"Recruiting Inside the Box" is something I think is apparent among executive search for larger companies. As an executive search consultant I see a lot of companies who insist on industry or product knowledge from their area of expertise. For example a telecom equipment manufacturer insisting on their new executive coming from that industry or niche software house insisting on previous software sales experience in their niche for their new sales director. Ultimately it means executives hopping around the same industry and working for the same players.
I do believe there is a lot of merit in this, for example, in the candidate getting up to speed quickly and reducing risk. As well as the advantage of being able to mine the new executives previous customers and relationships. However, I am actually starting to wonder if it doesn't create a whole group of people who have the same ideas producing the same results. Suddenly when a company requires a revolutionary change it struggles to deliver.
Recently in the hospitality industry there have been some bold moves by management to look outside their own industry for new ideas and executives. I think these are interesting moves. For many companies, especially in high tech there should be more cross over between other industries as the skills required to build businesses change. Another good example about this is to ask yourself: If Apple had hired a CEO out of the computer industry instead of asking Steve Jobs to return, do you think that person would have taken a chance on something as far away from their core business as the iPod?
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