Deliverable
A reviewed mandate brief and approved conversation materials.
Wider contribution / Next role
Shape the next mandate around the contribution you want to make.
Clarify where your experience matters, then develop the relationships and conversations that can lead to a well-matched executive appointment.
How the outcome takes shape
- The challenge
- What needs to change?
- Your contribution
- What can you own?
- The conditions
- Authority · resources · sponsorship
Appointment acceptedFirst 90 days follow
Start with the mandate, not a vacancy list
Define the problems you want to own, the operating context in which you work best and the authority, resources and time horizon the role would require. Include exclusions and personal constraints. A credible mandate brief helps another person understand where your contribution could matter.
Existing relationships may include former chairs, investors, operating peers or search partners who know your work. Missing relationships may include a hiring chair, owner, chief executive or search adviser in a selected organisation. The first worthwhile conversation might be: “What must the next leader change, and what support would make that mandate achievable?”
Conversion / Existing relationships
Test a particular opportunity through existing relationships
Start with people who recognise the shared context or have had a genuine prior exchange with you.
The organisation's formal search and appointment process belongs at C4. StepUp prepares evidence, organises questions and coordinates next steps. The executive owns substantive conversations and decisions; the employer and relevant advisers retain their responsibilities.
C1Prioritise existing relationships
Confirm who knows your work, their current relevance and permission to approach; prepare a confidential relationship brief.
C2Open the right conversation
Reconnect around a specific leadership context and your potential contribution; agree a discreet conversation agenda.
C3Establish mutual fit
Examine mandate, sponsorship, authority, resources, expectations, constraints and decision route; record a mutual reason to proceed or stop.
C4Progress the opportunity
Coordinate agreed interviews, assessments, references, diligence and offer discussions with authorised participants; track completed commitments.
C5Sustain the relationship
Honour follow-through after appointment or non-selection and retain appropriate contact with sponsors and advisers.
Building / Missing relationships
Develop the missing relationships
Build the missing relationships through a relevant contribution, a legitimate introduction or an appropriate direct approach.
A new person introduced by an existing contact starts in Building. The relationship with the introducer remains in Conversion.
B1Map missing relationships
Identify relevant hiring sponsors, owners and search advisers with whom no working relationship exists; connect each to a mandate context.
B2Prepare a credible route
Prepare an authorised introduction or direct approach supported by specific operating experience and mutual relevance.
B3Open contact
Make the agreed approach through a suitable private channel; record the actual response.
B4Establish a two-way relationship
Exchange substantive views on the leadership challenge and establish a welcomed route to continue.
Continue from the evidence you have
A warm introduction can satisfy B2 and B3 immediately. If an initial conversation both establishes reciprocal exchange and tests a specific mandate, B4 and C3 can occur together. Otherwise continue at the first unmet Conversion step: C2 for the outcome-specific conversation, C3 for a particular opportunity, or C5 for welcomed continuity without one. A current agreed record and a live outcome-specific exchange can satisfy C1 and C2. A new introduction does not inherit the introducer's relationship history, and no universal posting or waiting requirement establishes readiness.
B4 establishes a two-way relationship. C3 tests a particular opportunity. Continue at the first unmet Conversion step with one relationship owner; there is no repeated onboarding.
Progress / Evidence
Distinguish opportunity from appointment
Reciprocal progress
A hiring sponsor agrees there is a specific role worth exploring and commits to the next assessment.
Final result
An agreed and accepted appointment, with start and other conditions recorded accurately. A search conversation or offer under discussion is not an accepted role.
One coordinated programme
Secure the mandate, then prepare to enter it
This personal mandate has its own access and reporting permissions, separate from corporate account work. One owner coordinates contact with each person across authorised objectives. Confidential employer material is not automatically available to a career programme.
After the next role is accepted, review the first-90-days transition support for entering the mandate. Any follow-on work has its own agreed scope.
You
Set the priorities. Bring your judgement to the conversations and decisions that need your involvement.
Your office
Your chief of staff or nominated owner validates context, coordinates existing teams and exercises delegated approvals.
StepUp.One
Research, drafting, conversation preparation, coordination and agreed reporting around the relationships in scope.
Define your next mandate
Review contribution, target contexts, constraints, existing sponsors and missing relationships. Agree a confidential first conversation, an owner and the permissions needed to prepare it.
- The leadership challenge and contribution you want to own
- Authority, resources and conditions for the mandate
- Existing sponsors and missing hiring relationships
- A confidential first conversation and its permissions
Arrange an executive briefingFor you or your chief of staff.