Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates?
Diverse Slate and Inclusive Search: What The Shortlist Report Finds
2 firms lead, appearing in 59.1–59.6% of 235 AI responses. The sample cannot separate them, so we do not pretend it can.
Two firms lead
Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart come up most often here. They are close enough together that the order between them is not worth reading anything into.
Russell Reynolds Associates140 of 235
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services.
Spencer Stuart139 of 235
Conducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.
Based on 235 ChatGPT responses to this question, collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026. Firms are counted once per response. How we measure.
The ranking
| Firm | Responses | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 2 firms, 59.1–59.6% | |||
| Russell Reynolds Associatesrussellreynolds.coConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services. | 140 of 235 | 59.6% | |
| Spencer Stuartspencerstuart.comConducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning. | 139 of 235 | 59.1% | |
| Tier 2 2 firms, 54.9–55.3% | |||
| Korn Ferrykornferry.comConducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations. | 130 of 235 | 55.3% | |
| Heidrickheidrick.com | 129 of 235 | 54.9% | |
| Tier 3 stands alone | |||
| Egon Zehnderegonzehnder.comExecutive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises. | 97 of 235 | 41.3% | |
| Tier 4 5 firms, 19.1–24.7% | |||
| Ellig Groupelliggroup.comWomen-owned executive search firm focused on C-suite and board appointments with emphasis on diverse candidates. | 58 of 235 | 24.7% | |
| Diversified | 55 of 235 | 23.4% | |
| Female Executive Searchfemale-executive-search.comSpecializes in placing senior women into C-suite, board, and VP roles globally. | 47 of 235 | 20.0% | |
| HERizon Searchherizonsearch.comFocuses on women in C-suite and VP roles for private-equity-backed and high-growth companies, and board appointments. | 46 of 235 | 19.6% | |
| Caldwellcaldwell.comExecutive search with HR/CHRO expertise and diversity metrics tracking across sectors. | 45 of 235 | 19.1% | |
Key findings
- Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart lead this sample, each named in 59.1–59.6% of 235 ChatGPT responses to the question “Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates?”, collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026.
- The gaps between Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart are inside the margin of error at 235 responses, so The Shortlist Report groups them in one tier rather than ranking them against each other.
- 10 firms cleared the reporting threshold on “Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates?” in ChatGPT as of October 1, 2026; the full table with response counts is below.
- Russell Reynolds Associates appears in 7 of the 9 executive search firms reports published by The Shortlist Report, the widest coverage of any firm named on this page.
- No firm paid to appear in this ranking; placement cannot be bought, and the counts come from ChatGPT responses rather than from submissions.
Why the tiers fall where they do
Tier 1 holds Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart, named in 139 to 140 of the 235 ChatGPT responses. They are grouped rather than ranked because the gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size — one extra mention would reorder them, so an order would be reporting noise as a finding.
Tier 2 holds Korn Ferry and Heidrick, named in 129 to 130 of 235 responses (54.9–55.3%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
Tier 3 holds Egon Zehnder, named in 97 to 97 of 235 responses (41.3–41.3%). The sample does separate this firm from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts it in a tier of its own.
Tier 4 holds Ellig Group, Diversified, Female Executive Search, HERizon Search and Caldwell, named in 45 to 58 of 235 responses (19.1–24.7%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
The test is McNemar’s at 95%, applied against the same 235 responses for every firm. The full reasoning, and what happened when we ranked one-to-N instead.
What the sample shows
2 firms lead this question: Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart. They appear in 59.1–59.6% of the 235 responses. The gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size, so they are listed together rather than ranked against each other.
132 firms were named at least once across the sample. 10 of them cleared the threshold of 2 responses and appear above; the rest were named once and are inside the noise.
How to read this
Firms are grouped into tiers, not ranked one to fifteen. A tier holds every firm whose 95% confidence interval overlaps the leader's, which is a long way of saying the sample cannot tell them apart. Order within a tier is arbitrary — read the counts, not the position.
Share is the percentage of responses that named the firm — not a quality score. A firm scoring low here may be excellent and simply under-written about online, which is a finding about its visibility rather than its work.
The same question was asked repeatedly because AI assistants do not answer identically twice. A single response would tell you almost nothing.
What this measurement does not tell you
- It is not a quality ranking. Share reflects how much has been written about a firm online, which is what an AI assistant reads. A capable firm nobody writes about scores low here.
- It is a reading from a date range, not a permanent standing. This sample was collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026; models change and so do their answers.
- It covers ChatGPT only. Other assistants answer differently, and we do not extrapolate across engines we have not measured.
- Order within a tier is arbitrary. Read the counts, not the position. Why we use tiers.
Cite this report
The Shortlist Report. (2026). Diverse Slate and Inclusive Search: What The Shortlist Report Finds. The Shortlist Report. https://www.shortlistreport.com/article/diversity-executive-search
Underlying counts: CSV · JSON. Every answer they were counted from: plain text · JSON. All reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution.