Talent-led transformation in a post-pandemic world: North America

Conclusion

Looking ahead through 2022, recruitment and retention are of significant concern, particularly among consumer & retail and technology respondents.

Understanding talent within the organization, and externally as talent pools evolve, is a major priority, with leadership and board assessment high on the agenda, along with investment in leadership development for high potentials. We expect to see a continuing increase in the interplay between executive search and interim management solutions, as economic and tech cycles accelerate and talent needs become urgent.

It is of some concern that ESG/sustainability leadership is not attracting greater attention or investment, but pipelines are weak and this talent pool needs to be nurtured through business-academia collaboration, as well as search and leadership consulting experts.

Commitments to DEI are very encouraging, as organizations continue to seek overlooked talent and search firms bring exceptional executives to the table.

As the corporate landscape continues to evolve, public companies face fierce competition for talent from private businesses, start-ups and private equity-backed companies, with the latter expected to surge through 2022 as pent-up capital from 2020 is put to work.

Report Contributors

Meet our Boyden discussion participants from across Canada and U.S.: