This story involves the Chief Operating Officer of a market leading General Insurance business, who had just IPO’d having demerged from another major financial services institution…
It was their birthday – LinkedIn kindly alerted me to it. So I sent over a polite Direct Message wishing them a happy birthday, having never spoken to this person in my life before.
They replied with a ‘Thanks Hannah – I should put you in touch with my Chief Customer Officer as they may have some needs in your area’.
An introduction was made, conversations began and soon I went out to search for a Multi-Channel Strategy Director.
The challenge was an interesting one.
There was only one other organisation in the general insurance sector that had successfully implemented the kind of transformation the business wanted to achieve. Naturally, that became one of the first places I looked.
After extensive market mapping and a thorough search process, I presented my shortlist of candidates.
This was long before the days of Teams and Zoom. First-round interviews were conducted over the telephone, and one candidate immediately distinguished themselves from the rest of the field.
By the time they attended their next interview, the Chief Customer Officer was so impressed that they offered them the role there and then.
Over thirteen years later, that individual is still with the organisation, continuing to deliver exceptional results.
The feedback from the Chief Customer Officer remains one of the most memorable pieces of feedback I have ever received:
“They were the hire of the decade.”
Stories such as this serve as a reminder that the best searches do not always begin with an official instruction of engagement. Sometimes they begin with a human conversation.
On this occasion, it was a conversation starting with nothing more than a birthday message.
The Future CEO That Nobody Saw Coming
The Three-In-One Transformation Leader
