor outcome is extremely costly. Having a clear idea of what you want in a […]

By Arthur Combs THESIS We have observed that defining power, methods of sharing power, and reinforcing these practices through meaningful performance management, can be a starting point for greater productivity, talent retention, and workplace wellbeing.    CONTEXT Consensus over command-and-control. It’s become axiomatic that many Global 500 companies are finding [...]

We continue our Meaning and Work series with Stephanie Cohn Rupp. “Find your conviction and determine ways to pursue that. Keep an open mind about what that looks like.” What she does: Provides strategic, operational, and systems-level leadership within the impact investing sector, in order to deliver social and environmental […]

In 2018, the Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF) Board of Directors approved an ambitious, paradigm-shifting Strategic Plan, with economic and racial equity at the center.  The Loan Fund has been in business since 1987, as a pillar of the San Francisco community development ecosystem. Upon approval of the Strategic [...]

Co-Authored by Monica Walls and Arthur Combs On May 29, S&C hosted ~100 participants to learn from three accomplished leaders: Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, Dmitri Belser, and Cynthia Nimmo. We want to thank our panelists for facilitating an excellent discussion.    We’ve summarized 6 highlights of what we learned below.   1. […]

Any organization that claims to be purpose, impact, or mission driven had better define its terms. “Purpose driven” has become a common, but poorly defined phrase for many organizations in the impact sector. We challenged ourselves to think critically about how we define purpose, and what being a purpose driven […]

… We continue the Meaning and Work series with Kim Gilmore.    “Just jump in and think about meaning, in everything you do.”   What she does: Kim helps bring history to life by creating memorable television programming and paired content. Her passion for history and humanity is expressed through shining […]

… We continue the Meaning and Work series with Maureen Sedonaen.  “No one wants charity. They want your access. They want their kids to have a better life. They want stability. They want a chance. When you see the people you serve as less than you, it’s time to go […]

After money, the thing most people seek in their work is meaning.   At Schaffer&Combs we get to work with thousands of people who are making our planet more measurably prosperous, fair, and just plain pleasant. Some of them are well known, and the meaning they make at work is […]