Experience vs Resilience: The Age of Disruption is Changing How Firms Approach Leadership
The way firms have hired executive leadership has been pretty simple: If you've wanted to grow from $500m to $1B, you go out and find someone who has already done it. Experience has been king, and finding an executive who has led a straight-line growth journey has been the most important factor. “If they could do it there, they can do it here.”
That’s not entirely the case anymore. From recent conversations we’ve had with clients, firms aren’t just looking for “been there, done that” experience. The world is moving too fast. Technology and AI are reshaping industries at a pace no one has seen before.
What firms are looking for now more than ever isn’t just experience; it’s resilience.
How firms should alter their approach to hiring executives
Today, firms need leaders who have demonstrated agility, are comfortable navigating the unknown, and have a track record of handling disruption. It’s less about proving you’ve run the same growth journey before, and more about showing you can adapt, pivot, and figure things out faster than the competition on that growth journey.
That means that when it’s time to hire your next executive, look for leaders who:
Understand technology, not just at a surface level but with real affinity.
Have experience with product development and business model shifts.
Know how to lead through transitions and ambiguity.
Are comfortable being uncomfortable and able to pivot.
Because our clients continue to emphasize the importance of resilience, our message to them is simple: Let’s be willing to look deeper than the straight-line success a candidate displays on paper.
While the “been there, done that” type candidates with proven growth journeys are still great candidates, firms need to dig deeper to understand the role someone played in the journey, what disruption they faced, how they pivoted, and what the result was.
The better a candidate can speak to those questions, the higher the likelihood they can lead an organization or practice to thrive no matter what comes their way. Sometimes it’s not the most experienced candidate on paper who would be the best leader for the future.
How candidates can better prepare themselves
Whether you’re actively searching for a new role or not, the best thing you can be doing for your career is building your disruption résumé. The key here is not to wait to be disrupted—disrupt yourself. Start paying attention to where the market is headed and making bets that will better position your organization to succeed. Show where you’ve been the one to spot change early, adapt your model, and commercialize a new approach.
Take Accenture as an example. Nearly a decade ago, they started weaving AI (or at least early technologies that became AI) into their outsourcing practice. They didn’t do it because they had to. They did it because they believed it would put them ahead—they disrupted themselves before AI forced them to transform. That move created efficiencies, created higher profit margins, and set the bar for everyone else in the industry.
That’s the kind of story firms want to hear. Not just that you were along for the ride as disruption occurred, but that you helped steer through the storm. If you can tell those stories, you’re set up to lead in the future and are more likely to be called upon when the best opportunities arise.
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