Positioning Your Consulting Firm Before You Leave Corporate America (or Retire)
If you're planning to launch a consulting practice as you leave Corporate America or retire, your website positioning matters more than you think. Most new consultants position broadly ("strategic advisory") and spend years repositioning. This guide walks you through the positioning decisions you need to make before you build anything—so you attract the right clients from day one and avoid the costly mistake of generic messaging that makes you indistinguishable from thousands of other consultants.
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When Fear Poses as Pragmatism: How Self-Limiting Thinking Derails Executive Career Decisions
A senior executive told me she'd work for zero—then rejected $250K as too low. What this reveals about fear-driven career decisions and how to break the pattern.
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What Separates Executive Finalists in Retained Search? How Strategic Perspective Becomes the Deciding Factor
You've made it to the final round for a C-suite role. Your accomplishments are compelling, your credentials solid, your references glowing. The search firm presents three finalists to the hiring committee—and on paper, you're all equally qualified.
What separates you now isn't what you've done. It's how you think.
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How to Position Yourself as a CTO Candidate for Retained Executive Search: Beyond Team Size and Tech Stack
You've scaled teams, shipped products, grown revenue—but when you talk to executive recruiters, your story sounds like everyone else's. "Led 80-person engineering team, modernized infrastructure, increased velocity 40%." True, but everyone in the retained search pipeline has a version of that story.
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When Board Recruiters Come Calling: A Reality Check from Someone Who Knows Better
When a board recruiter reached out claiming my background "matched" paid positions, I knew immediately something was off. Here's what legitimate recruitment looks like.
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Should Senior Leaders Upload Their Resume to LinkedIn? The Decision That Could Make or Break Your Executive Presence
Many senior leaders assume uploading their résumé to LinkedIn helps them get noticed. In reality, it can weaken your executive presence. Learn why C-suite professionals should treat LinkedIn as a leadership communications platform—not a job board—and how to optimize your profile strategically
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How to handle professional reference requests when your former CEO is deceased: A complete guide
When your former CEO has passed away, reference requests can feel daunting and delicate—especially if succession was turbulent or you lacked rapport with new leadership. This complete guide unpacks how to communicate your story….
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The Difference Between Board Risk Oversight and Management: What Every Director Should Know
Understanding the distinction between risk oversight and day-to-day management is central to effective leadership, strategic decision-making, and organizational resilience across every sector, from finance and technology to healthcare and law.
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Should You Add Your JD, MBA, or Other Degrees Behind Your Name on LinkedIn?
The path to executive leadership is usually marked by a series of gateways. Some welcoming and obvious, others hidden and accessible only to those prepared to demonstrate the right qualifications. For many, academic credentials and industry certifications are the quiet signals that indicate access.
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Proof, Not Promise: How Do You Build a Credible Executive Resume or Professional Services Website?
Early in your career, potential and ambition may open doors. At the executive level, what matters is readiness, credibility, and a clear record that you are the company’s next leader for the empty position.
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Board Director Responsibilities: A Comprehensive Guide for Executive Leaders
Board service represents the pinnacle of professional leadership—an opportunity to guide organizations at their highest strategic level while bearing significant fiduciary responsibilities.
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What Is Corporate Governance
Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices, and processes by which a company is directed and controlled.
It provides the framework for balancing the interests of a company's many stakeholders—including shareholders, management, employees, customers, suppliers, lenders, government, and the community.
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The Isolated Counsel: Addressing Career Stagnation in Solo General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer Roles
By recognizing these challenges and implementing structured strategies to combat professional isolation, both individuals and companies can ensure that their legal leadership remains dynamic, well-rounded, and prepared for the evolving demands of the corporate legal landscape.
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How do I use the STAR method for my upcoming interview?
The STAR method (situation, task, action, result) is great for interviewing. The CAR method (challenge, action, result) can also be a helpful acronym if you want one less step to think about.
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A Former Recruiter's View on Interview Follow up
Other hiring entities will look at anything beyond a single thank you note as being pushy, and as a result, they’ll shy away from the candidate. They’ll wonder, “Why the desperation? Is this a signal of something wrong that I should why away from?”
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Ways to Handle the Gap Between Completing Your Education and Starting Your New Job
He should find a job with that in mind. He's working toward—and shouldn't lose sight of—an end goal that is already in hand. That said, he's not the first to have that lag between hire and approval when it comes to a government role, so he just needs to find something that flexible that will pay the bills between now and then. And that's not necessarily easy to do unless he takes a step back a bit from his internal expectations.
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The Worrisome Microsoft Word Bug Most Users Don't Know About
Well, saddle up, because there's a pretty troubling bug (and important "scrubbing" procedure) you should know before sending out another Microsoft Word document.
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Resume Grammar & Spelling Fixes
In the din of everyday life, I don't actively think much about résumé grammar and spelling. I've done this work now for more than twenty years, so it's a part of the fabric of my work rather than something I obsess about or ponder.
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Pay Equity Makes a Leap Forward
You'll soon be free of the burdensome revelation about salary. At the same time, you'll be barred from asking others about their salary histories.
Korn Ferry's November 2017 article "Asking About Salary History? That's History" shares that U.S. states are making strides toward pay equity in ways we couldn't have imagined just a few years ago.
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If You're Passionate About Concise Writing, Add This Word Flip to Your Bag of Tricks
In short, any time you run into the word "of," see if you can flip the words on either side of "of" while keeping the original meaning intact. It won't always work, as you'll see below, but it's worth considering every time you see the word "of" in your writing.
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