We built this firm around one partner, one search and the whole market.
Our founders ran global search practices at the leading retained search firms in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. That experience taught us what excellent search looks like, and what it takes to deliver it every time.
Leichter Advisors grew out of that experience. Having led global businesses at that scale, we saw how much a client gains when its search firm has few clients and few restrictions. We set out to build that firm, so that every client can see the whole market.
We founded the firm to practice search the way we believe serves clients best, with partners who are search practitioners first. We take one client and one search at a time, and the partner who takes the brief carries it through to the candidate you meet. Every search we have accepted, we have completed.
We are as selective as our clients. We accept a search only where we can complete it, where our expertise and relationships are strongest, and where we know we add value. A short client list is the consequence, and it is the reason you see the whole market, with every restriction disclosed in writing.
We work best with clients for whom getting leadership right matters most, and who want to see the whole market before they decide.
Critical roles, not more headcount.
A firm's value is created in a small number of roles. They are defined by what they contribute, not by where they sit in the hierarchy, and many organizations have not yet named them. We identify those roles, the components of each that make the biggest difference to a firm, a division or a team, and the gap between the talent in place and the talent the plan requires.
That is why we describe ourselves as a solutions business, with a placement as one possible answer. Sometimes the solution is a hire. Sometimes it is a succession, a role rebuilt, or a decision not to hire at all. You cannot know which until the objectives are clear, and helping you get them clear is where our work begins.
Not the same job at a different firm.
The obvious shortlist is the people doing this job at a competitor. It is a sensible place to start, but rarely the whole answer, because success depends as much on the firm, the culture and the moment as on the job itself.
We think creatively and take the time the search needs. We partner with you to understand what the role has to achieve, and then we look for the person who will succeed at your firm, in your culture, on your problem. Sometimes that is the obvious candidate. Often it is not.
What you can hold us to.
Completion: every search we accept, we complete. One partner, start to finish, who interviews every candidate and personally obtains every piece of information you see. The whole market, with every restriction named and explained before we begin. Everything in writing. Discretion: no client, candidate or placement is named on this site, or anywhere else.