Many products come with warranties against defects, shoddy workmanship or durability. In fact, there are many products you likely would not buy without a replacement or repair warranty.

Executive search firms find and match executives with companies. Companies want similar assurances that the executive they just hired is not without his or her own material defects that might impact on their success. So, they ask search firms for replacement or even money-back guarantees in the event that executive does not work out in their company.

If you read the fine print product warranties are usually conditional or limited to the use of the product under specific conditions, parameters of ‘normal’ usage and regular maintenance. Specifying the conditions under which an executive is warrantied is less straight forward. For example, saying that a toxic workplace will void a warranty is a far more subjective notion than testing for whether a broken phone was dropped in water.

In any event, I was thinking about this whole issue of conditional versus unconditional warranties when I tried to imagine the owner of this vehicle arriving at his Toyota dealership to complain about the defective shocks on his new car ……..

About the Author

Robert Hebert is the founder and Managing Partner of StoneWood Group Inc., a leading executive search firm in Canada. Since 1981, he has helped firms across a wide range of sectors address their senior recruiting, assessment and leadership development requirements.

Contact Robert by email at [email protected] or call (1) 416-365-9494 Ext. 777