Summary
AI is transforming executive search but not by replacing recruiters.
In a recent conversation, Fahad Jalal spoke with Ken Dickie, CITO at Leathwaite, to explore what truly needs to change for AI to deliver value. They go beyond automation, discussing data quality, adoption, behavior change, candidate experience, trust, compliance, and what distinguishes a retained search firm from one that simply builds lists.
Executive search firms are paid for advisory, not data processing. Yet much of their time is consumed by repetitive tasks. When AI handles this low-value work, firms gain speed, deeper market insight, stronger client relationships, better candidate care, and more time for work that truly wins mandates. But without careful adoption, governance, and bias control, AI can backfire. The firms that succeed will rethink their workflows, not just add tools.
Key takeaways
- The main challenge isn’t AI itself it’s getting people to use it and redesign workflows.
- Firms are hired for solving leadership problems, guiding decisions, and delivering results not for long lists.
- AI works best when it removes repetitive tasks, giving people time for judgment, trust-building, and client advisory.
- Knowledge trapped in heads, notes, or spreadsheets limits AI’s usefulness.
- Candidate experience is crucial; today’s candidates can become future clients.
- Face-to-face meetings still matter in trust-based work.
- Firms that succeed with AI are not just faster they have better compliance, bias controls, and data handling.
- Lower barriers to entry help agile small firms but challenge traditional firms relying on legacy processes.
Best quotes
- "The biggest problem right now is the adoption."
- "It's not just a 'we want a CFO,' right?"
- "You don't build trust over Zoom"
- "A candidate is a future client."
- "We're not talking about co-pilot here. We're talking about changing the ways you do business."
About the guest
Ken Dickie is CITO at Leathwaite and has worked across financial services, executive search, retail, sports wagering, insurance, and compliance. In this conversation, he shares a practical operator's view on where AI creates real value inside executive search, where firms still get stuck, and why trust, data quality, and adoption matter more than hype.
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