How to Hire a President
President is the most variable senior title in operating companies. At one firm it means second-in-command to a founder, effectively a COO with broader authority. At another it means successor in waiting. At a third it means line operator running a specific business unit at executive title. Hiring without defining which version of the role you are actually filling produces a year of friction and a second search.
Pick the version of the role.
A President in a founder-led operating company is often the second-in-command, owning the running of the business while the founder works the strategy and the relationships. A President in a more institutional firm can be the heir apparent to the CEO. A President at a multi-business platform can be the line executive running a specific division. All three are real roles. All three look the same on a resume.
Before opening the search, the firm needs to be honest about which version of the role it is actually filling, including the part the recruiting language sometimes wants to obscure. A heir-apparent President role without internal commitment to actual succession is not a heir-apparent role. The candidate will figure that out, and leave.
The CEO relationship is part of the job.
The President seat sits closer to the CEO than any other senior role, and works best when the boundary between the two is the product of a real conversation, not a job description. The resources, culture, and trajectory of the firm shape that conversation more than any candidate’s track record does.
- Resources
What the role actually controls.
P&L authority, hiring authority, capital authority. The President title means different versions of all three at different firms. Match what the candidate has been carrying against what the seat actually carries.
- Culture
How the CEO wants to operate.
Some CEOs want a President who runs the business so they can step back. Some want a President who runs the business so they can step out. The difference matters enormously, and is rarely on the brief.
- Future
Where the firm is going next.
A capital raise, a sale, a generational transition, a geographic expansion, a new business line. The right President is built for the next chapter, not just the current operating cadence.
Where President hires fail.
Heir-apparent in language only. The candidate was promised succession. The CEO and the board never aligned on a timeline. The candidate leaves when the gap becomes obvious.
Promoted up without strategic muscle. An excellent line operator promoted into a President seat without the broader business range the role requires. The old job under a new title is not the same as the new job.
Cross-platform without cultural translation. A President from a much larger firm hired into a smaller one. The talent is real. The operating discipline they relied on is not there anymore. The reverse can be just as costly.
No clarity on the CEO boundary. The most common reason President hires unravel is unspoken disagreement about who actually owns which decisions. The conversation needs to happen before the offer, not six months in.
Start with the boundary.
The first conversation in a President search is with the CEO, and it is about what the CEO actually wants to keep doing, and what they want a partner to take. The honest answer to that is the brief.
Our process anchors on which version of the President seat the firm is filling, the working relationship the CEO is actually willing to share, and the trajectory the firm is heading into. We approach passive candidates directly and reference for the partnership as carefully as for the operating track record. Detail on the engagement structure lives on How We Engage.
President searches across all three of our verticals.
24 Hour Search runs President searches across Commercial Real Estate, Professional Services, and Growth-Oriented Owners & Operators. Adjacent role pages: COO, CHRO, and CFO.
Start with the outcome,
not the title.
Tell us what the role needs to do for the business. We will reply personally to begin the conversation.
Start the conversation