Executive career insights, for people who already lead
Elite Insights is the executive publication of Elite Executive Career Solutions. It covers five areas: executive positioning and personal brand, executive career documents, executive search and market access, board and governance, and leadership and transition. Every piece is written by the practice, for readers who already run something.
No first principles, and no explaining what a CV is.
The newest guide from the desk
Executive Job Search Websites, and the Three Channels They Are Not
Most guides to executive job search websites rank sixteen platforms in one sequence. Four different businesses sit inside that list, and only one of them is entered by applying.
The pillar guides
- The Importance of Personal Branding for Executives
- 10 Executive Interview Questions
- How to Write an Executive CV
- The Executive LinkedIn Guide In preparation
- The Executive Job Search Guide In preparation
- The Board Readiness Guide In preparation
- The Hidden Executive Job Market In preparation
- Executive Career Transitions In preparation
Most recently updated
The Executive Skills Boards Are Hiring For in 2026
Boards appoint against a written specification prepared before any candidate is considered.
Executive Biography vs CV Summary: What Senior Leaders Need and When
An executive biography and a CV professional summary are not two versions of the same paragraph.
Women in Executive Leadership: 10 Strategies for Navigating Transition
Board representation for women has reached record levels in every market measured. The executive line has not moved with it.
The Executive Career Pivot: 7 Strategic Steps
Of the 168 people appointed chief executive of an S&P 1500 company during 2025, 40% were hired from outside the company. In healthcare it was 70%; in financial services 23%.
10 Executive Interview Questions Every Senior Leader Should Prepare For
Executive interview questions are the visible surface of a structured assessment.
Virtual Executive Interviews: 10 Ways Senior Leaders Stand Out On Screen
Online interview preparation at executive level is not a production exercise.
How to Write an Executive CV: The Complete 2026 Guide
An executive CV is a document that makes the case for a leader's judgement, not a record of duties held.
How to Become a C-Level Executive: The Complete Pathway
The honest answer to how to become a C-level executive is structural rather than personal.
Personal Branding for Executives: The Complete Guide for Senior Leaders
Personal branding for executives is the management of a public record that other people are already reading and assessing.
Executive Positioning & Personal Brand
How senior leaders are perceived before anyone reads a document, and how to decide that perception deliberately.Executive Biography vs CV Summary: What Senior Leaders Need and When
An executive biography and a CV professional summary are not two versions of the same paragraph.
Personal Branding for Executives: The Complete Guide for Senior Leaders
Personal branding for executives is the management of a public record that other people are already reading and assessing.
The Executive LinkedIn Guide
Headline, About and experience written for a public audience of peers, clients and boards, not only for recruiters.
What Your Digital Presence Says Before You Enter the Room
Search committees look you up. A practical audit of what they find, and what to do about the parts you did not choose.
Executive Career Documents
The CV, cover letter, biography and portfolio, treated as instruments of argument rather than records of employment.How to Write an Executive CV: The Complete 2026 Guide
An executive CV is a document that makes the case for a leader's judgement, not a record of duties held.
What Hiring Boards and Search Committees Actually Read
The employer side of the desk, and the six things a committee looks for in the first ninety seconds of an executive CV.
The Executive Cover Letter, and When It Still Matters
Largely redundant at mid level, and quietly decisive at executive level. What to put in one, and when to send it at all.
ATS at Executive Level: What Actually Happens to Your CV
Screening software matters far less in retained search than the advice industry claims. What replaces it, and what still trips candidates up.
Executive Search & Market Access
How senior roles are actually filled, who controls access to them, and how to be visible to the people holding the brief.
Executive Job Search Websites, and the Three Channels They Are Not
Most guides to executive job search websites rank sixteen platforms in one sequence. Four different businesses sit inside that list, and only one of them is entered by applying.
The Hidden Executive Job Market
Most executive appointments never reach an advertisement. Where they live instead, and how candidates reach them without appearing available.
The Executive Job Search Guide
A structured campaign rather than a stream of applications: targets, access routes, sequencing and the discipline of a confidential search.
Working With Retained Search Firms
What a retained consultant is paid to do, what they are not, and how to build a relationship that outlasts a single mandate.
Board & Governance
Non-executive candidacy, nomination committees and the governance standard that board documentation is held to.The Board Readiness Guide
What makes an executive appointable to a board, how readiness is assessed, and the gap most candidates discover far too late.
Inside the Board Pack: What Nomination Committees Assess
The board CV, the biography, the governance value proposition and the competency matrix, and what each one is being read for.
From Executive to Non-Executive Director
The shift from running the business to overseeing it, and how the language of your candidacy has to change with it.
Misrepresentation on a Board CV: The Governance Risk
Qualification and tenure errors that end careers at director level, and why verification is stricter than most candidates expect.
Leadership & Transition
Moving up, moving across and arriving well. The periods when a career changes shape and the narrative has to keep up.The Executive Skills Boards Are Hiring For in 2026
Boards appoint against a written specification prepared before any candidate is considered.
Women in Executive Leadership: 10 Strategies for Navigating Transition
Board representation for women has reached record levels in every market measured. The executive line has not moved with it.
The Executive Career Pivot: 7 Strategic Steps
Of the 168 people appointed chief executive of an S&P 1500 company during 2025, 40% were hired from outside the company. In healthcare it was 70%; in financial services 23%.
10 Executive Interview Questions Every Senior Leader Should Prepare For
Executive interview questions are the visible surface of a structured assessment.
Published to the same standard as the work itself
Elite Insights exists to be useful to people who already know their field. Everything here is written by the practice, for the reader we serve, and held to the rules we apply to client work.
Human-written. Every article is researched, written and edited by an experienced writer in this practice, and carries a named author.
Pitched at altitude. We never explain what a CV is. The reader is assumed to be running something.
Attributed and dated. Statistics are attributed inline to their source, and every piece carries a visible last-updated date.
Nothing gated. No sign-up walls, no drip sequences in exchange for a paragraph. Read what you need and leave.
Confidential by default. Client examples are composed for illustration. We never publish client work, names or employers.
Two further libraries, for different readers
Elite Insights is written for established leaders. If you are here on behalf of an organisation, or building toward your first leadership role, the material you want is published separately.
Corporate Resources
Bids and tenders, outplacement and workforce transition, leadership visibility, and employer brand. Written for bid managers, HR directors and communications leads rather than for candidates.
Smart CV Guides
Practical, plainer guidance for professionals building toward leadership, published alongside Smart CV Builder. The same positioning intelligence, pitched for an earlier stage.
Reading about positioning is not the same as having been positioned
Our practice does this work for a living: executive CVs and cover letters, LinkedIn, biographies, portfolios, board packs, positioning strategy and interview preparation. Human-written, completely confidential, and handled with the discretion a career of consequence demands.