Summary
David Baruch’s story is about what it really takes to make technology change work inside a global executive search firm. In this conversation with Fahad Jalal, David breaks down his journey into Spencer Stuart, how he was brought in to turn around a major core-technology project, and why successful transformation is never just about systems, roadmaps, or methodology. The real challenge is adoption: getting people to trust the tool, understand the workflow, give feedback, and change how they work. The episode goes deep on Spencer Stuart’s AI journey, including model teams, pace setters, internal training, customer-success loops, and the QLU partnership. David’s view is practical: AI can speed up research, improve workflows, and help consultants work smarter, but it cannot replace relationships, senior advisory, or the human judgment that defines great executive search. The core lesson is clear: technology only matters when it changes behavior.
Key takeaways
- David’s path to Spencer Stuart started as a candidate in a search he did not win, which later turned into the CIO opportunity.
- His early mandate was to turn around a major core-technology project and stabilize the platform before trying to perfect it.
- The hardest transformations are not only technical. They require trust, communication, ownership, and honest feedback.
- David’s core turnaround principle was to “get the patient off the table” first, then improve the system over time.
- Spencer Stuart’s AI strategy is centered on adoption, not just deployment.
- Building AI capability requires training, feedback loops, model teams, pace setters, and real customer-success support.
- The QLU and Spencer Stuart partnership worked because both sides built a deeper operating model around real usage, feedback, and iteration.
- AI can improve productivity and workflow, but it cannot replace relationships, senior-level advisory, or the human side of executive search.
Best quotes
- “The key thing we needed to do was get the patient off the table.”
- “When something’s really good, it’s like wildfire. You can’t control the adoption.”
- “AI can’t build relationships.”
- “Keep doing the things that we’ve always done and have done really well, and harness the power of AI to help you do it better.”
- “Executive search is a backstage pass to what’s happening in the world.”
About the guest
David Baruch is Chief Information Officer at Spencer Stuart and a member of the firm’s management team. He leads Spencer Stuart’s overall technology vision and roadmap, including operational excellence, IT and operations strategy, business technology systems, and market-facing tools and services. Before Spencer Stuart, David held CIO roles at Hewitt Associates/Aon Hewitt and Equity Office Properties, and began his career at Accenture, where he became a partner.
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QLU is building AI-native workflows for executive search teams that want to move faster, improve market intelligence, and raise consultant productivity without losing the human advisory layer that makes great search work. Use QLU to map markets faster, improve search execution, strengthen adoption, and give your team more time to focus on what AI cannot replace: relationships, assessment, client advisory, and leadership judgment.
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