Heidrick & Struggles Launches Cross-Industry Innovation Network

June 18, 2018 – Executive search, leadership consulting and culture shaping services provider Heidrick & Struggles has launched a new cross-industry corporate innovation network that it is calling the Game-Changer Collaborative (GCC).

The GCC enables members to collaborate around emerging technologies, external innovation opportunities and approaches to accelerating innovation in their organizations, said the Chicago-based firm. The GCC includes several live and virtual working sessions as well as research and knowledge-sharing platforms.

Current ecosystem partners that interact with the GCC include: the University of Pennsylvania, including Penn Medicine, Penn Engineering, Pennovation and Wharton/Mack Institute; Exploit Technologies PTE LTD, an industry-government technological incubator in Singapore; Foundry.ai, a technology studio focused on data science; Swift Labs, a product design team specializing in the Internet of Things; Tsinghua Holdings, the venture capital investment arm of the Tsinghua University in China; and ICONYC Labs, a platform for Israeli ventures expanding to the U.S.

Identifying New Opportunities

Members in the proprietary network already include a leading global retailer, two global pharmaceutical companies, a global financial services company and a leading university and its medical system, said Heidrick. The firm intends to expand the GCC in terms of both industries and geographies represented.

“The GCC provides a much needed forum for enterprise leaders to look outside of their traditional industries to identify new innovation opportunities and accelerate their learning through networking around emerging technologies, use cases and innovation models,” said Andrew LeSueur, managing partner for Heidrick Consulting.  “Digital disruption and emerging technologies like IoT, AI, mixed reality, and block chain are becoming more horizontal in nature as they disrupt at the boundaries of traditional industries, presenting a unique opportunity for cross-collaboration.”

The GCC was founded by Scott Snyder who recently joined Heidrick Consulting as partner, helping clients increase their capacity for digital transformation and disruptive innovation. Mr. Snyder is also a senior fellow at the Wharton School’s Mack Institute for Emerging Technologies.

Accelerating Performance

Heidrick & Struggles recently launched Heidrick Consulting in the market globally earlier this year. The business combines the firm’s leadership consulting and culture shaping businesses into a single integrated line of advisory services, complementary to its long-established executive search capabilities.

At the time, Krishnan Rajagopalan, Heidrick & Struggles’ president and chief executive officer, described the new enterprise as a boon to clients. “Heidrick Consulting will help our clients accelerate the performance of their leaders, teams and organizations and develop thriving cultures,” he said. “With a full suite of analytic tools and data-backed insights, our consultants will guide our clients to act with speed and agility in uncertain and rapidly changing operating environments.”

Heidrick Consulting client services include leadership assessment and development, organization and team effectiveness, and culture shaping.

Firms Expanding Into New Areas

Search firms continue to break into new areas, be it through acquisition, alliances or providing new services. It’s a trend being seen at both large recruiters and small boutiques as recruiters look to provide clients with services for finding, assessing, onboarding and retaining their senior-level talent. Here’s a look at some examples taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

Fargo, ND-based Sagency recently acquired coaching firm Success Energetics and appointed its founder and CEO Brian Rinke as director. Mr. Rinke has over 26 years of corporate business experience and has served as an executive and leadership coach for over 10 years. 

RSR Partners established an alliance with OnPoint Consulting, an organizational and leadership development consulting firm, to deliver leadership assessment capabilities to their clients. The partnership creates an integrated but independent platform, separating search and assessment to ensure clients are provided with objective and unbiased advice, said the search firm.

Executive search firm Michael Kelly Associates (MKA) and Change, Development & Leadership Consulting (CDL) have formed a strategic partnership to focus on employee engagement to foster team building and a united corporate culture for maximum effectiveness. The alliance focuses not only on applying MKA’s knowledge of executive search, but also on …

ALSpective expanded with the addition of Juliane Nitsche and Michel Moutier as partners and advisors. The pair’s responsibilities include leadership consulting with a specialization in well-being & performance as well as strategy and board services with a new offering in change management.

Major, Lindsey & Africa recently launched a new service known as Legal Talent Management Consulting. Led by Miriam Frank, a partner and vice president, the offering provides lawyers and legal teams with customized consulting services designed to increase performance, productivity and engagement.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media