Private Executive Search

A Look Behind the Scenes

Candidate Reference Comments

References are always checked before a candidate is presented. We speak to four to six references for 30- to 60-minutes on each candidate, and present their comments with each candidate report.

John Jameson
Reference Comments (Excerpt)

John Jameson is personable and straightforward, and tells you what you need to know, rather than what is politically correct. He can be demanding, and at times goes too far in this department. He’s a good judge of character, and knows how to deal with the range of different personalities that he must face in the role of a senior manager.

Among the comments that we heard were:

“John knows how to build a team and empower people. That’s why I went to work for him. He knows his limitations, and how to build a team that will balance these.”“The Navy people really like him. They believe that he wants to do the best for the Navy, rather than whatever is best for his company. They’ve become comfortable with him because he’ll work at all levels, rather than work only with the admirals. When he was in the Navy, he did a tour at the Pentagon, so he knows how things work there.”

“He’ll be the first guy to stand up and take the hit – he won’t throw one of his people under the bus. John backs you up, even if your decision turns out not to be the best decision you’ve ever made.”

“He can get worked up pretty quickly, but he doesn’t vent his anger. You can see it on his face, however. This is when we have to walk on cracked eggs around him, because we know that at this point, he won’t give us a lot of rope.”

“John is good at pushing the envelope, and not accepting the status quo. He won’t compromise his standards when putting a team together, or in anything else. Sometimes we wish he would, however.”

“When John first started here, he listened well for several months before he made any recommendations. He first learned the technology, as well as how this company works, rather than just barging in.

“We’ve often worked together until the early hours — 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. — when the objective changed the night before and we had to provide the briefs at 7:30 the next morning.”

“He keeps me honest.”