The first session of the 2011 Speaker Series at St. Matthews Church on Oct. 12 featured Russell Reynolds, founder of Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the first executive search firms in the country. The company was created in 1969, and sold in the mid-1990s. Currently, Reynolds heads a smaller search consulting firm.
John Needham, chair of the Speakers Series, introduced Reynolds, noting that he is responsible for the careers of some of the worlds top CEOs and journalists. The guest interviewer for the discussion was Mary Civiello, former co-anchor of NBCs Today in New York, who is currently president of Civiello Communications Group.
Civiello began by asking about how leaders do their jobs.
Corporate America is led by outstanding people. They are hard-working, intelligent and creative, said Reynolds. The bad leaders get into the paper, not the good ones. There are few Ive met that I was not impressed with.
Reynolds said he was part of the traditional old boy network having attended Exeter and Yale, followed by a job at JP Morgan.
The old boy network is gone and thats not a good thing, he said. His philosophy is to focus on a candidates character, not just their resume. He said he often takes potential executives out for a day of sailing, golf or some other activity to find out more about how they handle different situations.
I find people for jobs, not jobs for people, Reynolds said.
Civiello asked Abe Claude, a parishioner of St. Matthews and fellow banker at JP Morgan, about his impressions of Reynolds at JP Morgan. Claude raved about him as a worker and a friend. He said he initially had reservations as to why Reynolds wanted to leave JP Morgan for the search business, which was considered a schlock business in the 1960s.
But he took the cornerstone of Morgan to the search firm, Claude said. He ran a first class business in a first class wayhe changed the search business. It was a remarkable performance.
Eventually, Claude found himself working at Reynolds' firm, where he stayed for 15 years.
To submit information for this column, send an email to Nancy Dexter at nancy[email protected]
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