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Shortly after resigning as President of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Tim Leiwicke told an audience of Ryerson University students that while certain Toronto professional athletes may have great statistics, their ‘lousy’ character dooms their teams to failure. The comments were widely reported as a parting swipe at several of Toronto’s more prominent yet underperforming […]
February 10, 2015
Comments Off on WANT TO CHANGE CAREERS? FOCUS ON THE EMPLOYER’S RISK
You are concerned that the high growth industry you hitched your career to is in decline. Or perhaps you’ve never really enjoyed the career you fell or were nudged into, and the urge to change is getting harder to ignore. Whatever the impetus, you are contemplating a new career. A recent study (NBER working paper […]
January 20, 2015
Comments Off on THE OFFER STAGE: OUT OF DANGER OR IN DANGER??
The company and candidate have successfully navigated a long, arduous courtship process and now seek to consummate their relationship with an offer of employment. It is almost over, or is it? The following two anecdotes illustrate how easily a promising employment marriage can be derailed at the offer stage: The entrepreneur/CEO has been extremely discerning, […]
December 23, 2014
Comments Off on AN ENTREPRENEURIAL ANECDOTE WORTH REPEATING…
I recently read an article on Thomas Bata, the Czechoslovakian-born cobbler who became ‘shoemaker to the world’ through his Toronto-based Bata Shoes. There is a famous, somewhat apocryphal story about him that speaks to the entrepreneurial nose for opportunity. In determining whether to expand his company into Africa, Mr. Bata and one of his senior […]
December 23, 2014
Comments Off on ON ENTREPRENEURS AND THOSE WHO WORK FOR THEM
Successful entrepreneurs are that rare mishmash of vision, maniacal drive, determination, resilience and whatever else makes them ‘special’. Often idiosyncratic but with instincts that rarely fail them, these explorers go places where few others have the courage to even imagine. And they lead from out front, not as benign travel guides, but as fearless field […]
December 23, 2014
Comments Off on CEO ROLES: MATCHING REQUIREMENTS TO CONTEXT
President/CEO Matching Requirements to Specific Context Start-Up Thrust of the Job Characteristics of the Candidate High financial risk Limited management team depth and breadth Little organization, systems and processes Endless work to get accomplished Multiple priorities and obstacles Generally insufficient resources to satisfy all demands Embryonic relationships with suppliers, customers and general business ecosystem Firm’s […]
June 25, 2014
Comments Off on The loveless relationship between tech firms and HR
Despite being viewed as human resources playgrounds bursting with foosball tables, hammocks and vegan cafeterias, most small to mid-sized tech firms actually have an ambiguous view of the HR function. For some HR is little more than an overhead administrative support function, while for others it is the ‘bums in seats’ department that never seems […]
June 10, 2014
Comments Off on Ben Horowitz’s “The Hard Thing About the Hard Thing” – A Worthwhile Read
Books written by successful entrepreneurs are often revisionist tripe, long on regaling the writer’s blinding brilliance and short on the mistakes you know were made along the way. While they can be entertaining, even inspirational, they rarely venture deep enough into the weeds to be instructive. Ben Horowitz’s “The Hard Thing about the Hard Thing” […]
June 3, 2014
Comments Off on If you need a weedman, hire a weedman
The commercial property had weeds …..lots of them. They were an eyesore and the hands-on owner of the property and the business that sat on it was tired of spending his weekends pulling them out. He needed someone to deal with the weeds and while at it, tidy up the property which was getting increasingly […]
February 7, 2014
Comments Off on THINKING OF JOINING AN ENTREPRENEUR-LED FIRM? PART 1
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland The executive […]
Executive Search Blog By StoneWood Group Inc. 
February 18, 2015
Comments Off on SCOUTING FOR CHARACTER IN DRAFT ELIGIBLE HOCKEY PLAYERS – By Robert Hebert, Managing Partner of the StoneWood Group