THEExecutive Search Ten

FILMING FROM 2026

Get to know the ten people who find the people who run corporate Britain: how they think, what they have learned, and where they differ, in their own words.

FIRST EPISODES 2026
A TEN CHAIRS SERIES
On the Ten Chairs set
THE SERIES, IN BRIEF

Hiring at the top is the decision a business gets fewest chances to practise and the least help with. Get it right and nobody notices for three years. Get it wrong and everybody does, quickly.

The ten people in this series do it every week of their working lives, and this is the chance to hear them at length. The same questions go to all of them: what separates the executives who succeed from the ones who fail, why good appointments come apart, when a company should not use a search firm at all. Twelve questions across the year, published in full.

THE EPISODES

One question per episode.
Ten answers, side by side.

Every question goes to all ten chairs, and every episode sets their answers side by side. The series opens with these three.

In the studio
TEN CHAIRS
EPISODE 01
Who succeeds, and who fails?
Ten people who have appointed thousands of executives, on what actually predicts it.
In the studio
TEN CHAIRS
EPISODE 02
What AI does to a shortlist.
Not what the industry says on stage. What ten owners are actually seeing.
In the studio
TEN CHAIRS
EPISODE 03
The most overrated quality in a leader.
Every job specification asks for the same things. Ten answers on which are worth anything.
COMING THIS YEAR
Nine more questions, released as the year closes.
EPISODE 04 Is culture fit a real assessment, or an excuse?
EPISODE 05 What kind of leader does a business need now that it did not five years ago?
EPISODE 06 What do boards get wrong about succession?
EPISODE 07 Is the market for senior people rational?
EPISODE 08 When should a company not use a search firm?
EPISODE 09 Twenty years of diversity targets. What has actually changed at board level?
EPISODE 10 How much of a leader’s success is the person, and how much the company they land in?
EPISODE 11 Who did you back when everyone else thought you were wrong?
EPISODE 12 The question they each wanted to be asked.
Then it is published as a book, and the questions begin again.
THE QUESTION PAPER →
HOW THE SERIES WORKS
WHO GETS A CHAIR
The people who run the companies, not the loudest voices. A chair cannot be applied for: each one is extended to someone whose answers count.
BETWEEN THE QUESTIONS
Quick-fire rounds, the stories behind each company, and questions sent in by the people watching run through the year.
HOW THE YEAR CLOSES
When the twelve questions are answered they are published as a book, with the ten who hold the chairs portrayed on the cover. Then the questions begin again.
Questions are put by the series’ editorial desk. There is no host.
THE TEN
NOW CONVENING

Who’s appearing.

The founders who run executive search in Britain, from the boardroom to private equity, each holding an invited chair.

CONVENING OPENED  JULY 2026 FIRST SITTING FILMS  SEPTEMBER 2026 CHAIRS ANNOUNCED  IN ONE GO, AT LAUNCH

The ten are being convened now, one invitation at a time. The line up is announced in one go, the way a cast always is, and appears here from launch onwards. Until then no contributor is named: we do not trade on one company’s name to fill the next chair.

NOMINATIONS

Who belongs in these ten?

The ten are found by invitation and by nomination. If there is someone you would put in one of these chairs, tell us who.

Nominations are read by the editorial desk. Chairs remain by invitation.

WHEN IT AIRS

Know the moment Episode 1 airs.

Each episode as it publishes, with its question and what the ten said. Every episode stays, in full, on the Ten Chairs channel on YouTube.

Contributing

Chairs are held by invitation, one company to a specialism; while a chair is held, that discipline is closed. If you lead a company in one of our industries and think you should hold one, tell us about your company.

ABOUT CONTRIBUTING →