Beyond Job Boards: How Strategic Leaders Find – and Are Found
The way leadership talent is discovered is changing and the most successful leaders are already moving differently. The job market isn’t just competitive anymore –
We’re in a period of disruption, but we don’t yet know what that means for the industry. What we do know is that bravery and intentional organisational design are key to taking advantage of change and coming out on top.
Anyone who’s worked in healthcare and life sciences long enough has seen the cycles.
In the 2000s, for example, pharma revolved around primary care and heavy promotional spending – an era of lavish GP gifts and hospitality, before anti-bribery and transparency rules.
A decade on, the focus had shifted to specialty care, reshaping multiple functions and making medical education central.
Then, we had the pandemic, which was a catalyst for a shift towards digital transformation and hybrid virtual/physical care models.
Now, the sector is entering another new model – one still taking shape. Once again, everything from care models to funding, access and commercial strategy will evolve. For example, digital is already transforming clinical trials. We can see more cross collaboration and partnerships with the likes of Amazon Web Services and Telstra.
At the same time, there’s also a highly complex global geopolitical situation, including the most favoured nation policy in pharmaceuticals.
At Hunton Executive, we see this moment as a defining one – where the right leadership and organisational design choices can determine which businesses lead the next chapter of healthcare and life sciences.
The in-between
With no-one sure what’s coming next, organisations and their leaders need to go back to go forward: not strip down completely but return to basics. The focus now is on what makes money today, while also figuring out how to future-proof for tomorrow.
From an executive search perspective, this in-between phase, is bringing more contracting and fractional leadership, with senior roles like CFOs on interim consulting or short-term mandates. Offshoring is resurging in functions like IT, finance, and corporate, hitting local affiliates hard. Some organisations are even transitioning teams out entirely, replacing permanent staff with contractors while introducing AI systems. This isn’t just about jobs being replaced by AI, but about redefining roles, structures, and go-to-market models for the next era.
In this transitional phase, Hunton Executive is seeing plenty of requests for finding interim support, while companies work out what they need next.
Leadership – the next layer of change
The next layer of change is leadership. As the World Economic Forum points out, leaders across multiple industries are building geopolitical know-how as global tensions rise. Leaders also recognise the importance of investing in skills development, training, and digital transformation to build more resilient workforces and industries.
The same goes for healthcare and life sciences, where industry leaders – from associations and not-for-profits to research institutes, biotechs, pharma and advisory firms – are finding that what’s worked up until now won’t work in the future. This means they need to work hard to remain relevant for their customers or their customers will move on. And remaining relevant is about being ahead of the curve, not stuck in past ideas of ‘this is how we have always done it’.
Boards are realising this and replacing executives with leaders who can guide their organisations through interim uncertainty and the next wave of growth.
This new wave of CEOs and GMs needs courage. This means the ability to say: We don’t know yet, but we’re going to find out.As HBR points out, one way of doing this is to embrace ‘systems thinking’ – or a holistic approach to problem-solving that examines how parts of a system interconnect and influence one another within the whole. This is because in an interconnected world, it’s the best way to anticipate the ripple effects of change and act with insight rather than just reaction.
These forward-thinking, courageous leaders are the ones asking what the next funding and access models will look like, and how to build the right partnerships to get there.
We’re already seeing examples: Novartis collaborating with Monash on heart disease research in Australia, Lilly partnering with Amazon in the US, Sanofi partnering with Formation Bio and OpenAI to build AI-powered software to accelerate drug development and MSD backing a digital healthcare marketplace in SE Asia.
Meanwhile, even as established reimbursement systems like Australia’s PBS remain central in Australia, we’re seeing parallel systems and new commercial pathways emerging. According to Harvard University, global health funding systems are shifting toward value-based models, with G20+ countries redesigning policies, payments, and partnerships to improve efficiency, equity, and outcomes at a system-wide scale.
For executive search, this shift redefines what good looks like. It’s no longer about past experience alone, but about mindset, systems thinking, and the courage to lead through uncertainty. They need to be able to create the new go-to market model. In the same way that leaders in the late 2000s had to guide the shift from primary care to specialty care, today’s leaders have to guide us through a new, digitally-enabled model and all the implications that come with that.
Focus on organisational design
As well as strong leadership, organisational design has to be at the forefront. Gartner’s view is that successful organisations will embrace agility, AI integration, continuous learning, and inclusive cultures to thrive in the evolving world of work.
The World Economic Forum also says the best companies are the ones that turn volatility into opportunity through being flexible.
Boards and executive teams need to ask tough questions: are we having the right conversations with stakeholders, and do we truly understand market shifts? Companies that can’t secure key assets risk shrinking, with real consequences for both medical innovation and jobs.
The challenge is to turn this uncertainty into opportunity: to redesign, refocus and grow. That means reassessing what the business really needs now and, in the future, to stay resilient and relevant to their customers. It also means looking beyond traditional markets; for example, we’re already seeing a demand for leadership talent in the Middle East as organisations pivot.
For those companies, it’s time to think strategically: do we have the right talent, partners and networks in place to move where the growth is? Boards and CEOs must align leadership and structure, designing organisations that can adapt fast, attract top talent, and grow sustainably. Organisational design, at its best, involves understanding the capabilities of tomorrow and today and balancing strategy around both.
Fix the now, then the future
Organisational design isn’t always about sweeping change but small, smart adjustments. This might mean stopping a $2 million revenue leak by tightening operations, or gaining an extra 10% market share in each business unit. It’s not rocket science, but those basic steps drive growth.
Once that foundation is solid, it’s about taking brave, strategic leaps; forging new partnerships, investing differently, or reshaping business models. The most forward-thinking organisations are doing just that: leading boldly, experimenting early, and positioning themselves to be best-in-class at doing things differently.
From an organisational design perspective, this starts with asking: do you have the right people around the boardroom table? Do you have the right team at the operational level? The first step is acknowledging the reality of the current situation by aligning everyone around a shared goal and being honest about where the business stands today. You can’t future-proof until you present-proof. That means taking a hard look at your structure, your talent and your decision-making processes, and making sure you have the right people in the right seats before planning what comes next. Only once that foundation is solid can you design for the future with confidence.
As an executive search firm, we often partner with organisations to help assess where they stand today, secure the right leadership for tomorrow, and design confidently for what’s next.
We also speak with the candidates in the market to understand who is embracing the future and already planning for it so we have the top tier talent ready to tap on the shoulder for the next role. We know what good looks like.
In a period of uncertainty, the organisations that will thrive are those aligning leadership, talent, and organisational design.
About Hunton Executive
Hunton Executive partners with healthcare and life sciences organisations to identify, develop, and appoint the next generation of leaders. We’re helping businesses to redesign their organisations for the future and have a pool of leadership talent ready to take on the task. Contact us for a confidential chat.
Contact Hunton Executive to support your board, executive and surrounding leadership layers in your local and global teams.
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