Leadership
Culture, Ethics & Governance: A Leadership Responsibility
How culture drives ethical behaviour and governance Earlier this month, I was pleased to facilitate a focus session on behalf
May 27, 2025
As a CEO, I was recruited. As a Non-Executive Director, I helped recruit CEOs. Now, one year into my time with OnTalent, I see recruitment from the other side, and it’s changed how I define leadership.
A year ago, I joined OnTalent. It marked not just a change of role, but a shift in identity.
For most of my career, I was an executive in the not-for-profit sector and often in roles with strong engagement with government. I had the privilege of serving as both a CEO and a HR and operations leader, and my focus was always the same: people. Supporting them, developing them, building organisations where purpose and performance could coexist.
Alongside those executive roles, I also served as a Non-Executive Director. Sitting on boards gave me a different vantage point. I’ve been part of recruitment panels searching for CEOs and charged with finding leaders who could deliver results and embody the mission. Those processes taught me how critical, and how complex, leadership appointments are. The stakes are never higher than when you’re selecting the person who will define the future of an organisation.
So, when I first stepped into recruitment, I resisted the title of “recruiter.” It didn’t feel like me. My career had been about leading, partnering, and navigating complexity, not about placements or transactions. But over the past twelve months, I’ve learned that true executive recruitment, when practiced with care and integrity, is very much about leadership.
And that’s where my journey as a CEO, HR leader, and NED has proven invaluable.
When organisations come to OnTalent, they’re not just filling roles. They’re grappling with change, succession, growth, or sometimes survival. The stakes are high, especially in purpose-driven sectors where leadership directly impacts communities.
Having been a CEO, I understand the weight of those decisions. Being a NED, I know the gravity that Boards feel when making an appointment that will define an organisation’s next chapter. Those perspectives allow me to walk alongside clients, not just as a recruiter, but as someone who has carried the responsibility of those choices – an authentic, trusted partner.
From the candidate side, I also know the vulnerability of putting yourself forward, of navigating transition, and of balancing ambition with values. That empathy shapes how I engage with leaders at pivotal points in their journey.
At first, I avoided the word “recruiter” because I equated recruitment with transactions. I now see it differently. At its best, executive recruitment is about alignment, matching the right leader with the right organisation, at the right time. When this is done well, it strengthens culture, builds capability, and sets organisations up to thrive long after the appointment is made.
This isn’t about filling jobs. It’s about shaping futures.
In that sense, I haven’t stepped away from my career in NFP and my interactions with Government at all. I’ve reframed it. Where I once led a single organisation, I now get to support many. Where once I developed leaders in my own teams, I now help build leadership capability across whole sectors.
One year in, I can admit it: perhaps I am a recruiter. But not in the way I once imagined. I am a recruiter who brings the lens of an executive, the governance experience of a board director, the empathy of someone who has walked the path, and the conviction that leadership shapes communities as much as it shapes organisations.
I’m grateful to my colleagues at OnTalent, to the clients who have trusted me in their most critical leadership decisions, and to the candidates who have shared their stories with such openness.
Here’s to year two, continuing to grow and challenge assumptions, and continuing to connect people and purpose to help leaders and organisations thrive.
How culture drives ethical behaviour and governance Earlier this month, I was pleased to facilitate a focus session on behalf
At OnTalent, we believe that recruitment is about more than filling roles, it’s about connecting people to purpose. Anyone that
As a CEO, I was recruited. As a Non-Executive Director, I helped recruit CEOs. Now, one year into my time
"*" indicates required fields