ZRG Partners, LLC

05/01/2026

When you hire an executive search firm, what candidates will be off limits to you?

Most clients never ask this.

They assume a search firm can recruit anyone relevant in the market. The reality inside much of the executive search industry is very different.

Large firms accumulate enormous off-limits lists (companies they cannot recruit from because they are clients). Over time those lists expand across a sector. Eventually something astonishing happens: a huge percentage of candidates cannot be recruited for the role you’ve hired a search firm to fill.

If huge lists of candidates at companies are off limits, who exactly is left to recruit?

It’s a quiet reality in the industry. But it matters. Because access to talent is not just about networks. It’s about whom you are allowed to call.

We built ZRG differently. So that the best candidates are still…candidates.

ZRG. Business as unusual. And what you deserve.

02/25/2026

NPS gets mentioned all the time.
Rarely measured. Even more rarely shared.

We measure it.
Ours is 60.

Examined against the Bain cross-industry NPS leaderboard, that puts us exactly where you would expect: in the company of category leaders known for exceptional client experience.

Here’s the question any professional services provider should be able to answer immediately:
“What’s your NPS right now, and how do you measure it?”

If they hesitate, you already have your answer.

ZRG. Business as unusual.

01/26/2026

This is a client verbatim.

Most firms reserve their best work for the biggest scopes. At ZRG, we don’t.

Every client should feel like they matter — because they do.

Exceptional shouldn’t feel exceptional. It should feel routine. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to every day.

ZRG. Business as unusual.

08/21/2025

Work, workforce, workplace: defining what you do, who does it, and where it happens.

Our John K. Anderson takes a deep dive into the CHRO and HR function's pivotal role in redefining these ideas for the future.

Read more about HR's ultimate strategic advantage:

At the intersection of three critical business domains lies HR's most powerful strategic advantage. While other functions focus on products, markets, or technology, HR alone possesses deep expertise across the trinity that drives all business outcomes:

08/21/2025

Empathy, humanity, and transparency are important traits to develop as a leader.

Wondering how to get there?

Peter Gibbons, of Starbucks, Mattel, TireHub, and 3M, spoke with our James Absalom on The Boardroom Podcast, sharing his journey in leadership.

Definitely worth a listen:

I speak with former 3M, Starbucks and Mattel COO, Peter Gibbons about his career and experiences as a leader across multiple industries. We cover various are...

08/14/2025

Marshall Rosenberg's "Nonviolent Communication" may not be on the business bestsellers charts, but it's the book that Satya Nadella distributed when he took over leadership from Steve Ballmer.

Our James Absalom discusses how empathy, humanity, and vulnerability need to be leadership traits.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-absalom-4619223b_leadership-culture-eq-activity-7351733686150602752-A_5r

The Leadership Move That Changed Everything For Microsoft When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, the company was struggling with internal silos, eroding innovation, and a culture of competition over collaboration. He didn’t start with a bold product launch or a flashy restructuring, h...

08/13/2025

Rejection isn’t always about you, and this breakdown from ZRG’s Deepali Vyas proves it.

When flawed systems and blunt algorithms decide who gets in the door, talent gets overlooked.

Leaders who combine data with real human judgment can change that.

Your job applications are being systematically rejected for reasons that have nothing to do with your qualifications. The assumption that rejections reflect skills or experience gaps represents a fundamental misunderstanding of modern hiring processes. The actual rejection factors candidates never c...

08/11/2025

If your CHRO isn't leading board strategy, you're going to miss major opportunities.

ZRG's Dan Kaplan and JD Baker have a conversation about the evolution of the CHRO from the margins to the center of business strategy.

Because if talent is your asset, the person leading talent needs to be at the center.

As much as it is a necessary topic to discuss, there isn't exactly an uproar demanding more articles about CHROs serving on company boards. When I put out my first article on this topic 16 years ago, it was hopelessly premature. But in the last five years, the world has changed to the extent that ev...

08/08/2025

How much of a salary cut would you take to work remote?

Don't get caught taking a lower offer for the same work just because of where you live.

Our Deepali Vyas has some hard truths to share about remote work and salary expectations.

Remote work created competitive dynamics most professionals didn't see coming - and it's changing everything about career advancement. Remote job postings now get 300-500% more applications than office roles. You went from local competition to global talent arbitrage overnight, fundamentally changin...

08/08/2025

The edge isn’t AI. It’s the leader who knows how to use it.

AI can supercharge productivity — and quietly erode the culture that makes an organization worth leading. This post from ZRG’s James Absalom pulls no punches on the hidden risks leaders are ignoring, from ethical drift to cultural erosion.

Worth the read, especially if you think your AI strategy is “done.”

"AI - we loved it, launched it but we didn’t stop to ask or think what the risks were and what it would change.” That’s what a Fortune 500 CHRO told me when they had just implemented generative AI across multiple teams. After 6 months, productivity was up but something else was unraveling bene...