“The future depends on what you do in the present” – Mahatma Gandhi Our world is changing fast and businesses clearly must adapt, but how? Clarendon Executive’s Anne Daley says when it comes to working, ‘change’ is the new norm and considers what savvy organisations should be doing now to future-proof their success.

Over the past decade the world of business has been subject to change in ways that nobody could have predicted. And as we have seen, from past times of tumultuous change (industrial revolution, world wars, global recession), those who can get comfortable with uncertainty and develop not only the...

The right or wrong executive hire can have an immense and lasting impact on the trajectory and success of your business. It is imperative, therefore, that HR departments take all steps possible to avoid a bad hire at the top. Clarendon’s Joanne McAuley provides some tips on what to look out for when appointing executive-level candidates.

When companies make critical senior-level appointments, the stakes are high. Firstly, the financial investment is often sizeable. Large salaries, benefits, and bonuses all add up. Secondly, C-Suite candidates will potentially be stepping into roles that carry a significant amount of...

The ability to stand back from the day-to-day running of the business and focus on strategic, objective decision-making processes can prove tricky for many company owners but it is a common feature of truly successful businesses, no matter their size. Clarendon Executive’s Ciaran Sheehan examines the considerable impact a good non-exec can make and why many of Northern Ireland’s start-ups and SMEs aren’t realising their potential quickly enough.

It used to be that you’d only find non-executive directors walking the corridors of the larger or public organisations big enough to have a governance agenda.  More recently, however, the important role non-execs can play in companies of all sizes is increasingly recognised, and whilst it...

Few business school graduates at the turn of the millennium will have completed their studies without the oft-repeated phrase “Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast” ringing in their ears. Fewer still will have emerged unscathed from a well intentioned but ultimately flawed corporate ‘Culture Change Programme’.

However – as Clarendon Executive’s Mark Latuske explains – after a period of dormancy, the ‘C’ word is firmly back on the agenda for businesses seeking ways to differentiate themselves and outperform competitors in an increasingly complex operating market.

Louis Gerstner Jr. who famously overhauled IBM in the 1990s and early 2000s is synonymous with the quote; “I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game.”  The centrality of culture in organisational success is not a new idea but there...

As the famous saying goes – “The hard work starts now”. Clarendon’s Anne Daley considers the importance of post-recruitment support and development as a critical, but often overlooked phase in the executive lifecycle.

Executive selection is often an adrenalin-fuelled, multi-stage process, culminating in a need for the successful candidate to make a major, potentially life altering albeit exciting decision. It will involve many stressful elements – understanding unfamiliar terms and conditions, negotiating a...

At executive level it’s interpersonal skills that often make the difference between success and failure. Clarendon’s Anne Daley examines the value of personality profiling in determining leadership style and role suitability but also as a tool for career enhancement and satisfaction.

For fans of Only Connect, the BBC Two game show that asks contestants to find the connection between seemingly unrelated clues, here is one for you:   What is the connection between the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the philosopher Plato and Rapper Drake?    Answer:  the...

Clarendon’s Mark Latuske is seeing a spike in the number of Northern Ireland based firms using external executive coaching to manage key periods of transition, but he says more need to understand the concept and embrace it for the benefit of individual and organisational success.

Working with leaders and organisations across Northern Ireland, there is no doubt that external executive coaching has moved into the mainstream in the last number of years. However, critical moments of transition or change risk being overlooked when we employ a broad-brush approach to coaching....