As Global Head of Research & Leadership Advisory at JRG Partners, I have watched this play out across hundreds of executive searches, and the pattern is clear enough to write down. Before making an executive hire, employers run the process forward, assessing whether the candidate is good. Far fewer run it backward, imagining the hire has failed and asking why. A pre-mortem, imagining the hire has failed and working backward to the causes, surfaces risks that forward assessment misses, and it is one of the highest-leverage, least-used tools in executive hiring.
Key Takeaways
- A pre-mortem imagines the hire has failed and works backward to the causes.
- It surfaces risks that forward-looking assessment systematically misses.
- It counteracts the optimism and momentum that build around a favored candidate.
- It forces explicit consideration of failure modes while there is still time to act.
- It is a simple, high-leverage discipline that few employers use before hiring.
What a Pre-Mortem Is
A pre-mortem is a structured exercise, borrowed from decision science, in which, before making a decision, the team imagines that it has been made and has failed, then works backward to explain why. Applied to an executive hire, it means imagining that in eighteen months this hire has clearly not worked, and asking: what happened? This simple inversion, from ‘will this succeed?’ to ‘here is how it failed, why?’, surfaces risks and concerns that forward assessment, biased toward the favored candidate, tends to suppress.
Why It Surfaces Hidden Risks
As a search progresses toward a favored candidate, optimism and momentum build, and the team becomes invested in the hire succeeding, which suppresses doubts and dissent. The pre-mortem counteracts this by making failure the premise: because everyone is imagining the hire failed, they feel free to voice the concerns that momentum had silenced. This licenses the honest surfacing of risks, about fit, about a weakness, about a red flag, that the forward-looking, optimistic process had pushed aside.
Running a Pre-Mortem on a Hire
The exercise is simple: gather the decision-makers, pose the premise (this hire has clearly failed), and have each person independently generate reasons why, then discuss. The independent generation matters, it prevents groupthink and surfaces the full range of concerns. The resulting list of failure modes, fit issues, capability gaps, red flags, integration risks, becomes explicit and discussable, while there is still time to investigate them, mitigate them, or reconsider the hire.
Acting on What It Surfaces
A pre-mortem is only valuable if the team acts on what it surfaces. Each identified failure mode should be examined: is this risk real, can it be mitigated, does it change the decision? Some concerns will be investigated and resolved; others will prompt mitigation planning; a few might change the hire. The point is to convert the surfaced risks into action, additional diligence, integration planning, or reconsideration, rather than noting them and proceeding regardless. The pre-mortem informs the decision and the onboarding both.
Building It Into the Process
The pre-mortem’s power and simplicity argue for making it a routine step before finalizing any executive hire, a deliberate pause to imagine failure and work backward, built into the process rather than dependent on someone thinking to do it. As a standing discipline, it consistently surfaces risks the forward process misses, improves decisions, and informs onboarding by identifying what to watch. Few employers use it; those who build it in gain a simple, reliable edge in avoiding executive hiring mistakes.
What This Looks Like in Practice
In practice, before finalizing an executive hire, the decision-makers pause and run a pre-mortem: they imagine that in eighteen months the hire has clearly failed, each independently writes down why, and then they discuss the surfaced failure modes. Real risks are investigated further, mitigable ones prompt integration planning, and occasionally a serious concern changes the decision. The exercise takes little time, counteracts the momentum toward a favored candidate, and consistently surfaces concerns the optimistic forward process had suppressed.
The Mistake Employers Keep Making
The mistake is running executive hiring only forward, assessing whether the candidate is good while optimism and momentum suppress the doubts, and never deliberately imagining failure until it actually happens. This lets avoidable risks go unexamined precisely when they could still be addressed. The fix is the pre-mortem, a simple, routine inversion that licenses honest concern and surfaces failure modes while there is still time, and that few employers bother to build in.
The Bottom Line
A pre-mortem, imagining the hire has failed and working backward to the causes, surfaces the risks that forward assessment and momentum suppress, and building it in as a routine step before finalizing executive hires is a simple, high-leverage discipline for avoiding costly mistakes. The employers who internalize this consistently out-hire their competitors, not because they spend more, but because they think more clearly about what they are actually doing.
Related Reading
For employers going deeper, see Decision Hygiene for Hiring Committees, Slow Is Smooth, Course-Correcting a Struggling Executive Hire Before It’s Too Late.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What is a pre-mortem in executive hiring?
- A: A structured exercise where, before hiring, the team imagines the hire has failed and works backward to the causes, surfacing risks forward assessment misses.
- Q: Why does a pre-mortem surface hidden risks?
- A: Because it counteracts the optimism and momentum that build around a favored candidate, licensing the honest concerns that the forward process suppresses.
- Q: How do you run a pre-mortem on a hire?
- A: Gather decision-makers, pose that the hire has clearly failed, have each independently generate reasons why, then discuss and act on the surfaced failure modes.
- Q: What do you do with what a pre-mortem surfaces?
- A: Examine each failure mode, investigate real risks, plan mitigation for integration, and reconsider the hire if a serious concern warrants it.
- Q: Why should a pre-mortem be routine?
- A: Because it is simple, high-leverage, and consistently surfaces risks the forward process misses, improving decisions and informing onboarding when built in.
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Tanya Gallardo
Managing Director, Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy
Tanya Gallardo is the Managing Director of Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy at JRG Partners, leading C-suite and Board engagements across key growth sectors including Technology, Financial Services, and Manufacturing.
With over 18 years of experience specializing in disruptive technology leadership, Tanya is recognized as a leading authority on talent architecture for future-focused executive roles, such as the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Her expertise lies in accurately assessing the cultural fit and technical depth required to ensure a high return on investment (ROI) for critical leadership appointments.
Prior to her role at JRG Partners, Tanya held senior roles directing global talent acquisition strategies at a major publicly-traded technology firm, advising on organizational design and succession planning for emerging executive functions. She is a recognized speaker and contributor to industry events, sharing data-driven insights on executive compensation, leadership development, and the measurable business impact of C-suite talent.
