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WilliamCharles, Pondera Leadership Consultants, and Rep-Lite Announce Strategic Talent Partnership

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WilliamCharles, Pondera Leadership Consultants, and Rep-Lite Announce Strategic Talent Partnership

January 27th, 2026 by Amy Suitter

PRESS RELEASE

WilliamCharles, Pondera Leadership Consultants, and Rep-Lite Announce Strategic Talent Partnership

Grand Rapids, MI — January 27, 2026 — WilliamCharles, Pondera Leadership Consultants, and Rep-Lite today announced a strategic partnership as part of a Human Capital and Advisory Platform designed to support organizations across the full leadership and talent lifecycle—from hire to retire.

Through this collaboration, WilliamCharles will integrate Pondera Leadership Consultants’ proprietary Pondera Virtual Advisor (PVA) assessment into all strategic leadership and executive searches. PVA provides a differentiated, data-driven lens on leadership style, values alignment, and performance risk—helping organizations make more confident hiring decisions while improving long-term outcomes.

“Leadership hiring is one of the most consequential decisions organizations make,” said Kelly Conway, CEO of Pondera Leadership Consultants. “PVA gives organizations clarity at the point of selection, and Pondera extends that insight into onboarding, assimilation, and ongoing leadership effectiveness—ensuring the hire translates into impact.”

Conway added, “WilliamCharles is an exceptional partner because they approach executive search with both rigor and integrity. Their deep commitment to understanding clients, their discipline in execution, and their belief that leadership decisions must endure beyond the hire make them a natural partner in building a truly integrated hire-to-retire platform.”

As part of the partnership:

  • WilliamCharles will serve as the dedicated partner for executive and leadership recruiting.
  • Pondera Leadership Consultants will deliver leadership assessments and post-hire advisory support, including executive onboarding, leadership coaching, cultural assimilation, and team effectiveness, where needed.
  • Rep-Lite will serve as the centralized sales talent platform, receiving all sales representative referrals from Pondera Leadership Consultants and WilliamCharles and specializing in the recruitment of high-impact sales professionals.

“Rep-Lite brings a level of sales talent expertise that perfectly complements WilliamCharles’ leadership search capabilities,” Conway added. “Together, they ensure organizations are aligned across leadership and the roles that directly drive revenue and growth.”

The partnership is grounded in a shared belief that talent wins—and that the strongest organizations are built at the intersection of people and profit. By aligning hiring, leadership development, and performance, the firms aim to help organizations create meaningful, lasting improvements that drive both results and culture.

“This partnership allows us to support leaders well beyond the hiring decision,” said Chuck Smeester, Partner, WilliamCharles Search Group. “By pairing executive search with Pondera’s leadership assessment at the point of hire—and extending that insight into onboarding, team integration, and executive coaching—clients gain a more complete and sustainable leadership solution.”

Bill Benson, President of WilliamCharles Search Group, commented, “This partnership is a natural extension of our long-standing relationship with Rob and his team at Pondera. We are also excited to work closely with Kelly, Rick, and their teams. We know our clients will benefit from having access to a more comprehensive suite of services.”

The firms will also collaborate on joint learning sessions, client workshops, and selective co-branded initiatives, reinforcing a shared commitment to thoughtful leadership, strong culture, and long-term organizational performance.

This partnership represents a deliberate step in building a next-generation Human Capital and Advisory Platform—one that grows thoughtfully through aligned partnerships and future expansion. We’re purposefully structured to offer the reach and resources of a larger firm while maintaining the personal attention and care of a boutique partner. We believe when the right people thrive, organizations do too.

Succession in Motion: Planning the Future in Family-Owned Business

January 12th, 2026 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

As we enter 2026, one of the most pressing and often most complex leadership challenges facing family-owned businesses is succession planning. It’s not just about titles and timelines. It’s about legacy, identity, readiness, and relationships.

With millions of baby boomers preparing to retire over the next few years, many of whom hold senior roles in privately held and family-run enterprises, the pressure is building. These transitions are inevitable. The challenge is to approach them with clarity, structure, and care, setting your company up for many more years of success.

Let’s take a closer look at the unique succession dynamics in multi-generational family businesses and how to navigate them with confidence and integrity.


The Family Factor: Why It’s Different and Harder
Succession in a family-owned business carries emotional and relational weight that corporate succession often doesn’t. The challenges include:

  • Blending business decisions with family dynamics
  • Aligning on readiness and expectations for next-generation leaders
  • Balancing legacy with innovation — maintaining values while evolving strategy.
  • Navigating non-family leadership and their role in the future of the business.

These dynamics don’t make succession impossible; they make it human. And that’s why it requires a different kind of planning, communication and transparency. It is also a great time to assess the organization’s change-readiness. Family-owned enterprises are often less elastic to change. This might be a great time to take steps to prepare the organization for the dynamic changes ahead.


The Boomer Effect: A Generational Time Bomb

Many family enterprises are still led by baby boomers – owners, founders, or long-tenured executives who have spent decades building their businesses. Their eventual retirement, whether planned or sudden, represents a high-stakes inflection point:

  • Institutional knowledge at risk
  • Impact on the company culture
  • Strategic decision-making in transition
  • Talent and customer confidence potentially shaken


Key 2026 Planning Step:
Create a succession risk map: List all owners and key executives over age 60 as well as those 55-60 and categorize:

  • When they’re likely to step down (3, 5, 7 years)
  • How ready is their successor (green/yellow/red)?
  • What skills or relationships will be most difficult to replace?
  • What departments are impacted the most?


What If the Next Gen Isn’t Ready?
One of the most common succession challenges: When the next generation leader is identified as the successor…but not quite ready to lead.

So, what do you do?


Option 1: Install a Transitional Executive

Bring in a seasoned non-family executive (President, COO, Integrator, etc.) who can:

  • Stabilize the business.
  • Mentor and prepare the next-gen leader and organization for transition.
  • Assign the successor a coach outside the organization who understands family business.
  • Build cross-functional trust among the team.

This can be structured as a 3–5 year engagement with clear development milestones and planned handoff points.


Option 2: Invest in Executive Coaching

An external coach can work with the next-gen leader on:

  • Executive presence
  • Decision-making confidence
  • Navigating family dynamics
  • Team-building and influence

Coaching allows growth to happen in the role, with support and reflection.


Option 3: Clarify Shared Leadership Roles

If no single heir is fully ready, consider a dual or phased leadership model where responsibilities are divided (e.g., one handles operations, the other vision and strategy) with external guidance.


Don’t Forget the Team: Integration Matters

Even if your successor is ready on paper, the team around them may not be.

  • Has the senior team bought into the transition?
  • Are roles and accountabilities clearly defined?
  • Does the successor have allies or only expectations?

Getting things off on the right foot is critical. We highly recommend Pondera Advisors for team integration assistance. Their process will help ensure alignment and cohesion with the leadership team. We utilize their proprietary assessment tool (PVA), which I would also highly recommend. Learn more at https://ponderaadvisors.com/

Use this period to:

  • Reassess team structure and strengths.
  • Hold open conversations about change.
  • Align everyone around a shared future vision.

Tip: Consider facilitated off-sites or workshops to align the leadership team, foster trust, and create space for honest discussion.


Final Thoughts: Succession Is a Process, Not a Handoff

Effective succession planning in family enterprises isn’t about finding the perfect person. It’s about designing a pathway that aligns family dynamics, business strategy, and leadership readiness.

The family successor will play two leadership roles, each with different expectations. First, they need to be the leader that the organization requires. Additionally, this person’s role within the family ownership group will also change.

Whether your next leader is a family member, a long-tenured executive, or a new outside hire, the same principles apply:

  • Start early
  • Communicate transparently
  • Invest in development
  • Don’t go it alone

We work closely with family-owned businesses to facilitate succession planning, assess leadership readiness, identify key hires, and provide executive coaching to ease transitions. If you’d like to explore your options for 2026, we’re here to help.

Here’s to starting the year with clarity and courage.

Looking Back to Look Ahead: Talent & Leadership Lessons for 2026

December 10th, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

As 2025 draws to a close, we’re pausing to reflect on the themes that shaped this year and the signals that point toward what matters most in 2026.

If 2025 was the year of weathering disruption, marked by shifting labor markets, executive transitions, AI acceleration, and leadership fatigue, then 2026 will be the year of building for sustainability. Talent strategy, leadership capability, culture, and adaptability will define who thrives.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from our newsletters this year and why they matter as you prepare for the year ahead:

The Storm Is Coming – Are You Succession Ready?

We explored the impending wave of baby boomer retirements, with over 15 million expected to exit the workforce by 2030, many in skilled trades and leadership roles. This “rising storm” creates a perfect talent vacuum unless companies get ahead of it.

Key Insight:
If you haven’t assessed your age-related risk and critical role succession, Q1 2026 is the time. Map your talent pipeline by age and role importance. Launch internal development programs or external searches before it’s urgent.

From Manager to Executive: A Transformation, Not a Promotion

We unpacked what it takes to step successfully into executive leadership, especially in middle-market and family-owned organizations, where promotions often come without formal development programs.

Key Insight:
Leading leaders requires different muscles. Shift from functional depth to enterprise thinking, from control to influence, from short-term execution to long-term stewardship. If you’re grooming new executives, provide coaching and visibility across the business.

8 Talent & Leadership Moves to Make Before Year-End

We shared a practical checklist to help leaders align their teams and strategies heading into the final stretch of the year. These same eight priorities make a powerful Q1 2026 agenda.

Key Insight:
Build your January agenda around these pillars:

  • Mid-year (or now year-end) talent review
  • Succession planning
  • Retention strategy
  • Culture alignment
  • Leadership development
  • HR data visibility
  • Growth readiness
  • Budget alignment with talent strategy

Hiring in 2026: Balancing Cost, Capability & Culture

We explored why hiring today is a high-stakes, multi-dimensional decision. Gone are the days of hiring solely on past titles or compensation targets.

Key Insight:
Ask three strategic questions before every hire:

  1. Cost: What’s the full value of the role, not just the salary?
  2. Capability: Will this person meet today’s needs and grow into tomorrow’s?
  3. Culture: Will they reinforce or evolve your culture in the right ways?

Hiring is no longer a transactional process; it’s a leadership act.

Leading Through Uncertainty: “Digging for Dinosaurs”

One of the most powerful metaphors of the year came from change expert Chris Schmelzer: the idea that leadership through change is like a dig site you don’t always know what you’re uncovering until you do the work.

Key Insight:
Adopt a mindset of exploration, curiosity, and resilience. The most effective leaders won’t have all the answers — but they’ll keep digging, learning, and staying open as clarity emerges.

The Rise of Capabilities-Based Hiring

We challenged the old-school model of hiring based on credentials and job titles — and made the case for hiring based on capabilities and performance drivers unique to your business.

Key Insight:
What matters most isn’t what someone has done, it’s what they’re capable of doing in your environment. Define the top 5 capabilities that drive success in your culture. Then, hire, assess, and promote based on those criteria.

Final Thought: 2025 was the rehearsal. 2026 is the main stage.

The leaders and organizations that succeed in 2026 will do five things exceptionally well:

  • Plan proactively for talent gaps
  • Develop adaptable, emotionally intelligent leaders.
  • Build cultures that support innovation and resilience.
  • Hire strategically for capability and alignment.
  • Lead with a mindset open to change, not just control.

At WilliamCharles, we’re honored to help you build the leadership teams and organizational capability that create long-term value.

We wish you a restful holiday season and a purposeful, growth-filled 2026.

Let’s stay connected and keep building.

Preparing for 2026: Strategic Talent Planning in Uncertain Times

November 12th, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

As we enter the final stretch of 2025, one reality is apparent: the only constant is change. Labor markets continue to shift, skill needs are evolving rapidly, and organizational agility is more important than ever.

So how do you plan for people when the road ahead is anything but predictable? How do you mitigate the risk of surprises while also preparing to deal with dynamic changes in the market?

Let’s break it down.

Talent can be either a growth lever or a growth deflator.

Talent planning is no longer just about headcount. It’s about aligning the right people, capabilities, and leadership with your evolving business strategy.

In the year ahead, companies will need to ask:

  • What talent do we need to enable our 3-year plan?
  • Where are we vulnerable if key people leave or retire?
  • What capabilities are missing as our industry or customer expectations shift?

This shift from reactive hiring to strategic workforce planning requires a cross-functional effort. It’s not just HR’s responsibility, but a senior leadership priority.

Navigating Uncertainty: Common Challenges in 2026 Talent Planning

Even well-led organizations are facing a new set of questions:

  • Do we have the leadership bench to grow? With retirements looming, generational transitions accelerating, and a scarcity of experienced managers, many businesses face a looming leadership gap. Start succession conversations early, not just for executives, but for critical roles across the business.
  • How do we budget for talent amid cost pressures? Inflation may have cooled, but wage pressure has not. Balancing competitive pay with financial discipline will require tough conversations. Instead of just benchmarking salaries, benchmark the value each role creates and align compensation accordingly.
  • Are we prepared for a more flexible, hybrid, or distributed workforce? Remote work isn’t fading, but it is evolving. Many mid-sized firms are finding success with hybrid models or flexible scheduling. It is a practical challenge for many roles, but some form of flexibility is essential to the majority of job seekers. Use Q4 to audit which roles truly require in-person presence and where flexibility can help attract and retain talent.

5 Actions to Take Before Year-End

Here are five practical steps every executive team should consider as part of Q4 planning:

Update or Create a Talent Map. Outline your current org chart and layer in:

    • Where do you expect growth, turnover and retirement?
    • Who is ready for more responsibility?
    • What are your biggest talent and capability gaps?
  • Prioritize 3–5 Critical Roles. Not all roles are equal. Identify the few that will most influence 2026 success — and make sure you have a strong plan to fill, back up, or develop them.
  • Engage Your HR Partner Strategically. Treat HR as a strategic partner, not a support function. Involve them early in planning, budgeting, and leadership development discussions.
  • Invest in Internal Capability Development. Don’t assume you’ll be able to hire every skill externally. Consider training, mentoring, and stretch assignments to build capability in-house.
  • Build Scenario-Based Hiring Plans. Rather than one rigid plan, build flexible models: What does hiring look like if revenue grows 10% vs. 20%? What if a key person leaves unexpectedly?

 

Final Thought

If 2025 was a year of stabilization, 2026 could be a year of acceleration — but only if your talent strategy is aligned to your business goals.

Strategic talent planning isn’t about predicting the future perfectly. It’s about being prepared, proactive, and aligned so that when change comes (and it will), you’re not caught flat-footed.

Hiring in 2026: Balancing Cost, Capability, and Culture

October 2nd, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

As we approach 2026, hiring leaders are facing more complexity than ever before. Talent shortages persist in critical functions. Salary expectations remain high. Skill needs are evolving. And cultural alignment, once viewed as a “nice to have,” is now a top priority.

For executives and HR leaders in mid-sized and family-owned businesses, hiring decisions are no longer just transactional; they are strategic inflection points.

At the heart of every great hire is the ability to balance cost, capability, and culture. Here’s what that really means for the year ahead.

 

1. Cost vs. Capability: Finding Value, Not Just Savings

It’s natural for leadership teams to view hiring through a financial lens, especially in periods of economic uncertainty. But focusing narrowly on salary bands can result in missed opportunities and hidden costs.

What’s Shifting:

  • Compensation expectations are still elevated, especially for high-demand roles like operations, finance, IT, engineering, and senior-level sales. Mid-level leaders, such as controllers, HR Managers, and sales managers, are in particularly high demand and hard to find.
  • Candidates increasingly assess total value: salary, bonus/incentives, flexibility, purpose, career growth, not just base pay.

The Risk:

  • Under-hiring or over-hiring for a role can be equally costly.
  • Hiring someone who is “affordable” but lacks the strategic horsepower or adaptability you need may result in lost momentum or repeated turnover. Salary surveys don’t necessarily reflect the reality of hiring a high performer.

What to Do:

  • Invest in role clarity. Build outcome-based scorecards, not just task lists. What must this person deliver in year one?
  • Think total cost of value, not just total compensation. A $20K higher salary may be well worth it if it accelerates your revenue, reduces risk, or raises the bar on team performance.
  • Balance compensation decisions with internal equity, but don’t let outdated pay structures drive bad hiring. Be cautious about losing top performers on your team who may be underpaid compared to the market value. The cost of replacing someone should be factored into compensation decisions.

Hiring Tip: During interviews, ask candidates to describe the value they created in prior roles, not just responsibilities. Look for scalable impact.

 

2. Experience vs. Adaptability: Who Can Grow with You?

Traditionally, companies sought candidates who had “done it before.” However, in a world of constant change, the ability to grow, learn, and adapt is just as, if not more, important than experience.

What’s Shifting:

  • Many mid-sized companies are restructuring, digitizing, or expanding and the jobs of today may look quite different in 18–24 months.
  • Experience alone doesn’t guarantee success. The most impactful hires are often those who can solve new problems, lead change, and bring fresh thinking.

The Risk:

  • Over-indexing on industry tenure or technical credentials can result in stagnant teams or hiring for the past.
  • Hiring “proven” talent without assessing learning agility may limit your team’s ability to respond to change.
  • Over-stacking people with similar DISC traits may align in some ways but innovation, creativity and culture will depend on having some balance among the team.

What to Do:

  • Prioritize potential and problem-solving in interviews. Ask about how the candidate has navigated ambiguity, led transformation, or learned new skills.
  • Consider a 70/30 rule. Hire someone who meets 70% of today’s needs but shows 100% of tomorrow’s potential.
  • Align on the strategic trajectory of the role. Is this a steady state position or one that will need to evolve?

Hiring Tip: Use scenario-based questions in interviews to assess how candidates think, flex, and collaborate, not just what they’ve done.

 

3. Culture Fit vs. Culture Add: Building the Next Chapter

Culture can be a powerful retention driver when viewed in the context of the company’s evolution. Hiring for “fit” doesn’t mean sameness. It means alignment with your company’s purpose, values, and ways of working while still making space for new energy and ideas.

What’s Shifting:

  • Businesses are more conscious of protecting and evolving their culture, especially amid growth, generational change, workplace trends, technological advancements and a greater than ever need to adapt.
  • Candidates are looking for purpose, flexibility, and values alignment, not just job security.

The Risk:

  • Hiring only people who feel familiar can create cultural stagnation or groupthink.
  • Ignoring cultural misalignment (in the name of “skills”) can erode morale, disrupt teams, or dilute trust.
  • Family businesses often value personality fit over other key intangibles. Look to increase the weight put on qualities such as curiosity, agility, critical thinking skills, and initiative in the hiring process.

What to Do:

  • Define the culture you want to sustain and the culture you need to evolve. Are you building for continuity, innovation, scale, or all three?
  • Assess values alignment and team dynamic fit, not just personality. Can this person bring diversity of thought and shared purpose?
  • Involve cross-functional team members in later-stage interviews to test how the candidate interacts across your culture.

Hiring Tip: Ask candidates what type of culture helps them do their best work and what kind of environments they struggle in. Then listen closely.

 

Final Thought: Strategic Hiring Is Critical Work

As the labor landscape evolves, hiring isn’t just an HR issue. It’s a strategic decision-making process that deserves the time, attention, and alignment of your executive team.

In 2026, your ability to balance cost, capability, and culture won’t just determine who joins your team; it will shape your ability to grow, compete, and lead in a shifting world.

So, as you move into Q4 planning, ask yourselves:

  • Are we hiring to solve today’s needs or shape tomorrow’s business?
  • Do we know where to invest, where to stretch, and where to take a risk?
  • And most importantly…are we building a team we’re proud of, not just a team we can afford?

Best of luck building your team of the future!

Closing Summer Strong: 8 Talent & Leadership Considerations

August 27th, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

Wow – two-thirds of the year is over. It is a great time to pause, evaluate and potentially, re-align. 2025 market uncertainty, fear of inflation and high interest rates has slowed hiring as well as investments in leadership development and other strategic HR initiatives. We are anticipating this fog lifting with 2026 being clear sailing. The time is now to make sure you are hitting your stride going into the new year. Here are eight considerations to strengthen your organization heading into 2026:

1️. Mid-Year Talent Review

Why it matters: Your people are your engine. High-performing teams can drift if priorities or development paths change.
Actions:

  • Identify high performers and emerging leaders—are they in the right roles?
  • Flag underperformers and create improvement or realignment plans.
  • Reassess team capacity to meet year-end goals.

2️.  Succession Planning

Why it matters: Critical roles without prepared successors create risk—especially in family businesses.
Actions:

  • Confirm key positions have identified successors.
  • Verify successors are gaining needed experience.
  • Adjust development plans to close skill gaps.

3️. Leadership Development Programs

Why it matters: Programs launched in Q1 may no longer reflect evolving business needs.
Actions:

  • Review program effectiveness: are participants applying learnings?
  • Refresh curriculum to close skill gaps.
  • Encourage mentorship and cross-functional exposure.

4️. Retention Strategies

Why it matters: Losing top talent is costly and often occurs mid-year.
Actions:

  • Assess engagement through surveys or direct feedback.
  • Ensure career growth, recognition, and development paths are clear.
  • Review compensation and benefits to mitigate attrition risk.
  • Conduct retention interviews with current employees.

5️. Culture Alignment

Why it matters: Misaligned culture slows execution and innovation.
Actions:

  • Conduct a “culture check” to ensure values and behaviors support business goals.
  • Identify gaps or friction points and plan interventions.
  • Reinforce desired behaviors through recognition and leadership examples.

6️. HR Data & Analytics

Why it matters: Metrics turn intuition into actionable insight.
Actions:

  • Review turnover, performance ratings, engagement, and workforce demographics.
  • Identify trends or hotspots that need intervention.
  • Use data to make evidence-based decisions for talent and leadership.

7️. Organizational Growth & Change

Why it matters: Growth initiatives fail when talent and leadership aren’t aligned.
Actions:

  • Evaluate whether current teams can support planned expansions or initiatives.
  • Identify leadership gaps or skill shortages.
  • Develop recruitment, training, or support strategies to close gaps.

8️. Strategic Planning for 2026

Why it matters: Early planning reduces surprises and ensures a strong January start.
Actions:

  • Map talent, leadership, and succession priorities for next year.
  • Identify high-impact initiatives and required resources.
  • Align budgets, development plans, and KPIs for a seamless start.

The close of summer is a natural pause for reflection—and a strategic opportunity to align your organization’s people and leadership with your vision. Addressing these eight areas now positions your company for a strong finish to 2025 and sets the stage for a thriving 2026. WilliamCharles Search Group partners with organizations to identify, develop, and retain the right leaders for long-term success. Let’s explore how we can help you strengthen your leadership pipeline and talent strategy.

Navigate Your Promotion Successfully

July 21st, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

Congrats, you have been promoted from a functional leader to a broader, more strategic role with a seat at the executive table! This article explores key areas you can evolve to make the transition as successful as possible. Additionally, we think this is a great roadmap for CEO’s and leaders who are helping an employee navigate this transition.

 

Transitions are a part of life, and success often depends on how well we adapt to them. Whether it’s moving from high school to college, single life to marriage and eventually parenthood, or frontline worker to manager, each step requires transformation. But perhaps one of the most overlooked transitions in the professional world is the move from functional manager to executive leader.

In large corporate environments, this jump often comes with a new title and a completely different role. But in mid-market companies, it’s more likely that a strong department manager is promoted to a broader role, taking on additional functional areas and stepping into the senior leadership team. The challenge? What got you there might not be enough to help you succeed at the next level.

This new role will require what you’ve already been doing well, but it is also critical to intentionally evolve. In many companies, structured development programs may be limited, so driving further growth, with coaching and feedback from others becomes essential.

As Melodie Wilding put it in her recent Harvard Business Review article,

“While a senior role comes with nice rewards, the transition itself can be disorienting. Leading leaders isn’t ‘more of the same’ — just with bigger teams and budgets. In reality, you have to fundamentally shift how you think about your role, how you spend your time, and how you measure success.”
Navigating the Jump from Manager to Executive – HBR

Below are some insights and pointers to help you navigate this shift successfully:

 

What to Keep Doing and Keep Building

People Management – Coaching, mentoring, and team development still matter, but now it’s about leading leaders. The job is to build systems and a culture that help others lead effectively.

Execution and Follow-Through – Results are still the bottom line, but leaders must do it through others, not by owning every task. They must empower teams while staying focused on outcomes.

Communication – Clarity, consistency, and diplomacy remain vital. But now they must also inspire and align broader audiences, both internally and externally.

Problem Solving – Still important, but now the problems span functions, departments, and even the market. The lens must shift to bigger-picture, more strategic issues.

 

Skills That Must Evolve

Hands-On Control – Managers often succeed by being close to the action. Executives must step back, delegate, and build trust. Micromanagement doesn’t scale.

Functional Focus – Managers often have risen through deep expertise in one area. Now they must take a holistic view of the business by integrating strategy, financials, talent, and market dynamics.

Quick Decision-Making – Managers often shine through rapid decisions and short-term wins. Executives must weigh long-term implications and broader stakeholder interests even when decisions are still needed quickly.

Approval Seeking – It’s natural for managers to seek guidance from above. But executives must own decisions, trust their instincts, and lead confidently in ambiguity. Regular “check-ins” with the CEO or peers are helpful, not for approval, but to ensure alignment.

 

The Intangibles That Define Executive Leadership

Enterprise Mindset – Think beyond your team. What’s best for the whole company?

Strategic Orientation – Connect the dots. Anticipate change and position teams accordingly.

Influence Without Authority – It is rare to have formal control over everything. Success depends on persuasion, alignment, and coalition-building.

Comfort with Ambiguity – Frequently, decisions must be made with incomplete data, evolving priorities, and competing interests.

Emotional Intelligence – Self-awareness, empathy, and grace under pressure are now leadership essentials.

Scalable Systems Thinking – One can’t touch everything directly anymore. Instead, provide strategic direction, clear guidelines, and systems for accountability.

One suggestion from the HBR article:
“Asynchronous systems also give you visibility without creating more overhead. You might ask for biweekly or monthly written updates highlighting key metrics, wins, challenges, and upcoming priorities from each manager. Or you can have each team create a dashboard that tracks critical data points so you can check status at a glance rather than schedule multiple meetings.”

Resilience and Accountability – The “buck stops with you.” Executives must absorb pressure, own outcomes, and remain composed during turbulence.

Curiosity and Learning Agility – Executive leaders are constantly learning about their teams, industry trends, strategy, and self. It’s no surprise that many great CEOs are voracious readers and lifelong learners.

 

Final Thought: It’s Not Just a Promotion — It’s a Transformation

This shift is not about leveling up the past role. It’s about becoming a new kind of leader, one who shapes the organization, influences outcomes beyond their direct span of control, and creates the conditions for others to succeed.

You are not just leading a team. You’re shaping a company.

The Rising Storm

May 22nd, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

No one can deny the clouds forming on the workforce horizon. At WilliamCharles Search Group, we are involved with TalentFirst, an organization focused on building a future-ready workforce. As leaders we have recently focused on a report from Lightcast, which named this coming wave “the rising storm”.

At this immediate moment, we could call it the calm before the storm. Tariffs and softer markets in specific segments, including the automotive industry, have slightly softened demand. This market has caused a hesitancy among employees to change jobs, so employers may enjoy a temporary respite from a high demand/low supply labor market.

What is the rising storm? About 15 million baby boomers are expected to retire in the US over the next five years. These retirements are poised to impact sectors including health care, manufacturing and construction the hardest. This issue is further exacerbated by a decline in younger workers entering these fields. Many retiring individuals are in either leadership roles or skilled trades – employees not easily replaced.

There are no simple solutions to this complicated issue. If you haven’t already planned out how to weather this storm, let’s look at some ways to give your organization an advantage. Here are 6 steps you should be taking today.

  1. Understand your risk. Determine the number of employees over 60 who are set to retire in the next five years and the corresponding critical roles you will need to fill. Do the same for age groups 55-60 and 50-55. Identify the 1-3 most vital and hardest-to-fill roles and related skills. This will lay the foundation for your succession planning.
  2. Launch a Knowledge Transfer Strategy. Identify the knowledge, skills, and expertise that are critical to your business’s differentiating advantage. Create a plan to capture this information and knowledge and begin the transfer process. Identify other training sources to add value to these critical skill gaps.
  3. Focus sharply on upskilling, training, and leadership development. Building people’s skills should be a top priority for all companies. Every key employment survey indicates that a culture focused on developing people will help you retain key talent.
  4. Hire a Strategic HR leader who focuses on more than compliance and basic HR functions. You will need someone who is committed to business goals and challenges and can solve problems and think critically. A strategic HR leader is a critical resource for managing change and driving team building.
  5. Expand your resources: 
  6. Communicate the plan internally: Ensure transparency in workforce planning. Equip managers to hold regular conversations with their teams. Conduct stay interviews with employees to develop strategies for retaining them longer.

The info above was based on national data from Lightcast and their A Demographic Drought report. This info was regionalized by TalentFirst. Special Thanks to Kevin Stotts, Carly Smyly and the team at TalentFirst for sharing this helpful content. Feel free to contact Carly to engage and get involved.

Digging for Dinosaurs – A Mantra for Leading Change in the Modern Work Environment.

April 16th, 2025 by Amy Suitter
By Chris Schmelzer

Are you dealing with change or uncertainty? This probably sounds like an obvious question! It seems everyone in our orbit is managing through some level of change. At the same time, we are all dealing with uncertainty stemming from policy changes in Washington, not to mention radical changes brought about by artificial intelligence. How do we effectively manage through these challenging times? How do we plan with so many unknowns and moving targets?

Our guest columnist, Chris Schmelzer, is no stranger to leading companies through change as the Chief Change Officer for ChangeMindset. Chris lives in West Michigan and his firm provides change leadership coaching to Fortune 500 companies. He has valuable perspective for us all.

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Digging for Dinosaurs – A Mantra for Leading Change in The Modern Work Environment. By Chris Schmelzer

A team of paleontologists spent weeks carefully unearthing what they believed were the bones of a mighty T. Rex.

Excitement grew with each fragment they uncovered, their vision of the dinosaur slowly taking shape.

But as they pieced it all together, they realized the bones belonged to an entirely different creature – a gentle, long-necked, Camelopard.

What they thought they were digging for wasn’t what they found, but the discovery was just as valuable.

“Digging for dinosaurs” is an analogy for finding clarity during times of change and uncertainty.

The concept is discussed in the book Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar.

The metaphor reflects Pixar’s approach to uncovering deeper insights and refining ideas.

In the book, the creative team at Pixar likens filmmaking to the process of unearthing dinosaur fossils at a dig site.

“You’re digging away, and you don’t know what dinosaur you’re digging for,” says Bob Peterson, a Pixar creative.

“Then, you reveal a little bit of it. And you may be digging in two different places at once and you think what you have is one thing, but as you go farther and farther, blindly digging, it starts revealing itself.”

This metaphor illustrates that, much like paleontologists who gradually uncover fossils to understand the complete structure of a dinosaur, leaders must patiently and persistently work through the unknowns of change to reveal the full potential of their vision.

In the context of leading change, this approach encourages embracing uncertainty and being flexible.

What you need to awaken to, is a knowing that the true nature of the change, often becomes clear only through diligent exploration(action).

And more importantly, your willingness or flexibility to adjust your perspective, will help bring the change to life.

By adopting this mindset, as leader of change, you can more effectively guide your team and your stakeholders through transformation.

It is in this way of being, that you foster a culture that values continuous learning and resilience in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity.

In 2025 the changes we are experiencing in the workplace are accelerating.  With the acceleration of these changes, it is very easy to become gripped by fear and uncertainty.

Leading us to question where we are heading.

However, if we can adopt a new mindset, one of exploration, curiosity, and adventure, we can see the changes that we need to unlock in our teams and organizations, not as something to be feared, but something to be found.

If you are leading change in 2025 – which I know you will be – adopt the mantra “Digging for Dinosaurs”.

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Great advice, Chris. Keep moving forward and adopt a new mindset filled with resilience, positivity, flexibility, open-mindedness and curiosity. If you’re looking at enhancing your culture… these are excellent tenets! Here are some takeaways we found in this piece:

  • Change your mindset to embrace exploration, rather than stifling something that might be valuable.
  • Encourage and foster curiosity with your team. Take concepts a few steps further.
  • Instead of being risk averse, embrace change by imagining the positive that can come with new concepts and ideas.

 

 

Chris Schmelzer is the founder of the ChangeMindset Co. and is rewriting how we approach organizational change. His experience and research reveal a critical truth: most change management approaches are fundamentally broken. They treat change like a project, not a human experience.

This realization drove Chris to launch The ChangeMindset Co. which melds neuroscience, positive psychology and organizational change leadership to help enable change in the modern work world.

Chris works with leaders, teams and organizations to help them develop the capability to move from one comfort zone to a new comfort zone.  The future of organizational change is not about managing change and uncertainty—it is about developing the collective capability to thrive through it.

Connect with Chris here: linkedin.com/in/chris-schmelzer

Schedule time with Chris here: https://calendly.com/chiefchangeofficer/introduction-call

Beyond the Resume: Hiring for Critical Capabilities

February 25th, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

A key talent trend in 2025 relates to adjusting the long-standing hiring rubric. Large corporations, banks, and law firms have heavily relied on resumes that combine a degree from a respected university with aligning experience from a competitor or a characteristically similar environment. This hiring approach based on education, title, and specific company experience provided a tangible profile for recruiters to target, and it generally produced quality candidates.  This begs the question… does similar or parallel experience ensure effective performance? I would argue this is not always the case. Other factors, including motivation, drive, soft skills, and cultural fit, often have a greater impact on performance.

As industries evolve and technology advances, the demand for critical capabilities has never been more essential. Organizations must shift from traditional role-based hiring to a skills or, better said, capabilities-based approach.

Why is this more important than ever?

  1. Technology Changes – Having the capability to adapt to the rise of AI and automation requires organizations to hire for technical proficiency, data literacy, and adaptability.
  2. Workforce Agility – Hiring based on critical capabilities rather than traditional job titles allows companies to build a more flexible workforce capable of pivoting as business needs change.
  3. Diversify the Candidate Pool – By focusing on skills or capabilities, companies can widen the pool of candidates to consider for different roles.
  4. Enhancing Competitive Advantage – Companies that focus on critical capabilities can drive innovation and efficiency and maintain a strong market position.
  5. Retention – Filling positions based on capabilities will increase the ability of internal candidates to qualify for positions offering growth opportunities and improving retention.

This concept of hiring for critical capabilities is even more important for middle-market, family-owned, and private equity-owned businesses. These organizations often compete against large corporations that have more resources. These smaller to mid-sized companies can pivot and change direction more quickly, but only if they have the right type of talent to adjust and lead that change.

You can begin by identifying the skills or capabilities most critical to helping your organization reach its goals. This might be found through a GAP analysis of skills your organization lacks. It may also be competencies or attributes deemed “critical to succeed” within your organization.

For example, we have a client with a high-performing leadership team who seeks individuals who can collaborate effectively. Their definition of collaboration encourages leaders to set egos aside, invite ideas, and actively debate major decisions. The best idea wins, whether it is the CEO’s idea or an idea generated from within a team.

Another client is moving their organization toward a more data-driven business approach. They are looking across functions for people with analytical ability such as advanced Excel skills, who have experience solving problems and making decisions using key data.

Examples of common “critical competencies” include:

  • Agility – Ability to navigate constant change, including managing through ambiguity.
  • Business Savvy – Ability to translate functional (HR, Finance, Operations) concepts and actions to support overall business goals.
  • Critical Thinking – Solving problems by breaking them down and discovering the root causes and developing data-driven action plans that positively impact the business.
  • Building Effective Teams – Leading through influence and bringing teams together to focus on driving results.
  • Change Management – Actively lead and advocate for change in a digestible way.
  • Strategic – Able to conceptually see what needs to be done to meet the future.
  • Cultural Attributes – These may include compatible leadership and communication styles, e.g., servant leadership or other aligning work styles and personality strengths.

The key to success within an organization is cultivating a broad range of capabilities that transcend traditional “resume based” attributes. Gaining a clear understanding of those unique factors will give you an advantage in hiring and vetting the right candidates.  Adopting this “critical skills or capabilities” hiring approach will help ensure resilience, long-term success, and a future-ready organization.

Happy Team Building!