THEExecutive Search Ten

SEASON ONE · FILMING 2026

The ten people who decide who runs corporate Britain, answering Season One's questions, on the record.

FIRST EPISODES 2026 · DELIVERED TO THE INDUSTRY FIRST
The set, filmed at [Studio], London
FILMED AT [STUDIO], LONDON
SEASON ONE, IN BRIEF

Executive search is having the most contested decade in its history. Succession is stalling in the boardrooms it serves. The retained fee model is under open attack. AI has arrived claiming it can do the job, and everyone in the industry has a private opinion about whether that's true.

Season One puts the same questions to every chair, on the record: what they'd keep, what they'd change, and what they think their industry looks like in ten years.

SEASON ONE · THE EPISODES

One question per episode.
Ten unique insights.

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

In the studio
TEN CHAIRS
EPISODE 01
AI is coming for executive search.
Ten founders on what they're actually doing about it.
In the studio
TEN CHAIRS
EPISODE 02
Is the retained model safe?
What clients pay for, and what they'd stop paying for tomorrow.
In the studio
TEN CHAIRS
EPISODE 03
What clients get wrong.
The brief behind the brief, from the people who read them daily.
COMING THIS SEASON
Six more questions, then the finale.
EPISODE 04 Every shortlist looks the same. True?
EPISODE 05 When should a client not use a search firm?
EPISODE 06 Growth or margin: which firm are you building?
EPISODE 07 The candidates changed. Did your assessment?
EPISODE 08 Whose responsibility is the boardroom that still looks like 1995?
EPISODE 09 The succession business: who succeeds you?
The finale: all ten, one room, the season's open questions.
HOW THE SEASON WORKS
FILMED ALONE, CUT TOGETHER
Each leader answers without hearing the others. The edit sets the ten side by side: where the industry agrees, and exactly where it splits.
BETWEEN THE QUESTIONS
Quick-fire rounds, the stories behind each firm, and questions sent in by the industry run through the season.
HOW THE SEASON ENDS
The season closes with all ten at one table, the portrait of the year, and the industry in writing: the Annual Report.
THE TEN · SEASON ONE
NOW CONVENING

Who’s appearing in Season One.

Ten leaders of executive search, one to each discipline, from the boardroom to private equity. The cast is announced name by name as the season convenes.

CHAIR 01
To be announced
CHAIR 02
To be announced
CHAIR 03
To be announced
CHAIR 04
To be announced
CHAIR 05
To be announced
CHAIR 06
To be announced
CHAIR 07
To be announced
CHAIR 08
To be announced
CHAIR 09
To be announced
CHAIR 10
To be announced

Each name is announced to the mailing list first, then here.

NOMINATIONS

Know who should hold a chair?

The ten are found the way the industry would expect: by invitation and by nomination. If there is a leader you would seat at this table, tell us who.

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

WHEN IT AIRS

Watch it first.

Drop your email and we'll tell you the moment Episode 1 is live, then each episode as it airs. Every episode is kept, in full, on the Ten Chairs channel on YouTube.

Episodes go directly to [N] named professionals across UK executive search, and the people who hire them.

The series is contributor-funded and editorially curated. Chairs are extended by invitation, one company to a discipline.

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