Bentley Lewis

Bentley Lewis Latest news and views from an award winning boutique executive search firm.

21/08/2026

Loads of people plan, they don't follow through with it.

Planning is useless without ex*****on.

Senior leaders must actively take action, learn new skills, and embrace emerging tech like AI to pivot successfully.

Learn more 👉 https://dub.sh/S9EMwJC

17/08/2026

None of them are running the same company they started with or joined.

Even the world's most successful tech leaders had to pivot and reinvent their careers to stay on top.

If they had to adapt, so do you.

Learn more 👉 https://dub.sh/6bPsWhA

10/08/2026

Your first career choice does not have to define your whole career.

Careers are built through experience, pivots, and learning what actually fits. You do not need the perfect lifelong plan on day one.

Learn more: https://dub.sh/dRc82vs

The best leadership opportunity for you might never appear on your LinkedIn feed.At senior level, the job market works d...
05/08/2026

The best leadership opportunity for you might never appear on your LinkedIn feed.

At senior level, the job market works differently.

Many searches begin long before a role becomes public, with market mapping, conversations, referrals and research.

Which means being right for the role isn't always enough.

You also need to be findable.

So we put together a practical look at how executive search actually works, how people make the long list, and what you can do before you need your next move.

Swipe through, then try the 60-second check.

Would the right people know how to find you?

24/07/2026

What can a world karate champion teach us about executive presence?

More than you might think.

Jason Chuei and Helen Iwata, shared a principle from karate that translates surprisingly well into leadership:
You perform better when you let go of unnecessary tension.

In karate, tension can slow you down.

In leadership, it can show up differently.

The pressure to have every answer.

The need to control the conversation.

The instinct to fill every silence.

The feeling that you have something to prove.

People often sense that tension, even if they cannot quite name it.

The leaders with the strongest presence are not necessarily the loudest or the most polished.

Often, they are the ones comfortable enough to listen, confident enough to pause, and secure enough not to need to prove they are the smartest person in the room.

Perhaps executive presence is not always about what you need to add.

Sometimes, it is about what you are willing to let go of.

23/07/2026

Sometimes the most important realisation is also the hardest one to sit with.

During a difficult period in her career at McKinsey, Helen Iwata found herself journaling about everything that was happening around her.

The pressure. The expectations. The circumstances she felt caught in.

And then she had a realisation:
She still had choices.

They might not have been easy choices.

They might have come with consequences.

But recognising that they existed changed the way she saw her situation.

It is an interesting distinction, particularly for senior leaders who can become so accustomed to responsibility that everything starts to feel non-negotiable.

The meeting has to happen.

The decision has to sit with me.

I have to keep going.

Sometimes those things are true.

And sometimes, we have simply stopped questioning them.

Helen’s story is a reminder that recognising you have a choice does not necessarily make the decision easier.

But it can change the way you approach it.

22/07/2026

Some of the most powerful speakers are not the most polished.

They pause. They stumble over a word. They may not have perfect grammar.

But they connect.

Jason Chuei and Helen Iwata, shared an important insight about what can get in the way of that connection: the pursuit of perfection.

When you are focused on saying everything perfectly, your attention turns inward.

How do I sound?

Am I using the right words?

What if I make a mistake?

But the moment your attention shifts to the people in front of you, something changes.

You stop performing for the room and start communicating with it.

Whether you are presenting to a board, a leadership team or a room full of investors, perhaps the question is not:
“How do I make sure I get everything right?”

But:
“What does this audience need from me?”

A CV is useful. But at senior level, it is only the beginning.Two candidates can have similar experience, comparable tra...
22/07/2026

A CV is useful. But at senior level, it is only the beginning.

Two candidates can have similar experience, comparable track records and equally impressive credentials, yet be completely different hires.

The difference often sits in the things that are harder to put on paper.

How they think.

What they ask.

How self-aware they are.

The environments in which they do their best work.

And whether what they want next is actually what the business needs.

This is where executive search becomes less about matching a CV to a job description and more about understanding people.

A CV gets someone into the conversation. What happens next matters more.

21/07/2026

One word can completely change the way you think about a decision.

“I can’t delegate this.”

“I can’t step back from that decision.”

“I can’t give my team more ownership.”

Now replace “can’t” with “won’t.”

“I won’t delegate this.”

“I won’t step back from that decision.”

“I won’t give my team more ownership.”

The meaning changes immediately.

Sometimes there are genuine reasons why a leader cannot do something.

But sometimes, “I can’t” is simply a more comfortable way of describing a choice.

And that distinction matters.

Because the things a leader believes only they can do can quickly become the things that prevent everyone else from growing.

Decisions stay at the top. Teams wait for approval. Responsibility is delegated, but authority is not.

The next time you hear yourself say “I can’t,” try replacing it with “I won’t.”

Does the sentence still feel true?

Most candidates spend the interview process proving they are right for the company.But an interview should work both way...
21/07/2026

Most candidates spend the interview process proving they are right for the company.

But an interview should work both ways.

Before accepting a senior role, it is worth doing your own due diligence, not just on the company, but on the person you will be working for.

One way to do that is to ask if you can speak to someone who has worked for your future manager before.

You may not always get the conversation, and there may be perfectly reasonable reasons why. But asking can open up a much more useful discussion about the leadership, culture and working environment you are actually joining.

Companies do their due diligence on candidates.

Candidates should feel comfortable doing theirs too.

Would you ask your future manager for a reference?

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