Q&A with Michelle Carson-Williams, Founder & CEO of Holmes Noble

Michelle Carson-Williams, Founder & CEO of Holmes Noble, discusses the future of executive search.

What are the executive search challenges that you face?

The executive search industry never ceases to amaze me, the pace at which it changes and evolves. The cycles I have seen over the years and the landscape still continues to morph. I love that I work in such a competitive industry. It keeps me sharp, insightful and on my toes. I think the recession was good for our firm. I know that may sound odd, but it made me/us think differently, behave differently and adapt quickly. It has made our company agile, proactive and it gave us a whole new set of skills, a different way to engage and real steel to continually strive to be better.

The challenges now are to make sure that the stakeholders in our client companies completely grasp the importance and benefits derived through total collaboration. A true team approach has to be more than our 'team' at Holmes Noble. It is our team working in total alignment with the client's team. Sounds easy, but it does require skills in our client facing team that go beyond the role of a 'search consultant' and move into the realms of ‘management consultant’. Advisory experience, influencing skills and the ability to constructively challenge are right up there.