NAK Hair is an Australian-made and owned consumer products company, founded in 2003. They are the countryâs third-biggest professional haircare company.
Emu was engaged by the new owners to lead an executive search process to identify and appoint NAKâs first external CEO.
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Quad Lock is a high growth global eCommerce business that has tripled its team size in the last two years. With an eye firmly on the future, and extending the Quad Lock brand into the real lives of their consumers, they were ready to hire their first Chief Marketing Officer to develop, implement and lead their Global Brand Strategy.
Success at the C-suite level isnât just about experience, itâs about how leaders think, act, and inspire. After placing hundreds of executive leaders, one pattern is clear, the most effective leaders consistently demonstrate five critical traits. While technical expertise and industry knowledge matter, what truly sets apart high-impact executives is their ability to lead with clarity, decisiveness, adaptability, talent magnetism, and resilience. Hereâs what the best C-suite leaders have in common:
Ever worked under a manager who was great at their job, but not great at leading people? Or watched as a technically brilliant manager got promoted, only for their gaps in leadership and commercial acumen to become painfully obvious? It happens all the time!
For many executives, the decision to change roles is driven by title and compensation. A bigger title, a step up in prestige, or a lucrative compensation package can be tempting. But focusing solely on these factors is the wrong approach. The real question should be: "Will this role expand my strategic impact?"
Succession planning isnât just about preparing for the inevitable, itâs about creating a competitive advantage. Companies that treat leadership continuity as a strategic priority, rather than a reactive necessity, consistently outperform their peers. As an executive search consultant specialising in talent mapping and intelligence, Iâve seen how integrating external market insights into succession planning ensures companies arenât just ready for change, theyâre ahead of it.
Private equity-backed businesses operate in a high-stakes, high-velocity environment. They are built for growth, value creation, and, ultimately, a strategic exit. The leaders who thrive in this ecosystem arenât just experienced operators - they are transformational executives with a unique blend of skills and mindset.
In private equity, a successful acquisition is about more than just financials, it's about the leadership team that will drive growth and create long-term value. One often-overlooked aspect of the due diligence process is assessing whether the leadership team can execute on the vision. This is where external talent mapping and benchmarking come in.
If youâre an executive looking for your next leadership role, relying on job boards or LinkedIn postings wonât get you far. The reality is that 80% of executive roles are never publicly advertised.
Over the past 5 years Emu Search has had the privilege of working with some truly great CEOs, whoâve distinguished themselves by not just achieving financial targets or managing operations superbly (although this helpsâŠ) but by engaging expertly and effectively with their stakeholder groups. This engagement helps align everyone with the company's vision and strategic goals. Here's why it's so important.
A study by Harvard Business Review found that between 50-70% of executives fail within 18 months of their appointment. Further research from the Corporate Executive Board states that âof those, about 3% fail spectacularly, while nearly 50% quietly struggleâ. These stats are concerning and should prompt business leaders and Boards to re-evaluate their executive recruitment process. This is particularly important in todayâs challenging macroeconomic context where a key executive hire can mean the difference between business success and failure.
Me: âWhen do you need to hire this person?â Client: âYesterday!â Sound familiar? Over more than ten years of recruiting across the US and APAC, I've heard the same response 9 times out of 10. The struggle is real! Vacancies at any level can mess up business operations and stress out employees. But when those vacancies are in senior leadership or executive positions, it can seriously disrupt business continuity and achievement of key strategic goals.
In the first of our âmarket analysisâ series, Managing Partner, Luke Marshall, looks at how to better align your hiring process with the evolving expectations of top-tier executives, to ensure you get the hire you want. Donât leave it to chance, listen, evolve and go the extra mileâŠ
This week we sat down with Ed Michelsberg, Managing Partner and Private Equity Lead at Emu. In this interview he shares his insights into whatâs needed for a successful search in the PE industry - from both a client and candidate perspective. We explore the current interest in PE/VC leadership roles, the qualities required to succeed in a leadership role and predictions for the industry over the next 12 months.
Will Kinkead may have only just joined the Emu team, but he is already bringing his passion and knowledge on executive research and Talent Intelligence, and opening doors for innovation and growth. He gives us his top three reasons every executive search will benefit from investing in a research and talent mapping.
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Establishing a successful customer-first strategy is not as easy as you may think. Â Many organisations purport to be focused on the customer journey and customer outcomes, while more often than not it's more of an after-thought.
Weâre currently experiencing a seismic shift in the way we work. Leaders now have an extraordinary opportunity to reconsider, redefine and reinvent how teams work, how they engage with them and how businesses operate.
There are many companies that regard Diversity & Inclusion as a source of competitive advantage, a way to expand beyond the narrow realms and perspectives the company has operated, create untapped market potential by embracing new ideas and change.
Itâs been well documented that the role of the CMO and even the term âmarketingâ might not encompass all that is expected of a Marketing executive in the digital age. In just one recent example of the evolution of Marketing, we see ex-Uber CMO Steve Brennen switch to Fintech disruptors Zip Co in a newly created role of CCO (Chief Customer Officer).
