AI and ML in Executive Searches: Driving ‘Human Capital Alpha’

By Eric Walczykowski, Adam Boone

Achieving outsized returns requires outside-the-box thinking. That’s why our data-driven executive search process has incorporated Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning since long before the current wave of hype on the topic began.

Our clients work with us to maximize the impact of talent on software and SaaS companies and achieve “alpha” – the exceptional return-on-investment that high-impact leadership can produce with effective value creation. 

Our data-driven search process is the key to achieving “human capital alpha.”

As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, we are anticipating how AI and ML will evolve even further to enhance the quality and depth of candidate data available for our clients to find their next breakthrough leader.

Data-Driven Search

Before AI can have an impact on the executive search process, the process itself must become data driven. This is not as simple as it sounds.

There’s a direct parallel between the way traditional executive search is conducted and the professional baseball scouts that Michael Lewis described in his book Moneyball. Scouts traditionally went with their gut instincts about a prospective player’s potential. Lewis profiled how the Oakland A’s instead introduced data analytics to assess prospective players. As a result the team found it could identify non-obvious players who could make a powerful impact and produce more wins.

Executive search today offers a direct parallel to the data revolution in professional baseball. Executive recruiters have traditionally placed an emphasis on “gut instinct” and extensive personal networks. When we launched our Search 2.0 process three years ago, we revolutionized executive recruiting by harnessing the vast amounts of data available in today’s business environment.

AI Deepens the Data Pool

AI plays a pivotal role in that search process by allowing us to make more comprehensive assessments of potential candidates, supplemented by data that may have been overlooked or discounted in previous searches.

In today’s digital era, there’s a wealth of information available to assess a potential hire, which we call the candidate’s digital footprint. From public to private sources, ranging from LinkedIn activities to proprietary performance insights and company data, these data points paint a comprehensive picture of a candidate’s skills and capabilities.

Our process taps AI to broaden and deepen this data set and while at the same time allowing our team to pinpoint the relevant details that can reveal a candidate’s potential.

From this focused set of data, we craft a comprehensive candidate profile that provides a clear understanding of the candidate’s track record of success and leadership aptitude. And our AI tools allow us to generate these detailed profiles for the many thousands of high-caliber candidates in our network.

Finding the Unexpected

Our analytics tools are especially useful for spotting patterns and insights that will go unnoticed or unappreciated in traditional executive search. This includes uncovering potentially strong candidates from different market segments or functional roles. For example, we can identify step-up candidates who were successful at lower level roles and are ready to take the top job.

We uncover candidates who might not be obvious choices initially, or candidates who possess relevant experience that may not be immediately apparent in their resumes or their LinkedIn profiles.

Over our many years of conducting thousands of executive searches for private equity-backed software and SaaS companies, we have curated a network of proven CEO, Finance, Go-to-Market, Product, and People leaders who have been vetted for their ability to empower investment theses and drive growth and achieve human capital alpha.

Looking for the right executive hire? Leverage Bespoke Partners’ cutting-edge executive search process to find your next C-suite candidate. Contact us to learn more: https://www.bespokepartners.com/contact.

Author:
Eric Walczykowski
Chief Executive Officer

Eric is passionate about building high-performing teams that value doing their best, working together, overcoming adversity and learning.

As a proven growth executive, Eric has served as CEO, President, Board Member, Investor and Advisor for technology companies that achieved over $4.5B in successful exits.

Eric brings to Bespoke Partners significant professional services experience from Deloitte and Andersen, as well as the high-growth client executive perspective for private equity-backed technology companies.

Eric earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Business from Fresno State University.

Outside of work, Eric enjoys spending time with family, coaching baseball, travel, attending live events and sipping good wine.

Author:
Adam Boone
Chief Marketing Officer

Boone has led marketing, demand generation, branding, product management, services marketing, or alliances marketing programs for numerous successful companies including Avaya-acquisition Sipera, Sequoia start-up Syndesis, Subex, CoManage, and others. He has driven joint marketing programs and go-to-market initiatives with iconic industry leaders including Microsoft, IBM, GE, AT&T, Oracle, Comcast, Cisco, Ciena and Samsung.

Boone holds an MBA in Business Strategy from the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and completed the Competitive Marketing Strategy Program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

In his personal time, Boone enjoys travel, fine food and wine, mountain biking, playing and listening to music, and movies.