How do you assess whether an opportunity is right for you?
Assess an opportunity on four things: the mandate, the people you would report to and lead, how the organisation makes decisions, and what happened to the person before you. If a process gives you no visibility on any of the four, treat that as information.
For candidates
Read the mandate
Is the role defined by growth, repair or maintenance? Each demands a different kind of leader, and mismatched mandates are the most common reason strong hires fail within eighteen months.
Read the people
- Who you report to, and how much authority they actually hold.
- Whether the team you would inherit was built, inherited or depleted.
- How many people have held this role in the last five years.
- Whether anyone in the process has spoken candidly about difficulty.
Read the process itself
How an organisation runs its search is a preview of how it runs its business. Long silences, shifting scope, and interviewers who have not read your résumé are all data about what working there is like.
Know your own line
Compensation, travel, autonomy, geography, and the kind of work you want to be doing in five years. Decide what is non-negotiable before you are sitting in front of an offer, not after.