This is a note for CEOs, founders, investors, anyone who’s just approved a headcount for a critical exec hire and handed it to a recruiter with a list of bullet points and a quiet sense of panic.
I get it. The board wants reassurance. You want movement. Your team wants air. And the spreadsheet says this hire needs to land by Q3.
The brief gets written. Title, scope, KPIs, experience. You know the drill.
And then we all go hunting for the one. The one who fits it all. The one who can walk in, take over, fix things, and also not ruffle too many feathers (unless feather-ruffling is suddenly back in fashion, in which case: ruffle away).
But here’s the bit that doesn’t get talked about enough:
You’re not hiring for now. You’re hiring for five years from now. And most job briefs haven’t caught up.
Leadership is being rewritten. Not theoretically. Practically. Right now.
In the last 18 months, I’ve had more conversations with execs who’ve burned out, opted out, or quietly pivoted than in the previous ten years combined. The pandemic didn’t just test leaders. It reset the conditions of leadership. The rules have changed.
So has what your next hire will actually need to do.
We’ve entered an age where executives must be strategic and human. Data-literate and intuitive. Able to lead through change and still keep the business moving. This isn’t just about hybrid work or AI or culture-fit-on-a-slide-deck. It’s about executives who can grow the company and grow with it.
And the punchline is…that person probably doesn’t look like who you thought you’d hire.
I’m not suggesting you throw out the brief. But I am suggesting you interrogate it.
Ask:
- Is this based on what we need, or what we’re used to?
- Does this reflect where we want to go, or what just broke?
- Are we hiring for comfort, or for change?
Because if you want to build something bold, you have to be brave enough to court someone who will push you into the unknown a bit. Someone who challenges your assumptions in the interview. Someone who might be a bit harder to “package” to the board, but who you know, deep down, is what the business actually needs.
The real question isn’t “can they do the job?” It’s “what will this job become in their hands?”
At Marlin, this is where we do our best work. We’re here to look underneath the hood, quietly, precisely, and ask: what’s the problem this hire actually needs to solve?
And then we go looking for the person who can solve that. Not the most obvious choice. Not the most polished bio. The one who shifts something important.
The one who turns a trajectory.
If you’re an investor: You already know your future value doesn’t sit in spreadsheets. It sits in leadership. Full stop.
The execs who’ll triple your exit don’t always come in familiar packaging. They’re usually not waiting around on job boards. They’re busy building futures somewhere else, and they’ll only move if what you’re building has guts.
If you’re a founder or CEO: This next hire isn’t a stopgap. It’s an inflection point. Do not sleepwalk through it.
And if you’re wondering what “doing it differently” actually looks like? It looks like asking better questions before you start the search. It looks like pausing the rush to find the right person and focusing instead on defining the right vision. It looks like challenging yourself to lead with clarity, not nostalgia.
Because you’re not just hiring an executive. You’re hiring a future.
And you don’t want someone to simply fill the seat. You want someone who makes you rethink the table.
In your corner,
Kate xx
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