The Only Way is Up

This morning I got into the elevator (or ‘lift’ as we would say in my native England), to go up to the office. “Floor?” a friendly face asked. “42 please” I responded, always with a smile – this is America after all. He pressed 14. As we started going up I shuffled and politely mouthed, Four-tee-two. We both started chuckling. I couldn't even blame the mask.?

To be fair, if he'd said 17, I'd have probably sent him to 71. These are the little things that continue to remind me where I am: In the heart of Corporate America, lip-reading with the big-league from the other side of the pond. There will always be subtle differences to ground me, even if it’s something trivial like an accent. And I wouldn't change it for the world. It's these contrasts that keep me and my team on our toes.?

A couple of hours later, I got?the stellar news that we'd made it into the top 30 of the Forbes Best Executive Search Firms listing – for the third year running.?Over 30,000 recruiters, job candidates and hiring managers across the country voted us into the top one percent in the most prestigious recruitment ranking in North America – above many of the longest established and largest firms. I'm immensely proud of the team. It's a phenomenal achievement: especially given that Page Executive wasn't even a twinkle in America's eye before 2015.?

Breaking out of our comfort zone

Complacency's never been our thing – and least of all now. The Page Executive North America team are agile, polydynamic and ready for anything. We've hit the ground running and struck the balance between thinking globally and cultivating empathic relationships with our clients that go above and beyond the call of duty.

We keep our fingers on the pulse and we constantly diversify our products. We're (literally) half a world away from the early days of Page Executive in USA when we were a financial services-focused executive recruitment firm. PE North America now specializes in sourcing and securing outstanding leaders for a broad range of sectors, including Real Estate, Industrial, Healthcare, Life Sciences and Technology. We've also recently branched into board-level assessments and psychometric testing, to offer state-of-the-art metrics to our clients.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going ?

For all we embrace the cutting-edge, I believe it's the personal relationships that reflect our essence and set us apart. We took some clients to a Billy Joel concert in Madison Square Gardens a few weeks back. It was extraordinary to just be together bopping up and down like there was no tomorrow…. because for a moment, the world had thought maybe there wasn't going to be one.?

Some of our clients lost parents to COVID-19, others moved away and never came back to New York, some watched their businesses tumble, crumble, or be reborn. For us, it was a reaffirmation of our values, of the need to stay in touch with ourselves, with each other and with what matters.

We're still here. And we're deeply grateful to everyone we meet on the way up.... (even if they don’t get my British accent every time and send me to the wrong floor).