Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?
Search Gone Wrong? What The Shortlist Report Finds
Spencer Stuart appeared in 61.7% of 235 AI responses to this question, ahead of everyone else.
Spencer Stuart leads
Spencer Stuart comes up more than any other firm on this question, by a clear margin.
Spencer Stuart145 of 235
Conducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.
Russell Reynolds Associates108 of 235
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services.
Korn Ferry98 of 235
Conducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations.
Heidrick & Struggles91 of 235
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations.
Egon Zehnder85 of 235
Executive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises.
+5 more namedin the table
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 stands alone | |||
| Spencer Stuartspencerstuart.comConducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning. | 145 of 235 | 61.7% | |
| Tier 2 2 firms, 41.7–46.0% | |||
| Russell Reynolds Associatesrussellreynolds.coConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services. | 108 of 235 | 46.0% | |
| Korn Ferrykornferry.comConducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations. | 98 of 235 | 41.7% | |
| Tier 3 2 firms, 36.2–38.7% | |||
| Heidrick & StrugglesConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations. | 91 of 235 | 38.7% | |
| Egon Zehnderegonzehnder.comExecutive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises. | 85 of 235 | 36.2% | |
| Tier 4 3 firms, 6.8–11.5% | |||
| Stanton Chasestantonchase.comConducts C-suite and executive search for mid-market and international organizations. | 27 of 235 | 11.5% | |
| DHR GlobalConducts board and C-suite searches with broad financial-services coverage across banking, capital markets, PE/VC, and insurance. | 20 of 235 | 8.5% | |
| Boydenboyden.comConducts confidential senior executive searches, especially mid-market and international. | 16 of 235 | 6.8% | |
| Tier 5 2 firms, 6.4–6.4% | |||
| Caldwellcaldwell.comExecutive search with HR/CHRO expertise and diversity metrics tracking across sectors. | 15 of 235 | 6.4% | |
| JM Searchjmsearch.comConducts CEO, CFO, COO searches for private-equity-backed and middle-market companies. | 15 of 235 | 6.4% | |
Key findings
- Spencer Stuart leads this sample alone, named in 145 of 235 ChatGPT responses (61.7%) to the question “Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?”, collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026.
- 10 firms cleared the reporting threshold on “Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?” in ChatGPT as of October 1, 2026; the full table with response counts is below.
- Spencer Stuart 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 Spencer Stuart, named in 145 of 235 ChatGPT responses (61.7%). No other firm in this sample comes close enough to be grouped with it.
Tier 2 holds Russell Reynolds Associates and Korn Ferry, named in 98 to 108 of 235 responses (41.7–46.0%). 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 Heidrick & Struggles and Egon Zehnder, named in 85 to 91 of 235 responses (36.2–38.7%). 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.
Tier 4 holds Stanton Chase, DHR Global and Boyden, named in 16 to 27 of 235 responses (6.8–11.5%). 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 5 holds Caldwell and JM Search, named in 15 to 15 of 235 responses (6.4–6.4%). 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
Spencer Stuart leads on its own, named in 145 of the 235 responses to this question (61.7%).
464 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). Search Gone Wrong? What The Shortlist Report Finds. The Shortlist Report. https://www.shortlistreport.com/article/failed-executive-search
Underlying counts: CSV · JSON. Every answer they were counted from: plain text · JSON. All reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution.