Adam Pekarsky, Founding PartnerPekarsky & Co is an award-winning executive search and leadership advisory firm that has been finding top-level executives for nearly 15 years across multiple industries with an approach that prioritizes trust and relationship-building above all. In an interview with ManageHR magazine, Adam Pekarsky, Founding Partner of Pekarsky & Co, talks to us about the rapid rise in executive search requirements and how his company is pioneering a new approach to leadership development.
What sets Pekarsky & Co. apart from others?
We have always felt that executive search should be personalized and client-focused. It is the client’s rules that win the day, which means that when they come to us, they get a customized, bespoke experience. We are in the people business and our clients’ experience with us has to be enjoyable. Everyone should feel a sense of shared accomplishment at the outcome. This influence is noticeable even in something as simple as our website or our office design. We strive to create an environment and brand that focuses on inclusivity and familiarity. We want to set everybody up for success, and that is intentional in our design. The right atmosphere can spark a great conversation. That attention to detail could be why we have such a high success rate in our searches.
One of our other major differentiating factors would have to be our position on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Our team has been diverse since the company’s inception. We look and act in a manner that reflects the community we serve. This is a commitment that we have extended to our clients, as well, for fourteen years, leaving no stone unturned to find the right talent pool. We don’t shuffle the same old deck around. Today, the organizations that are focusing on DEI and ESG [environmental, social, and corporate governance] come to us for diverse talent, and our experience allows us to endorse executives with unbelievable resumes and pedigrees many of whom tell us we are the first search firm to ever reach out to them. We lead Executive Director searches for not-for-profits that support great causes as well as executive search for big public companies. At the end of the day, there is only one goal. We want to help people.
How would you say the executive search landscape has changed in recent times?
A definite change would have to be the attention that organizations are giving ESG and diversity, as I mentioned. But another major shift that has come up in executive search would be around the kind of people involved in this landscape today. They are persuaders and advocates. Twenty years ago, knowing the right connections might have gotten you everywhere, but today, with the technological advancements we have in leadership recruitment, like LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, BoardEx and BlueSteps, the focus is no longer on finding people; it’s about telling them a compelling story once found.
Today it is all about storytelling and advocacy. You have to advocate for your client, to your candidate, and you have to advocate for your candidate, to your client. You are a trusted advisor, consultant and honest broker to all parties involved in the search. And I find that way more rewarding. The difference between those of us who are good at executive search, and those of us who are great at it is, the great ones are able to persuade a candidate to consider the opportunity and compel a client to consider a candidate they may have passed over on first glance. If you hire smart, resourceful and ethical people in your executive search firm, and provide them with the right training to empathize and respond to the client and the candidate’s needs, you can compete with any other well-established search firm who typically rests on the laurels of its big brand and not the people behind it.
Can you elaborate on Pekarsky & Co’s unique service portfolio?
It may seem counter-intuitive, but we concentrate our efforts on helping our clients retain people. Good candidates always want to be associated with companies that are stable and have a great retention record. Through our leadership development program, we conduct retreats, facilitations, executive coaching and leadership training session to train our clients to recruit, onboard, and ultimately retain better.
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We strive to create an environment and brand that focuses on inclusivity and familiarity
We have worked with virtually every industry in Canada and every function that lives under Corporate Services. Geographically while our primary service area is in Canada, we have strategic partnerships through global alliances and the Association of Executive Search Consultants, that allow us to operate globally. We do a considerable amount of work in the notfor- profit sector for Executive Directors, as well as an increasing amount of public company board search work, particularly with the emphasis on DEI.
However, after Covid, our leadership development services have seen the highest uptick. The rules of corporate hiring – and leadership in general -- have been rewritten. It may not be a good strategy for a company to require all its employees to return to work full time because there is nothing stopping them from walking away and joining a competitor who offers the flexibility you are unwilling to. Leaders have to approach hiring with empathy. Our program trains them to recruit, onboard and retain employees effectively, centering on relational leadership. We have a roster of over 20 executive coaches who specialize in different needs, functions and industries.
What are the different leadership advisory services that organizations want?
Organizations want full coaching programs for their executive teams and want our help to identify and coach their high potential employees. Emerging talent often requires a support system to help them reach their full potential. We have certified members in the team who can administer over twenty psychometric assessments and advise a hiring committee, based on their results. We don’t simply transact on a search; we consult, we advise, we lead and we follow.
“Mission Critical 100” is our proprietary onboarding program for clients who don’t have a dedicated onboarding function and even those who do. We set up the new hires in a company for success in their first hundred days on the job. Another advisory service companies come to us for is succession planning. In a transition situation we provide a comprehensive plan that ensures that the business runs smoothly.
Is there a particular success story you can cite for our readers?
In the middle of COVID-19, one of our long-running clients wanted to hire a BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] board member with governance experience. They wanted a lawyer who was an expert in Mergers and Acquisitions and had lived in Calgary. We went out and found an incredible candidate who fit the exact profile, and he was asked to join the Board. At the end of the hiring process, the chair of the board asked whether we had to compromise on the quality of the hire, for diversity. And the answer to that was a resounding, ”No.” It is our responsibility to ensure that our clients are hiring candidates not because they fill a diversity quota, but because they are supremely talented and are a right fit for their role. It’s not an either/or proposition; it’s an “and” proposition.
What does the future hold for Pekarsky & Co?
We are leaders in our community, and we want to challenge your perceptions through the themes we address. Our programs, blog, podcast, and newsletter all talk about and demonstrate authentic thought leadership. We believe in supporting local businesses and organizations and are heavily involved in philanthropy. I am personally accountable to maintain the standards our company has been able to achieve all these years. We work incredibly hard at creating a workplace where our people feel comfortable and well taken care of. That attention therefore translates to our client relations as well. Like Richard Branson says, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
