How long a CXO hire actually takes.

Most boards underestimate the timeline by a factor of two. A clean CXO mandate runs 10–16 weeks from kick-off to signed offer; confidential replacements and Country Head searches run 16–22.

The bottleneck is rarely sourcing. It is calibration — getting the brief, the committee and the compensation envelope into one coherent shape before the candidate experience begins.

We push hard on the first three weeks because everything downstream compounds from there.