Human Resources

Today’s CEOs routinely rank an understanding of talent issues as increasingly critical to their success as chief executives. By taking the groundbreaking step of making HR a fundamental part of the grooming process for promising leaders, companies have the opportunity to better prepare any eventual CEO to win on the decisive issue of talent, and to greatly increase the value of the HR function to the business. Some notable companies have already done so — and getting started is easy.

Being credited with success as a HR director in a specific position at a particular time depends on many factors. Different regions of the world, industry sectors, individual companies and management teams all have their own imperatives and impact on how the experience and skills of a great HR director are defined. Within the framework of management appraisals, Egon Zehnder International interviewed over 2,000 HR professionals globally last year. On the basis of these interviews the firm has drawn generic conclusions and published them in a new brochure entitled In search of the elusive. A collective perspective of what makes a great HR director.