2026 March- ESIX Member Meeting

Last week's ESIX: Executive Search Information Exchange Member Meeting focused on integrating external executive recruiting with succession planning, with outstanding sharing from Mara Riordan and Mike Ballenger who shared their experiences at Target and Charter Communications respectively. The discussion explored challenges around gaining access to the necessary data to set up such programs, internal vs external talent tracking, and building proactive pipelines, with participants sharing their approaches to measuring success of the efforts, and maintaining relationships with external candidates. Key themes included the importance of starting with a small pilot group rather than trying to solve the entire problem at once, the need for regular check-ins with external candidates, and the challenges of tracking internal talent across different systems. The conversation highlighted that while many companies struggle with similar issues, there are no definitive solutions, and success often depends on building trust with business leaders and HR partners, and establishing clear processes for both internal talent development and external recruitment. External Succession Planning = ESP, as we say!