The Real Test of a Business Is Time

Next year, Friisberg turns 50.

When Friisberg was founded in 1977, there was no internet, no LinkedIn, no email and certainly no AI. Yet through five decades of economic cycles, technological revolutions, political change and shifting leadership expectations, one thing has remained remarkably consistent:

Organisations succeed or fail because of people

As someone who has spent many years in executive search, alongside my colleagues who have spent even longer helping organisations identify leadership talent, I find myself reflecting on what longevity really means.

longevity is not an outcome. It is evidence.

In business, we spend a great deal of time talking about growth. We celebrate revenue increases, market share gains, acquisitions, funding rounds and quarterly results. We analyse leadership trends, technological advances and changing workforce expectations. We are fascinated by what is new, disruptive and emerging.

Far less attention is given to organisations that simply continue to matter.

And yet, if you think about it, remaining relevant over a long period of time may be one of the most difficult achievements in business.

When Friisberg was founded in 1977, the world looked very different. There was no internet. No email. No LinkedIn. No smartphones. The Berlin Wall still divided Europe. Apple had been founded only months earlier. The idea that organisations would one day interview candidates via video call or use artificial intelligence to analyse talent would have sounded like science fiction.

Over the past five decades, entire industries have emerged while others have disappeared. Business models that once seemed untouchable have faded into irrelevance. Globalisation has reshaped economies. Technology has transformed almost every aspect of how organisations operate.

And yet, through all of that change, one thing has remained remarkably constant.

Organisations succeed or fail because of people.

The language around leadership has evolved. The expectations placed upon leaders have changed. Boards today are wrestling with challenges that would have been unimaginable in 1977. Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, sustainability, geopolitical instability and demographic shifts all sit firmly on today's agenda.

Yet when clients engage an executive search firm, they are still fundamentally trying to answer the same question.

Who is the right person to lead us forward?

It is a deceptively simple question.

The reality is that leadership appointments are among the most consequential decisions any organisation will make. A strong appointment can transform culture, accelerate growth and create value for years. A poor appointment can have precisely the opposite effect.

That is why executive search has always been a profession built on judgement rather than process.

Technology helps. Data helps. Research helps.

But at the highest levels of leadership, the ability to assess character, capability, adaptability and potential remains profoundly human.

Perhaps that is one reason why experience continues to matter.

Not because experience makes us automatically wiser. Anyone who has spent enough time in business knows that years alone are no guarantee of insight.

What experience does provide is perspective.

Across our international partnership, many of our Managing Partners and Senior Partners have spent decades advising organisations on leadership. In the UK, my colleague Andrew Guy has worked in executive search for 31 years. I have spent 15 years in the profession myself.

Between us, we have seen financial crises, economic booms, political upheaval, technological revolutions and countless predictions about the future of work. We have seen industries transformed, organisations reinvent themselves and leadership fashions come and go.

The most valuable lesson from all of that is not certainty.

It is pattern recognition.

It is understanding that whilst circumstances change, many of the underlying challenges facing organisations remain surprisingly familiar. Every generation believes its challenges are unique. In reality, leaders are often grappling with timeless questions dressed in contemporary language.

How do we build trust?

How do we create alignment?

How do we make difficult decisions?

How do we balance short-term pressures with long-term success?

How do we attract and retain exceptional people?

The answers evolve, but the questions endure.

For clients, this is where longevity becomes valuable. Not because a fifty-year-old firm necessarily knows more than a younger one, but because surviving and growing for half a century requires an organisation to repeatedly adapt whilst remaining true to its core purpose.

That balance is harder than it sounds.

Many businesses fail because they refuse to change. Others lose their identity because they change too much.

The organisations that endure tend to understand the difference between evolution and reinvention.

As Friisberg approaches its fiftieth year, that may be the lesson I find most compelling.

The firm that will celebrate its anniversary in 2027 is not the same organisation that existed in 1977. It operates in different markets, serves different industries and uses different tools. Yet its purpose remains fundamentally unchanged: helping organisations identify exceptional leadership.

In many ways, that consistency of purpose is what allows adaptation to happen.

The world will continue to change. Artificial intelligence will reshape aspects of business. New industries will emerge. Others will disappear. Leadership itself will continue to evolve.

What will not change is the need for organisations to place the right people in the right roles at the right time.

That was true in 1977.

It is true today.

And I suspect it will still be true fifty years from now.

Which is why, as we move towards Friisberg's fiftieth anniversary, I find myself thinking less about the celebration itself and more about what the milestone represents.

Not simply longevity.

Relevance.

Because in business, surviving for fifty years is impressive.

Remaining relevant for fifty years is exceptional.

The executive search industry of 2026 bears little resemblance to that of 1977, yet the fundamental challenge remains exactly the same: helping organisations find exceptional people to lead them.

Perhaps that is why reaching fifty years matters. Not because it tells us how long we have been here, but because it tells us how often we have had to evolve.

Over the next year, as we move towards our fiftieth anniversary, I am looking forward to sharing stories from across our international offices, reflecting on how leadership has changed over five decades and exploring what the future may hold.

For now, one thought strikes me:

In a world that often celebrates the newest thing, there is something reassuring about organisations that continue to prove their relevance decade after decade.

Fifty years is not simply a milestone. It is evidence.