BOARD AND FUNCTION-HEAD APPOINTMENTS
A held view of the room.
Senior retained search.
SLG does not open a search by writing a brief. It opens by saying who is already in play.
A mandate at this level turns on knowledge that cannot be assembled inside a four-week timetable — who has just been passed over, who is three months from a vesting date, who would move for a remit rather than a title.
The work is confidential and the shortlist is short. SLG would rather present three people it can account for than twelve it cannot.
The evidence carries the claim, not a personality.
THE REMIT
What a mandate covers.
SCOPE · SENIORITY · GEOGRAPHY
Board and executive committee — Chair, chief executive, and the seats that report to them.
Function heads — Commercial, brand, digital, merchandising, people, and the operating roles beneath them.
Regional and group — GCC as the primary market. UK and Europe where a group is structured across both.
Founder and family office — Appointments made by owners directly, where discretion governs the process.
Succession — The bench behind a seat, read before the seat is vacant.
THE METHOD
How it runs.
FOUR MOVES · NO STAGE SKIPPED
THE READING
The market position is stated before the search opens. Who is available, who is not, and why.
THE DESIGN
The remit is tested against the structure around it. A seat that cannot hold a senior operator is redrawn first.
THE APPROACH
Direct and private. Candidates are approached on the substance of the remit, never on a job specification.
THE ACCOUNT
Each name presented carries its evidence — what was verified, what was inferred, and what remains open.
THE BOUNDARY
Where it stops.
WHAT THIS IS NOT · WHO IT IS FOR
WHAT IT IS NOT
Contingent search. SLG is retained, and the fee does not depend on a placement.
A database exercise. Candidates are not sourced from a list; the list is the by-product of holding the market.
Volume. A small number of mandates each year, run to completion.
WHO IT IS FOR
Chairs and owners making an appointment that changes the shape of a business.
Groups entering the GCC who need the first hire to be correct rather than fast.
Boards replacing an executive quietly, before the vacancy is public.
ENQUIRY
Entered by referral.
RETAINED · CONFIDENTIAL
Engagements are taken directly. A first conversation establishes whether SLG holds anything useful on the question before terms are discussed.
