Albert Froom : Profile

He once lost a hockey match 13-0, but was the founding chairman of AltoPartners and was ranked in the top 150 most influential head hunters in the world by Business Week. Albert Froom has worked in the field of Executive Search since 1990 and is the founding partner of Froom & Partners, which joined Leaders Trust in 1999. He has participated in two sailing world championships. Not a day goes by without Bach; he is never going to retire and would like to fathom the prophetic element in the history of modern mankind. He believes in the power of people, which is why he calls himself a religious humanist and also finds top talent for NGOs. And significantly: friendship is forever.

Why executive search??

When I finished my Master’s degree in Law I knew with certainty that I did not want to go into the profession that I had actually trained for! At that time, Management Development programs were hot and you were considered "the cool one" if you were selected, given the high rate of unemployment in those years. Out of 800 people I was selected to be one of 10 external people to join AMRO Bank International Commercial Banking class. Although I was proud to be part of this Management Development program, which I took for 2 years, I realized that I totally disliked the culture at AMRO Bank. After a short stint at an insurance company, I joined Mercuri Urval with the idea that I would be exposed to many different client “kitchens”, and that I would find one that I would like. Seeing these different client environments and how they operate ignited my passion for people and that love of different “kitchens” has stuck with me until today.?

At that time they only did recruitment and selection through newspaper adverts and at the age of 30, I suggested we should branch into executive search. I was the biggest biller at the time so I wrote the business plan, presented it to the board in Sweden and after a few weeks was told “great plan but not our business area.” So I decided to break away and start this business myself. They took me to court – I was 31 at the time – and I was fined 10,000 guilder (the Dutch currency before the Euro) because clients approached me under my new brand to help them.?

What happened next??

When I left all I had was a business plan. I had no money to start this business, but I had a rock solid plan and a gut instinct that this was the right thing to do. One of my old clients (who had successfully led 3 companies to the stock exchange) said he would lend me the money – 25,000 guilder – to start the business… but the catch was the money would be lent at a 10% interest rate and I had to pay it all back in 1 year.?

What did you learn?

The mentorship in this was “if you really want this, you have to kick ass and be really motivated to do this”… I paid him back in full in 6 months because I worked harder than ever before to make my business a success (and not drown in debt!). I am quite a competitive person and his challenge made me determined to prove that I can succeed.?

What advice would you have for your younger self?

Be more patient. Every so often I act too quickly… not always wrong, but too quickly and I lose people along the way. My younger self would recognize my impatience and work to evolve out of that.

The future of the search industry is…

The demand for talent will be so great that the focus of clients in the next 5 years should be to work on employee loyalty and retention. The shortage of talent will be enormous and people will be hounded by executive search / recruitment agencies. If you don’t have a retention strategy, people will leave your company like pigeons and will only stay for a short period of time. Personally, I think candidates will have the best opportunities now more than ever and they should try the 360 appraisal approach with their family and friends to discover what really makes them tick and where their motivations truly lie. Don’t be seduced by money or career steps. Stick to what drives and motivates you.?

Albert Froom is the Managing Partner at Leaders Trust / AltoPartners the Netherlands