Perspectives on leadership in moments of change.
Research notes, point-of-view pieces and field observations from the Smarter Search team on executive search, interim solutions and Strategic Team Build, across private equity, industrial technology and regulated sectors.
Recent perspectives
The Dutch Wet DBA in 2026: what hirers and contractors need to know now.
Active enforcement resumed 1 January 2025. After the moratorium, the standard returned to a stricter test for the hirer's qualification of a working relationship, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2025.
Leadership transitions in the first 100 days after a PE deal.
How portfolio CEOs and CFOs are recalibrated for value creation, and what an institutional sponsor expects from day one.
When regulation becomes a leadership test.
How governance, fit-and-proper assessments, and supervisory expectations shape executive hiring in regulated sectors.
The real cost of a wrong senior appointment.
Beyond severance: the lost cycles, missed plans, and team disruption that follow a hire that doesn't land, and how a structured search reduces that risk.
Succession planning for founder-led mid-caps: the 18-month rule.
Founders who treat succession as a year-of-exit problem leave value on the table. A view on how leadership continuity is built well before a sale process begins.
The Smarter Search brief.
A short monthly note for boards, CFOs and operating partners on leadership decisions in moments of change. No cross-promotion, no filler.
