The New Rules of Executive Search and Why Most Companies Still Get It Wrong

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. ⁠Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series⁠ and ⁠visit ⁠⁠HRExecutive.com⁠⁠ for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

In this episode we talk about the real pressure behind executive hiring. Tech can speed things up, sure, but it can’t save you from picking the wrong leader. At this level every decision has weight. Timing matters. Fit matters. Board alignment matters. One mismatch can throw the whole company sideways. The conversation cuts through the noise and shows where tech helps, where expertise still calls the shots, and why assessment is the part no one can afford to skip.

We get into how tech finally trims the busywork so research doesn’t take weeks. But we also call out the truth everyone ignores. Expertise still decides the outcome. Assessment is where the real risk lives. And the higher you climb, the louder the consequences get. A board out of sync. A leader who’s great on paper but not ready in reality. A hire that looks right for the moment but isn’t right for the future.

What We Cover

• Why executive search is evolving

• How tech accelerates the research layer

• Where human judgment still matters

• Why timing is everything at the leadership level

• The reality of board alignment and mismatch

• Assessment as the true hard work

• Why a single exec can derail an entire org

• How to scale expertise without losing quality

Key Takeaways

• We’re not trying to replace expertise

• The goal is applying expertise at scale

• Executive search should take minutes, not weeks

• Right person, wrong time happens often

• Board level misalignment kills deals

• One bad exec can ruin a company

• The stakes are higher for leadership hires

• Assessment is the real hard work

• Research and assessment drive better decisions

• Recruiting challenges get amplified at the board level

Guest:

Vicky Wilkens, Co-founder Marovi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickywilkens/

Matthew Mooeny, Co-founder Marovi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewamooney/

Jin Ro, Co-founder Marovi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinro/

Host:

William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined

LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup