Mission One: The Executive Edge · 2026-01-22 · 37 min
In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Gerard Miles and Dan Hampton dive into the research, targeting, and outreach phase of executive hiring - the point where many searches either gain momentum or quietly stall. Building on their prior discussion about kickoff alignment and scorecards, they argue that success at this stage depends less on effort and more on judgment, focus, and preparation. Gerard and Dan walk through how to build a strategic target list that goes beyond obvious competitors. While direct peer companies are a natural starting point, they encourage leaders to think more creatively by identifying organizations facing similar challenges, operating at comparable scale, or solving adjacent problems. This broader lens often surfaces exceptional candidates who would never appear in a traditional competitor-only search. They emphasize the importance of narrowing focus within each target company. Rather than reaching out to dozens of people with loosely matching titles, they advocate identifying five to ten individuals whose experience, timing, team context, and reporting structure genuinely align with the role.
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