I don’t want “Thoughts for the Week” to be about me.

I want it to be about the leadership of others, the lessons I have gleaned from 32 years in the executive search industry, and reflections on the world around us.

After nearly 2 years of conveying these thoughts to you, I have finally realized the style, tone, and tempo I want for “Thoughts for the Week”.

I want this email to be like the conversations between Bob Edwards and Red Barber.

Do you remember those wonderful segments on National Public Radio, better known as NPR?

This may be a short version because I need to get this week’s draft of Thoughts for the Week to Elizabeth in Caldwell’s Toronto office by the close of business on Thursday, as Good Friday is a national holiday in Canada.

That Canadians recognize Good Friday as a holiday is just another example of the innate goodness and wisdom of the Canadian people. Hey Canada, I think you are just showing off, when you allow Canadian federal employees to take off Easter Monday as a holiday also!

(Note to John Wallace, CEO of Caldwell Partners: My grandmother, the late Zella Belvedere Hill Brooks, was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Can I take off Good Friday? How about Easter Monday?)

Ah, yes, March of 2023 is in the record books.

How did you do? What is your scorecard?

What should our scorecard be?

I have always gravitated to John Wooden’s definition of success, given its simplicity and elegance:

“Success is the peace of mind that is a direct result of the self-satisfaction of knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

Recently, I was interviewed by the editor of “Thoughts For The Week” in a fascinating discussion of current events. The following is a condensed version of that interview: 

Thoughts For The Week Editor: Hi, Rich, how are you today? 

Rich: I am good, all things considered. Are we done with this interview yet? 

TFTW: No, there are many topics that we would like to explore with you. 

Rich: I am flattered, if not flatulent. Please proceed. 

TFTW: First, how are your NCAA brackets performing?

I am writing this while taking a short (two day) break from work to celebrate the start of the “Basketball Holiday Season”, more commonly known as the NCAA Basketball Tournament. That said, I aspire to have a Cal Ripken-like “Consecutive Weeks of Writing ‘Thoughts For the Week’” streak, where I write this weekly epistle for 2,632 weeks. This means I will run out of ink at age 115. Sweet! So this version of “Thoughts for the Week” may be shorter than normal. Or it may not be shorter than normal… It just depends!

This week I was reminded, yet again, about the importance of “fit” when it comes to hiring leaders.

My Caldwell colleagues and I recently completed a project that had dragged on much longer than the normal search. 

What I appreciate most is how our client handled this situation. I did not realize, at the outset of the search, how difficult it was going to be to find candidates who matched the “ideal candidate” profile, as the client was looking for someone who would mentor their successor for three to five years. Thus, we were searching for candidates who would join our client for a finite period of time, and serve as a bridge to their own successor.