// hiring

Source: N2Growth

Hiring panels systematically choose candidates who feel familiar and safe rather than those with the strongest qualifications, a bias that executive search firms enable rather than counteract. This creates a self-reinforcing loop: companies hire executives who resemble their existing leadership—same networks, same backgrounds, same blind spots—which erodes competitive advantage even as boards claim to want transformation. For growth-stage companies and PE-backed firms betting on operational improvement, comfort fit hires are a hidden tax on performance that looks reasonable in the moment but locks in mediocrity.