Eric Salmon & Partners: 'When the going gets tough...'

With news out on Thursday of last week, that net migration to Britain had fallen by more than 100,000 since the Brexit referendum, Executive Grapevine picked up with Eric Salmon & Partners Co-Presidents Raoul Nacke and Sophie Wigniolle for insights into the international Executive Search and Leadership Assessment Industry, at this time of rapid change.

For many clients, especially those who work cross-border within the EU, there’s one impossible subject to ignore: Brexit. Inevitably, the significant implications for free trade and workforce mobility are having a profound impact on strategic planning and investment. Despite much of the negativity circulated by the media, politicians and industry leaders, there is however, reason to be optimistic.

Nacke, who is based in Eric Salmon’s Frankfurt office, confides that “with so many moving parts, conflicting stakeholders, such speculation, lack of clarity and with so much at stake, I would have to take one former UK Prime Ministers’ advice and suggest to the current incumbent: ‘if you're going through hell, keep going.’ Tough as it is, it’s in all our interests that she perseveres and reaches a clear outcome that allows us all to get on with the future”.

He continued: “As we work with our clients and collectively wrestle with the implications of the UK's exit from the EU and we think about the strategic direction of our firm across Europe and beyond, I take solace from one of Churchill's other quotes: ‘the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty’.”