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Industry news, views and advice
Executive search pitfalls: Steering clear of the three fatal flaws
Let’s assume that you’ve made the (really wise) decision to partner with an executive search firm to fill a critical leadership role. You probably did this because you really (really) need to find the best talent, but can’t/don’t want to do it yourself for one or more...
Jack Hammer’s annual bonus and business sentiment survey
At this point in the year, we would typically survey executives from dozens of companies on whether they expect to receive a bonus this year, whether they’re expecting increases next year, what their overall business outlook is and whether they’d consider job...

‘The Living Room Leader’ is my account of the shift that I and many of my peers (leaders in corporations and entrepreneurs running a range of differently sized organisations) have had to make in record time, in order to lead, hire and engage our people, during what is undoubtedly the most challenging work-life experience that any of us have ever encountered.
– Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, CEO of Jack Hammer
Book Review: No Rules Rules
The book that should be on every leader’s holiday reading list is No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. Once you start reading, it won’t even stay closed long enough for you to claim it’s “on your bedside table”. The prose is digestible and...
C-Level vacancy meets internal candidate – Match made in heaven or not?
Many more times than one would expect, executive headhunters are mandated to search on roles that are not entirely vacant. Indeed, in many situations where a leader is departing, an organised, intentional and deliberate succession plan is under way, and there is...
Invitation to AI World Summit – Leadership DNA of Top Women Leaders
Jack Hammer CEO, Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, will be participating in the upcoming AI World Summit, which will take from the 30th of November to the 4th of December. The summit aims to explore how AI’s transformational potential can be best used to create a better future....
Why boardroom diversity matters
For any company to succeed, its board is crucial. Recruiting suitable, diverse candidates can be difficult. Whether the need is driven by investors, required by law or simply a matter of good business practise, a strategic approach to board diversity is increasingly...
Podcast – Debbie Goodman-Bhyat on EO Wonder
In honour of Women's Entrepreneurship Day, listen to Jack Hammer CEO, Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, giving a glimpse into transitioning from a contemporary dancer to law student to the powerhouse behind three s successful businesses.
How Covid performance can provide unexpected insights into (current and future) leaders
Let’s agree that almost all leadership (C-Suite and executive level) appointments usually have a measure of risk attached to them. Even if you’ve done all the due diligence, i.e. you’ve done tremendous amounts of research, interviewed at length using reputable...
Don’t squander this unique moment – you still have time to achieve the extraordinary
As I re-read McKinsey’s quarterly report The CEO Moment: Leadership for a new era (July 2020), I found myself inspired once more by the stories of CEOs who managed to leverage opportunities presented by Covid to achieve extraordinary shifts, changes, goals, and...
Board Diversity – Talent Pipelining to Shift the Needle
If you speak to leaders and board directors on a daily (hourly) basis like I do, you’ll start to hear a common theme when it comes to their biggest challenges. And no, it’s not about Covid, or work-from-home issues and productivity (although this remains an ongoing...
To go (back to the office) or not to go – that is the question!
A few months (which feels like years) ago, almost the entire global workforce was dispatched lock stock and barrel to their homes, relatively overnight, as Covid-19 lockdowns kicked in. Technology infrastructure was sorted out pretty swiftly across the board, so that...
An Embarrassment
Happy Anniversary. To me! Nine years with Jack Hammer, finding leaders who will help great businesses to grow and prosper. Could there be a better job in the whole world? I suffer from an embarrassment of good fortune - and have decided it's not serving me to avoid...
Finding Sanity in Covid WFH Reality
I started writing this a little while ago and stopped because it felt like maybe this blog had missed its time. However, hearing a number of stories this past week reiterating what I had struggled through almost verbatim, made me want to share again while I feel like...
How it works: Managing Remotely
Our CEO, Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, recently shared her expertise on remote managing with Bruce Whitfield, on The Money Show. Listen to the session here.
Business unusual – moving on after the crisis
The past few months have seen the world thrown into turmoil; as one popular meme puts it, we’re all awaiting a return to “precedented” times. But we all know that won’t happen. McKinsey calls it The Next Normal. Satya Nadella has crystallised the three phases of...
LinkedIn and search – they aren’t mutually exclusive
LinkedIn is an invaluable tool. It provides access to data around talent relatively quickly and can often narrow the pool of talent in a considerably shortened time. There is a flaw, though: this information is completely unverified. No checks, references nor the...
Covid is not an excuse to make low-ball offers!
I sit (virtually and metaphorically, of course) with one leg on either side of the Atlantic, living in the US, whilst overseeing businesses in Africa. I get my daily news literally 24/7, and find myself viewing ‘the economy’, business in general, and the job market...
Covid and beyond – what role will you play?
It has been fascinating to note the impact that the Covid-19 response has had on our search assignment portfolio. Any number of clients have ‘paused’ on hires until some version of normality resumes, but just as many (on my desk, at least) are forging ahead with hires...
Podcast: Practical advice for managing remote teams
With close to 30 countries across the globe in full or at least partial lockdown, working from home became the norm overnight, speeding up a process that normally would have taken weeks and months to set up. As someone who's spent a year dealing with the teething...
I’m not okay and I’m owning it
Lockdown has been extended. What was a 21 day countdown, is now a million day countdown (or so it feels). Please allow me to be not-okay for a moment. Despite everyone trying their best to stay positive, this is one of the hardest things to do - and it’s okay to say...
Locking down video call etiquette
After the first week and a bit under ‘Lockdown’, many of us may be questioning whether we’ll emerge with our sanity in tact. And we’re now contemplating the next full week of proper ‘work from home’ under these extraordinary circumstances. For the next while, video...
A letter to my Work-Friends
Dear Work-Friends As we head into Week 1 of Lockdown in South Africa, I’m into Week 3 (THREE!) of self-quarantine here in Los Angeles with my family (where I currently live). My daughters are also into Week 3 of remote learning (otherwise referred to as...
Leading remotely: management mindshift in time of crisis
Advice abounds for the suddenly remote workers across the globe on how to adjust to the new normal for the foreseeable future, yet leaders of companies and teams who may have resisted the idea of remote work until now may need an even greater mindset shift during...
Coronavirus: The end of the office?
Could the coronavirus pandemic hasten the demise of the traditional SA office environment? The country is several years behind much of the world in adopting "remote working" — the ability to work for your company from wherever you want. But now, as in the rest of the...
Corona-quarantining – a note to WFH parents!
It’s one week down, into what is probably going to be the new norm for the foreseeable future. Full time working mum, alone at home with two small children, digging into the depths of her patience capacity! A similar situation to so many around the world right now. I...
How to work from home
If you’re lucky enough, privileged enough and sufficiently ‘enabled’ from a technological perspective, you might just find yourself working from home a bit over the next weeks or months. Here’s some advice from a professional occasional remoter. 1. Get dressed for...
Change Management – the new Leadership Imperative
Over half the global working population requires significant up-skilling or re-skilling*. By 2022. It’s a topic on everybody’s lips, and on most** 2019 integrated reports up-skilling is both a strategic imperative and a KPI for all key leadership appointments. So...
New perks which could be widely introduced in South African companies
Companies are increasingly softening to the ideas of remote working and flexitime as the understanding of the importance of employee wellness on productivity starts gaining ground. This was one of the major trends identified in a new survey by executive search firm...
Podcast – Are companies increasingly softening to the ideas of remote working and flexitime?
Advaita Naidoo, COO of Jack Hammer, had a conversation with Oliver Dickson of 702 on the cultural shift when it comes to the working conditions in companies and who drives the change in remote working and flexitime. She also discussed the benefits for employers and...
The future of financial services – Global insights
Jack Hammer is the exclusive Southern African partner of IRC Global Executive Search; a professional alliance of executive search firms, united in our commitment to support clients in sourcing and retaining key leadership talent. Watch this brief video, put together...
Companies & Candidates: The 5 ground rules of job offer negotiation
As companies and candidates enter a fresh hiring season in 2020, the time will come where both parties stand at the door of a potential new partnership – arguably the most fragile period of the hiring process. At this stage, when both have clearly indicated their...
Podcast – Gearing up for great hires in 2020: ditch the job description shopping list
Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, CEO of executive search firm Jack Hammer and author of "Inside the Interview" had a conversation with Wasanga Mehana on how businesses can create a responsible recruitment plan and how hiring a wrong candidate can affect the organisation. She...
Jack Hammer: Women in Leadership
A Diversity Study on US Women CEOs Jack Hammer has initiated an independent study project with contributors from Harvard Business School to analyse a sample pool of organisations in the US with women at the helm (in CEO roles). The objective of this study is to...
Stronger Together
Jack Hammer recently released our annual bonus and salary survey, where we unpack whether SA executives are expecting incentives (nee, meneer) or pay increases (aikona) in the coming year. Given the state of the economy, the results were unsurprising – respondents are...
Ailing economy douses hopes of any bonus, pay increases
South African senior professionals, especially in the retail, manufacturing and finance sectors, are neither optimistic about a bonus this year nor a salary increase in the new year. The belt-tightening as a result of the sluggish economy has doused expectations of a...
Dread getting out of bed? You’re not alone. SA is facing a burnout epidemic
In SA, some executives need sabbaticals or breaks by their late 30s and early 40s to cope, says Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, the CEO of the executive search firm Jack Hammer. She says successful black women in particular have had to work harder all their lives to reach the...
Podcast – South Africans are embracing a multi-generational workforce, says expert
Leadership strategist and founder of Jack Hammer Debbie Goodman-Bhyat says, managing teams comprised of a range of generations is a growing challenge for leaders. Speaking to Refilwe Moloto, Goodman-Bhyat says if this challenge is not constructively and proactively...
Multi-generational diversity impacts workplace productivity
Managing teams comprised of a range of generations is a growing challenge for leaders and, if this challenge is not constructively and proactively addressed, it can have a substantial negative impact on affected employees and ultimately the organisation, a leadership...
A ‘strained relationship’ with psychometric assessments
You may have recently heard Jack Hammer’s fabulous COO, Advaita Naidoo speaking on Cape Talk about psychometric assessments. Listening avidly, I was pushed to finish writing this blog which has had far too many edits and versions to count. If you know me, you probably...
Beware the hidden cost of downsizing
As companies increasingly turn to retrenchments in response to pressures on their bottom line, they should beware the unintended but very real consequences that are likely to flow from a reduced staff complement, an expert warns. “In many instances, the reduced profit...
Transformation in SA companies is well underway
Another Women’s Month has come around and, depending on where you sit, the cause for women in the corporate perch is well and truly being secured – or is it? According to data from executive search firm Jack Hammer, the appointment of women in corporate positions is...
Dear Hiring Manager: Candidates are not waiting for you forever
Several hiring misses that have taken place in this week alone have tempted me to write a letter that goes something like this: ‘Dear Hiring Manager, you have (again) let a top quality, fully qualified candidate slip through your fingers. And the reason for this...
South Africa’s CEO bloodbath
The past few weeks and months have seen arguably the biggest exodus and purge of leaders from the country’s top companies and state owned companies in recent history, with more heads expected to roll in future. Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, leadership strategist and founder...
The 10% Investment That Will Get Your Business Game Back On
Disruption. Uncertainty. Rapid technological advancement. Obsolescence. We all know that the world of work and business is changing and transforming rapidly, even exponentially. I’ve seen some form of a Moore’s Law graph at every conference I’ve attended in the last...
Non-executive appointments – Time for Fresh Eyes
Non-executive Board appointments are a growing part of the Jack Hammer business offering. Increased complexity around conflicts of interest and the need for impartiality and good governance is partly driving this. Board diversity is another. Interestingly, the...
My Market Map Lightbulb Moment
I admit that for many years I was a little cynical about the value of market mapping as a tool to help businesses. “Why spend the money? What value can this really add?”, were the thoughts commonly occupying my mind. And then I had a lightbulb moment, and now I truly...
More than half of managers, executives appointed in SA last year were women
Annual statistics for top leadership placements show that South African companies are taking gender transformation to heart, with more women than men landing management and senior leadership roles for the first time in 2018. Advaita Naidoo, COO at Jack Hammer, says it...
Podcast – Remote working: an emerging trend
As the remote working trend gains popularity in South Africa, our COO Advaita Naidoo shared our research findings that local companies reluctant to offer remote work options to prospective employees are losing out on top talent. Some of the reasons employees motivate...
Podcast – The jobs of the now and the future
Jack Hammer COO, Advaita Naidoo, recently spoke to Cape Talk's Refilwe Moloto about what the future of the job market looks like. What kinds of qualifications / skills / positions might the graduates of 2029 be looking at? Click here for great insights into the...
African Ivy League grads – it’s a war!
Whether you’re Google or a small business, hiring managers will all say the same thing. It’s a war for talent. As executive recruiters we hear this daily, and we also know where the biggest battle-fields lie. A battle field where the demand for talent so far outstrips...
South Africa On The Radar For Global Execs & Entrepreneurs
Internationally-based executives and entrepreneurs continue to enquire about career opportunities in South Africa, despite the challenges facing the country, including political uncertainty and crime. But even though these high-level leaders are in a position to drive...
New rule and roles – no time for companies to stick their heads in the sand
The workplace of the future is here, changing rapidly, enabled by new tech and progressive thinking. As a result, a number of new senior leadership roles are emerging that companies must start incorporating into their leadership teams to position themselves...
Easing into 2019
I’m a massive goal-setter. I have spreadsheets for my big picture life and business goals, my one-year goals, and every month….yes…a spreadsheet for my monthly goals. My lists are legendary and, although I don’t always achieve everything I set out to do, my mantra is...
CEO Appointments – Career Trophy or Career Suicide?
Many of the ambitious executives I speak to on a daily basis have aspirations to ultimately become CEO. In fact, at least 80% of execs will take the call from a headhunter when the role has this 3-letter acronym as its job title. They’re interested for a range of...
Four women on top of their game about the ‘top seat’ at the table
Earlier this year the Grant Thornton ‘Women in business: beyond policy to progress’ report revealed that only 29% of senior roles in South Africa are now filled by women. While this is a small improvement on previous findings, it’s important to note that 20% of local...
International US companies are looking for you
Multinational companies seeking to establish or grow their presence in Africa are looking for qualified and experienced professionals to lead their organisations, both in South Africa and on the rest of the continent. This is according to Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, CEO of...
IRC Global Conference in Lima: Embracing the Future
Members of IRC Global Executive Search Partners met in Lima, Peru, on October 3-5, 2018. Delegates from 40+ countries celebrated 25 years of the largest global alliance of locally operated executive search firms. Our Partners gathered at the annual IRC Global...
The Top-Job Gender Gap
You may have seen my colleague on the news recently discussing gender diversity in South Africa. It is a hot topic and her interview was the result of Jack Hammer’s recent findings around the lack of women in the CEO job in South Africa. This data is not new, and it’s...
Career Success in the Digital Age
What’s going to put you ahead of the other 1 billion talented people out there? We’d all like to believe that a combination of talent and hard work will lead to career success. This is partly true. Talent and hard work may lead to some success – if you measure success...
Gender transformation in senior positions
Jack Hammer COO, Advaita Naidoo, recently spoke to SABC's Bongani Bingwa about our latest research into the leadership makeup of the JSE's Top 40 companies.
Podcast – Tracy Dawson on the decline in salary increases to attract headhunted candidates
Jack Hammer Partner, Tracy Dawson, spoke to 702's Bruce Whitfield about our latest research into declining premiums paid for headhunted candidates. The average salary increase offered to headhunted talent fell to 21% in 2018 from 27% in 2017.
Balancing the future with the present
Signal Risk Director, Ronak Gopaldas, gives more food for thought on the transformative powers of technology. Africa’s demographic advantages are well documented. Yet, of late, rapid changes and technological advances have divided opinions about these prospects. For...