April 12, 2022 • 29 mins
Today Louis Carr speaks with Frank Clark, President & Chief Executive Officer of Encore Leadership Advisors Executive Search Firm.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Louis Carr and welcome to the Blueprint Connect podcast.
This podcast is an extension of the Blueprint Men Summit,
where we have consistently given men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
(00:22):
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finances, health and wellness, and
even relationships. So tell someone you know to look out
for us weekly. On today's podcast, we have founder and
CEO of Encore Executive Search, Frank Clark. Welcome Frank, Thanks
(00:45):
Louis for having me excited to be here. So Frank,
before we start today, let's give our listening audience an
idea of who you are sure thing. I am from Chicago,
the Generation Chicago and went to schools in the southern
suburbs of Chicago, then went on to Northern Illinois University
(01:09):
where I received a Bachelor of Science and Economics. Worked
for several years and went back to business school and
majored in finance and marketing from Illinois Institute of Technology
with my master's in business, My family and I reside
in the Chicago Land area and UM you know, I'm
a big Bulls fan and hoping for the White Sox. Well, well, Frank,
(01:31):
you also come from a storied history. Uh. Your father
was what we call a v I V I v
I P all right, so tell us about Frank Clark Sr. Absolutely,
I would be remissed if I didn't discuss that. So,
my my father was president, chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Leticine.
(01:54):
Commonwealth Letsine as a major utility based here in Chicago.
At the time that he was CEO, there were roughly
about an eight billion dollar business. And he certainly has
been my inspiration and been my drive around being in business.
From a very young man, you know, young boy I
should say, probably eight or nine, I saw him going
(02:14):
to work every day with a suit. I didn't know
what he did, didn't understand what he did, but he
was going with the suit and I said, that looks
pretty cool. I might want to go to work with
the suit one day. So, you know, he certainly has
been very inspiring for me to do what I do
today for sure. Uh. And Frank, what would you say
is some of the key things that you learned from
your dad? Several things. One is um grit you know,
(02:40):
he was with Commonwealth Edison for forty six years. He
started literally in the mail room, delivering mail door to
door to executives and middle managers and and and the like,
and did that for a number of years. Then went
back to school to hit his degree from DePaul University,
and then he went to law school as well. So
one of the things that I learned from him is
(03:00):
absolute grit and what you would call intestinal fortitude to
keep going no matter what, and that certainly has voted
well for me in my career. The other thing I
learned from him is this ability to work with people
and have a great team around you. His success, of
course came from a great family around him, including my mother.
It also came from a great team around him internally
(03:22):
at the company. So learning from him around collaboration and
working with people is certainly a key learning lesson to
to garner success. So you have n b a in
finance and marketing. Is that that correct? Yes? And what
had you intended to do originally with that degree? Yeah?
(03:46):
Out of undergrad which I major in economics, had a
Bachelor of Science and Economics from Northern Illinois University. My dream,
my vision, my motivation, was to be a fortune five
d CEO period will stop. That's what I told everybody,
That's what I told myself, and that was certainly my quest.
So my first job out of school was actually with
(04:07):
motor Rola, and back in those days we're talking about
the early nineties, working for motor Rolers like working for
Facebook today, it was a big deal. We celebrated like
it was. I knew I was on my way. Uh
So that was my initial initial dream is to be
a fortune fifty cl And then as I got into
corporate Americans started to send into the cs. We certainly
(04:29):
enjoyed that. Ride got great training, great exposure, and excellent experience.
I got this entrepreneurial bug that I could not shake.
So I then ventured off into the world of entrepreneurship
back in the mid two thousand's and been doing it
ever since. So you you uh was in private equity
(04:49):
for a while and tell us about that. Yeah, So
the private equity firm that I have was focused on
mid market companies, companies that have heap it though, which
is essentially free cash flow of anywhere from three million
to about ten million dollars. That's the range of free
cash flow or or epit UH that we worked with,
and these companies are an industrial manufacturing, technology, professional services,
(05:14):
and healthcare. And since two thousand and seven when we
launched that company, we've done a little over a dozen
deals and we still have several holdings today. Okay, great,
So how did you sort of transfer from corporate too
(05:35):
entrepreneurship two? Now you're in executive search. Tell us about
that transition. Yeah, the transition from corporate entrepreneurship was being
around a lot of great entrepreneurs. Chicago is really fortunate
and a great city of magnificent entrepreneurs and in particular
(05:56):
African American entrepreneurs. I was really fortunate to get exposed
for people like Quentin Primo, who runs a company by
the name of cor Pre Capital, one of the biggest
real estate commercial holding companies in the United States. I
got the great pleasure to meet Mr John Johnson UM,
the illustrious Mr John Johnson, who was the founder and
(06:17):
CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, fashion Very Cosmetics and so forth,
and UM had some experience and exposure to him as
well while I was incorporate, and with those experiences with
people like John Rogers as well, who runs aerial capital
with those experiences and seeing their success and seeing kind
of what they are building and how they are impacting us.
Meeting black people, um and people of color when it
(06:40):
comes to great jobs, great career opportunities, and a lot
of the a lot of responsibility. I said, that is
really some good stuff. And the more I was incorporate,
you know, getting to that C suite today, there are
literally one percent of CEOs in the Fortune five hundred
that are black that look like you and I, orle's
(07:00):
male or female, they're actually three today and that's Walgreens,
that's Lows, and that's um T. I a a creft
three CEOs. So when I started to get more and
more engaged in the C suite, I saw the probabilities
getting slimmer and slimmer. I said, why not start my
own company, build that create wealth, that way power and
(07:23):
influence and also be able to hire some some fantastic
people of color to make impact. So I decided to
take that journey into entrepreneurship. And uh, you asked about
private equity. Yes, we've done a lot of deals in
the private equity space, buying and selling businesses and growing them,
and those skills are very transferable into the executive search space.
(07:45):
While I was in private equity, also got exposure to
executive search in a variety of different capacities, whether the
larger companies that were familiar with or even the mid
market boutiques that we haven't heard of. And I knew
I had a gift of gab, if you will. I
certainly enjoy selling and I certainly enjoy working with clients.
So it's really a natural evolution to move into executive
(08:07):
search while still having a private equity footprint. So that's
how all that happened. And I came together probably about
four years ago now with a company that I was
a co founder, and then that's kind of cultivated into
what I'm doing now with Encore. We'll be right back
(08:28):
with more of my interview after this quick break. So
let's talk about the job market today as it relates
in general to executive search. Is it good? Is it bad?
(08:50):
Is it confusing? Depending on what side of the desk
you on, I guess it could be one or all
of those. So can you kind of give us sort
of a summary of what you guys see as the
job market today for executives? Yeah, the job market today
for executives is certainly hyper competitive. UM. You know, it's
(09:11):
a triangle effect, and the top of that triangle is
a very narrow funnel of opportunity. While there still is
a very narrow funnel of opportunity, UM, there is a
high demand for executives, particularly executives of color, operating at
the C suite. So what you find happening now is
the demand is certainly high UM, but the supply is
(09:34):
limited of of great executives that are ready to run
companies or to sit at board seats as well. So
what I look at it is today it's really a
employee driven market, even at the C suite. UM. People
want hybrid environments, particularly with the advent of COVID. They
(09:56):
want environments that are about mission versus just profit, and
they want environments that certainly have diversity as a key
part of the strategic agenda because they realize they're being
executives realized that that diverse peace drives innovation and it
also drives ultimately results and profitability, shareholder value and market share.
(10:17):
So employees at the executive level are demanding that with employers.
So employers have to be much more agile, much more
innovative in recruiting and retaining that top tier talent. When
it comes to the mid talent level, which is much
more robust of a labor market, Um, they're very demanding
as well, because employees now realize that hey, I can
(10:43):
do something else. I don't have to work a nine
to five. I can do things in technology, I can
do things in healthcare. I can do things, um by
way of the Internet to still drive economics for me.
So now that all this optionalities that with the advent
of technology, particularly social media, it is tougher to recruit
(11:05):
mid market employees as well. So the labor markets are
certainly hyper competitive, crowded, and it is a fight for competition,
I mean a fight for talent. So so, Frank, that
leads me to this question Black executives. Uh you know,
we've heard a lot over the last twenty four months
(11:27):
about diversity, equality inclusion in corporate America, whether it's on
board seats or whether it is in C suite or
uh so, does that apply to black people as well?
It certainly does. It applies to black people as well
at the top of the food chain, the C suite
(11:49):
as well as that mid market director, senior director level. Absolutely. Uh,
Today D and I is a bigger focus than it's
ever been in the history of Corporate America quite frankly.
So that's real then, frank So that's not just black
black black talk. So it's real. It's real, it's real,
and it's viable. And uh, you know, the board and
(12:09):
the c suite drives the viability of how real it
is within the company. You know, today boards are more
focused on diversity again than ever before. As an example, today,
four new directors came into the market in the last
year or so. How do those four and twenty five
(12:30):
new board members that came into Corporate America, twenty eight
percent were African American. That is an absolute astounding percentage
when it comes to new board members entering into the
board rooms in the Fortune five hundred percent or African
American in one. However, when you look at the numbers
(12:52):
holistically today, they're about four and a half percent of
the board represented in the Fortune are people of color
meaning black people, men and women. Two and a half
percenter black men, u one and a half percent are
black women. So there's still lots of room for growth
in that area. But the point that I'm making is
there's been a real focus on bringing in that diversity
(13:15):
of thought, that diversity of experience, because board rooms today
more so than ever, are not just focused on it
from a social agenda perspective, but they're focused on it
because it drives value to the business. It drives value
to shareholders, it drives value to employees. So it's real,
but it really starts in the boardroom. The c suite
still a ton of work to do their Lewis Carr,
(13:37):
still a ton of work to do there. Again, fortunate
five CEO s their three today out of five hundred,
so it's certainly less than one percent. So Frank, can
we cut up click down a little bit on on
what you said that you know, black people bring value,
drive value, uh to these organizations. What do you mean
(14:00):
by that? What is it that a black person, man
or woman will bring to an executive suite or to
a board that some people may have a blind spot
and not know that they're missing innovation, creativity. You know,
black executives are always outnumbered, you know, ten to one,
(14:24):
one fifty one, and as a result, we learn how
to navigate and innovate to drive results, probably more so
than our colleagues because we have to, because we're forced
to to create results and consistent performance. So when we
bring that into the board room, we bring that same
level of creativity and innovation into a boardroom. We bring
(14:49):
that same level of innovation into the c suite as well,
and that creativity so when we're at the table, that
innovation and that diverse way of getting results adds value
to the overall solutions set, the overall strategic agenda of
a boardroom for C suite, which again creates value and
(15:10):
performance when it comes to revenue, when it comes to
employee fulfillment, and it what comes to recruiting and retaining
top level talent. So so Frank, let's move on to
what you do every day. Let's talk about Encore right now.
So tell us about Encore. Uh, you know what makes
it different for a lot of other executive search firms
(15:34):
out there and how do you guys go about finding
clients and also finally finding talent that can match up
with that those clients. Encore is a executive search firms,
as we highlighted in our conversation earlier, and Encore focuses
(15:57):
on the C suite and the direct reports, cross functional
so as a result, we really go to the market
and look for best in class talent like Louis Carr
and others that can drive impact in the corporations. And
we have a bus pipeline of talent um that is
in finance, that's in operations, that's in technology, and of
(16:21):
course in general management as well that we focus on
and we cultivate our candidates with our clients. Our clients
are the Fortune five hundred UH companies that are in
financial services and technology and healthcare and the like. And
we also focus on private equity owned companies as well,
so portfolio companies within a large private equity UH system
(16:43):
and and operation is part of our focus also. So
you know, our clients are really relationship driven. We have
relationships throughout corporate America and also globally that we garner
to drive business for us. You know, I lead our
business development and marketing efforts, and that's pretty much our
go to market. We do it by market segmentation in
(17:06):
those areas that I mentioned, and we also do it
again by driving these relationships that we have in the
boardrooms and that we have across many c suites. And
then what happens is when your brand continues to expand
because we also are increasing our brand socially in terms
of digital media. We're increasing it when it comes to
our go to market strategy around fireside chats like this,
(17:30):
roundtable discussions, conferences, keynote speaking. So that push pull marketing
strategy also brings in clients to us. So today we
find our business growing month over month, court over quarter,
certainly well into the double digits as a result of that.
We'll be right back with more of my interview after
(17:53):
this quick break. So, so, Frank, what do you say
to uh corporations who say I want to diversify uh
my executive suite, but I just can't find any Uh
(18:15):
what is that conversation like? Because because we hear it
all the time. Uh. Matter of fact, I was at
a dinner last night and I heard the same thing.
So what do you say to those people and they
said they just can't find it? I say to them,
in a very direct way, you're not committed to it.
When you say you can't find diverse talent, particularly of
(18:40):
African American Latino descent. You're just not committed to it
like you think you maybe. So what I then drilled
down on is their level of commitment. Is it really
a part of their strategic plan? And if it is
a part of their strategic plan, why what is the
result that they want to get at the result of
(19:00):
it being part of their strategic plan. And if it's
it's the right thing to do, if it's it's great
social action, if it's because it's the markets reserve, that's
why you're not finding people of color, because those are
not meaningful enough for you to be committed to it
to make it an enduring strategy. When you're committed to it,
you tell me, I want to drive more market share.
(19:22):
I want to create more products in the market that
we don't have today. I want to retain the best
talent in our company and develop that talent. And I
also want to drive performance when it comes to top
line growth. When you start communicating that, that means you
really understand the business value proposition behind it and you're
helping the company see it's blind spots in those areas.
(19:47):
Tell me about the conversation, uh that you have from
people said we we we loved high and Loan and
we can't find people with the exact qualifications that we're
looking for. When I hear that conversation, Frank, I always
go to that could be true because of your lack
(20:09):
of diversity, equity and inclusion. But there's this thing called
transferable skills, all right, tell me about a conversation that
you can have with a CEO about transferable skills. Because
we all reading in the Wall Street Journal and Unfortune
magazine about someone who was a CEO of a packaged
(20:34):
good company becomes a CEO of an automotive company, or
a CEO of a beverage company that becomes a CEO
a quick service restaurant organization. Tell us about transferable skills,
because I think a lot of times you can't find
(20:55):
the person because you're using old qualifications that they have
been viable years ago. But in a marketplace like today,
it's not absolutely couldn't agree more. Uh, And you're right, Louis.
You see those transitions all the time in the marketplace
with our with our mainstream C suite executives transferring from
(21:18):
a small technology company to amid size um healthcare company
to be CEO. So these skills are certainly very transferable,
and they're transferable for a couple of reasons. One is
technology helps things become transferable. UM, with the advent of technology,
you certainly don't need to be narrow and deep to
(21:40):
transfer from professional services to something in UH strategy as
an example, or profit or consulting. Those skills around leadership
are homogeneous in the in the sense of leading people,
of leading strategy, of garnering an operation, and executing Those
(22:02):
are the skills that you need to run a company,
not necessarily the myotic industry one to one correlation. UM,
I don't need to be an engineer necessary to run
an engineering business. I certainly don't. In fact, I run
an engineering business quite frankly without being an engineer, without
going to engineering school, and I had thirty forty engineers
(22:24):
reporting into me that were mechanical, electrical, chemical engineers. So
when I say the skills are transferable, is transferable when
you have this body of work, louis this body of
works specifically around leadership, being able to lead people, being
able to drive strategy and execute on performance, execute on
strategic agenda items, and last but not least, have this
(22:47):
fundamental understanding of what's important to differentiating your company from
others as well. Those skills, if you have those, they're
certainly transferable and doable, whether you're my already in the
African American community or whether you're more so of a
mainstream candidate as well. So do you ever use the
example of of of your dad who who had a
(23:09):
law degree but energy company, all right, you know, that's
a lot big the low hanging fruit as an example
for you, you know, and he ran it for a
long time. But he had a law degree. He didn't
have an engineering degree, he didn't have a science degree,
(23:32):
he didn't have a technology degree. He had a law degree,
but ran an engineering company. He did. He went to
law school and business school and ran an energy company
for many years, um decades, quite frankly. So again another
example of transferable skills not necessarily needing to be an
(23:55):
engineer for a scientist, if you will, to run an
engineering company. Literally was was a lawyer and actually practiced
law for a number of years as well. So there
are many examples like that, My father being one of several.
You know, Ken Chanot, who was CEO of American Express,
was also a lawyer by training and became CEO of
(24:18):
a financial services company, right, one of the biggest in
the world, one of the biggest brands in the world.
So it happens countless times, but you as the executive
have to know that your skills are transferable and not
get caught into the wonder one correlation relationship and be
able to communicate why your skills are transferable and why
they're valuable. Whether it's an industry like energy or an
(24:42):
industry like financial services, those skills are still impactful and transferable. Uh.
So here is a very hot topic right now, African
American frank armed boards. Uh. There quite a few successful
executives uh our multiple industries. How do they know and
(25:05):
how do they sort of get in the pipeline to
get on corporate boards? A couple of different streams that
and you're right, um, there are several um groups of
African Americans that are board ready today and many just
haven't had access to boards. So it's a couple of
(25:27):
ways to do that. One is having relationships with a
company like Encore, uh, specifically someone who runs the board practice.
That would be mean when it comes to Encore. That
is certainly a way to get yourself board ready, and
not only just board ready, getting access and exposure to
a variety of boards that you wouldn't know about. They're
actually looking for African American talent um. And then the
(25:52):
other way to do it is get into these organizations
like Executive Leadership Council, which is probably the most pre
eminent African American organization for executives. That's certainly a hunting
ground for African Americans getting on boards Executive Leadership Council UH.
And then the third way to do it is have
(26:12):
your own campaign. Have your own campaign as an executive
with your board bio with you will that talks about
your key accomplishments. Some of you are not for profit
board work, which is important to get on a public
company board or a large private company boards, you should
have some board experience and the not for profit world
with some leadership as well, because many of those skills
are transferable to public company boards, many of them committee work,
(26:36):
strategy work, work on governance, produciery. A lot of those
skills are transferable to the public company and private company boards.
So when you think about your business, how much is
focused on board work and how much is focused on
(26:58):
UH C suite work? Percentage wise, M seven of our
work is certainly focused on C suite work, and then
the balance is board work. So about is board work. Okay,
that's good to know. So, uh, Frank, before we shut
this down, tell people how they can get in contact
(27:20):
with you, whether they are a corporation or whether they
are an individual who are looking to sort of do
something different. Sure. Sure, so. Our website is en Core
Leadership Advisors dot com. You can get a hold of
me that way, um, certainly, and my email is listed
on that as well well. I'm also on LinkedIn under
(27:43):
Frank Clark. Uh. If you want to connect that way,
please do so. I'm always available to you in that
area as well. Encore again is a national organization that
has a global scope as well, focused on d n I.
That is one of our key focuses along mainstream executive search. Well, Frank,
thank you so much for taking time out of your
(28:05):
schedule today to talk to the way maker audience before
I let you go. Uh, we a way maker. Believe
that no one has been successful without a way maker.
Tell us who were some of the way makers in
your life that sort of put Frank Clark onto this
road to success. M hm. That's a wonderful question, Lewis
(28:29):
UM and I'm very grateful to say my father, Frank
Clark Senior, is a key way maker for me to
be on the journey that I've been on for the
last thirty plus years. I would also say, um, Mr
John Johnson, Mr John H. Johnson was a way maker
for me way back in probably early two thousand, maybe
(28:49):
even late nineties, when I got an entree to him,
and he sat me down in his office and told me, hey,
this is how you do this, young man, and it's
great to see it. U. So he was. He was
certainly warm and welcome me. And I would say a
third way maker is brother Lewis carr Um. You've been
fantastic in my journey and I appreciate you as well.
(29:10):
Thank you for that, Frank, and we wish you uh
and the Encore family the best of blog and tremendous success.
So thank you, thank you. Have a great day.
Hi, I'm Louis Carr and welcome to the Blueprint Connect podcast.
This podcast is an extension of the Blueprint Men Summit,
where we have consistently given men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
(00:22):
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finances, health and wellness, and
even relationships. So tell someone you know to look out
for us weekly. On today's podcast, we have founder and
CEO of Encore Executive Search, Frank Clark. Welcome Frank, Thanks
(00:45):
Louis for having me excited to be here. So Frank,
before we start today, let's give our listening audience an
idea of who you are sure thing. I am from Chicago,
the Generation Chicago and went to schools in the southern
suburbs of Chicago, then went on to Northern Illinois University
(01:09):
where I received a Bachelor of Science and Economics. Worked
for several years and went back to business school and
majored in finance and marketing from Illinois Institute of Technology
with my master's in business, My family and I reside
in the Chicago Land area and UM you know, I'm
a big Bulls fan and hoping for the White Sox. Well, well, Frank,
(01:31):
you also come from a storied history. Uh. Your father
was what we call a v I V I v
I P all right, so tell us about Frank Clark Sr. Absolutely,
I would be remissed if I didn't discuss that. So,
my my father was president, chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Leticine.
(01:54):
Commonwealth Letsine as a major utility based here in Chicago.
At the time that he was CEO, there were roughly
about an eight billion dollar business. And he certainly has
been my inspiration and been my drive around being in business.
From a very young man, you know, young boy I
should say, probably eight or nine, I saw him going
(02:14):
to work every day with a suit. I didn't know
what he did, didn't understand what he did, but he
was going with the suit and I said, that looks
pretty cool. I might want to go to work with
the suit one day. So, you know, he certainly has
been very inspiring for me to do what I do
today for sure. Uh. And Frank, what would you say
is some of the key things that you learned from
your dad? Several things. One is um grit you know,
(02:40):
he was with Commonwealth Edison for forty six years. He
started literally in the mail room, delivering mail door to
door to executives and middle managers and and and the like,
and did that for a number of years. Then went
back to school to hit his degree from DePaul University,
and then he went to law school as well. So
one of the things that I learned from him is
(03:00):
absolute grit and what you would call intestinal fortitude to
keep going no matter what, and that certainly has voted
well for me in my career. The other thing I
learned from him is this ability to work with people
and have a great team around you. His success, of
course came from a great family around him, including my mother.
It also came from a great team around him internally
(03:22):
at the company. So learning from him around collaboration and
working with people is certainly a key learning lesson to
to garner success. So you have n b a in
finance and marketing. Is that that correct? Yes? And what
had you intended to do originally with that degree? Yeah?
(03:46):
Out of undergrad which I major in economics, had a
Bachelor of Science and Economics from Northern Illinois University. My dream,
my vision, my motivation, was to be a fortune five
d CEO period will stop. That's what I told everybody,
That's what I told myself, and that was certainly my quest.
So my first job out of school was actually with
(04:07):
motor Rola, and back in those days we're talking about
the early nineties, working for motor Rolers like working for
Facebook today, it was a big deal. We celebrated like
it was. I knew I was on my way. Uh
So that was my initial initial dream is to be
a fortune fifty cl And then as I got into
corporate Americans started to send into the cs. We certainly
(04:29):
enjoyed that. Ride got great training, great exposure, and excellent experience.
I got this entrepreneurial bug that I could not shake.
So I then ventured off into the world of entrepreneurship
back in the mid two thousand's and been doing it
ever since. So you you uh was in private equity
(04:49):
for a while and tell us about that. Yeah, So
the private equity firm that I have was focused on
mid market companies, companies that have heap it though, which
is essentially free cash flow of anywhere from three million
to about ten million dollars. That's the range of free
cash flow or or epit UH that we worked with,
and these companies are an industrial manufacturing, technology, professional services,
(05:14):
and healthcare. And since two thousand and seven when we
launched that company, we've done a little over a dozen
deals and we still have several holdings today. Okay, great,
So how did you sort of transfer from corporate too
(05:35):
entrepreneurship two? Now you're in executive search. Tell us about
that transition. Yeah, the transition from corporate entrepreneurship was being
around a lot of great entrepreneurs. Chicago is really fortunate
and a great city of magnificent entrepreneurs and in particular
(05:56):
African American entrepreneurs. I was really fortunate to get exposed
for people like Quentin Primo, who runs a company by
the name of cor Pre Capital, one of the biggest
real estate commercial holding companies in the United States. I
got the great pleasure to meet Mr John Johnson UM,
the illustrious Mr John Johnson, who was the founder and
(06:17):
CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, fashion Very Cosmetics and so forth,
and UM had some experience and exposure to him as
well while I was incorporate, and with those experiences with
people like John Rogers as well, who runs aerial capital
with those experiences and seeing their success and seeing kind
of what they are building and how they are impacting us.
Meeting black people, um and people of color when it
(06:40):
comes to great jobs, great career opportunities, and a lot
of the a lot of responsibility. I said, that is
really some good stuff. And the more I was incorporate,
you know, getting to that C suite today, there are
literally one percent of CEOs in the Fortune five hundred
that are black that look like you and I, orle's
(07:00):
male or female, they're actually three today and that's Walgreens,
that's Lows, and that's um T. I a a creft
three CEOs. So when I started to get more and
more engaged in the C suite, I saw the probabilities
getting slimmer and slimmer. I said, why not start my
own company, build that create wealth, that way power and
(07:23):
influence and also be able to hire some some fantastic
people of color to make impact. So I decided to
take that journey into entrepreneurship. And uh, you asked about
private equity. Yes, we've done a lot of deals in
the private equity space, buying and selling businesses and growing them,
and those skills are very transferable into the executive search space.
(07:45):
While I was in private equity, also got exposure to
executive search in a variety of different capacities, whether the
larger companies that were familiar with or even the mid
market boutiques that we haven't heard of. And I knew
I had a gift of gab, if you will. I
certainly enjoy selling and I certainly enjoy working with clients.
So it's really a natural evolution to move into executive
(08:07):
search while still having a private equity footprint. So that's
how all that happened. And I came together probably about
four years ago now with a company that I was
a co founder, and then that's kind of cultivated into
what I'm doing now with Encore. We'll be right back
(08:28):
with more of my interview after this quick break. So
let's talk about the job market today as it relates
in general to executive search. Is it good? Is it bad?
(08:50):
Is it confusing? Depending on what side of the desk
you on, I guess it could be one or all
of those. So can you kind of give us sort
of a summary of what you guys see as the
job market today for executives? Yeah, the job market today
for executives is certainly hyper competitive. UM. You know, it's
(09:11):
a triangle effect, and the top of that triangle is
a very narrow funnel of opportunity. While there still is
a very narrow funnel of opportunity, UM, there is a
high demand for executives, particularly executives of color, operating at
the C suite. So what you find happening now is
the demand is certainly high UM, but the supply is
(09:34):
limited of of great executives that are ready to run
companies or to sit at board seats as well. So
what I look at it is today it's really a
employee driven market, even at the C suite. UM. People
want hybrid environments, particularly with the advent of COVID. They
(09:56):
want environments that are about mission versus just profit, and
they want environments that certainly have diversity as a key
part of the strategic agenda because they realize they're being
executives realized that that diverse peace drives innovation and it
also drives ultimately results and profitability, shareholder value and market share.
(10:17):
So employees at the executive level are demanding that with employers.
So employers have to be much more agile, much more
innovative in recruiting and retaining that top tier talent. When
it comes to the mid talent level, which is much
more robust of a labor market, Um, they're very demanding
as well, because employees now realize that hey, I can
(10:43):
do something else. I don't have to work a nine
to five. I can do things in technology, I can
do things in healthcare. I can do things, um by
way of the Internet to still drive economics for me.
So now that all this optionalities that with the advent
of technology, particularly social media, it is tougher to recruit
(11:05):
mid market employees as well. So the labor markets are
certainly hyper competitive, crowded, and it is a fight for competition,
I mean a fight for talent. So so, Frank, that
leads me to this question Black executives. Uh you know,
we've heard a lot over the last twenty four months
(11:27):
about diversity, equality inclusion in corporate America, whether it's on
board seats or whether it is in C suite or
uh so, does that apply to black people as well?
It certainly does. It applies to black people as well
at the top of the food chain, the C suite
(11:49):
as well as that mid market director, senior director level. Absolutely. Uh,
Today D and I is a bigger focus than it's
ever been in the history of Corporate America quite frankly.
So that's real then, frank So that's not just black
black black talk. So it's real. It's real, it's real,
and it's viable. And uh, you know, the board and
(12:09):
the c suite drives the viability of how real it
is within the company. You know, today boards are more
focused on diversity again than ever before. As an example, today,
four new directors came into the market in the last
year or so. How do those four and twenty five
(12:30):
new board members that came into Corporate America, twenty eight
percent were African American. That is an absolute astounding percentage
when it comes to new board members entering into the
board rooms in the Fortune five hundred percent or African
American in one. However, when you look at the numbers
(12:52):
holistically today, they're about four and a half percent of
the board represented in the Fortune are people of color
meaning black people, men and women. Two and a half
percenter black men, u one and a half percent are
black women. So there's still lots of room for growth
in that area. But the point that I'm making is
there's been a real focus on bringing in that diversity
(13:15):
of thought, that diversity of experience, because board rooms today
more so than ever, are not just focused on it
from a social agenda perspective, but they're focused on it
because it drives value to the business. It drives value
to shareholders, it drives value to employees. So it's real,
but it really starts in the boardroom. The c suite
still a ton of work to do their Lewis Carr,
(13:37):
still a ton of work to do there. Again, fortunate
five CEO s their three today out of five hundred,
so it's certainly less than one percent. So Frank, can
we cut up click down a little bit on on
what you said that you know, black people bring value,
drive value, uh to these organizations. What do you mean
(14:00):
by that? What is it that a black person, man
or woman will bring to an executive suite or to
a board that some people may have a blind spot
and not know that they're missing innovation, creativity. You know,
black executives are always outnumbered, you know, ten to one,
(14:24):
one fifty one, and as a result, we learn how
to navigate and innovate to drive results, probably more so
than our colleagues because we have to, because we're forced
to to create results and consistent performance. So when we
bring that into the board room, we bring that same
level of creativity and innovation into a boardroom. We bring
(14:49):
that same level of innovation into the c suite as well,
and that creativity so when we're at the table, that
innovation and that diverse way of getting results adds value
to the overall solutions set, the overall strategic agenda of
a boardroom for C suite, which again creates value and
(15:10):
performance when it comes to revenue, when it comes to
employee fulfillment, and it what comes to recruiting and retaining
top level talent. So so Frank, let's move on to
what you do every day. Let's talk about Encore right now.
So tell us about Encore. Uh, you know what makes
it different for a lot of other executive search firms
(15:34):
out there and how do you guys go about finding
clients and also finally finding talent that can match up
with that those clients. Encore is a executive search firms,
as we highlighted in our conversation earlier, and Encore focuses
(15:57):
on the C suite and the direct reports, cross functional
so as a result, we really go to the market
and look for best in class talent like Louis Carr
and others that can drive impact in the corporations. And
we have a bus pipeline of talent um that is
in finance, that's in operations, that's in technology, and of
(16:21):
course in general management as well that we focus on
and we cultivate our candidates with our clients. Our clients
are the Fortune five hundred UH companies that are in
financial services and technology and healthcare and the like. And
we also focus on private equity owned companies as well,
so portfolio companies within a large private equity UH system
(16:43):
and and operation is part of our focus also. So
you know, our clients are really relationship driven. We have
relationships throughout corporate America and also globally that we garner
to drive business for us. You know, I lead our
business development and marketing efforts, and that's pretty much our
go to market. We do it by market segmentation in
(17:06):
those areas that I mentioned, and we also do it
again by driving these relationships that we have in the
boardrooms and that we have across many c suites. And
then what happens is when your brand continues to expand
because we also are increasing our brand socially in terms
of digital media. We're increasing it when it comes to
our go to market strategy around fireside chats like this,
(17:30):
roundtable discussions, conferences, keynote speaking. So that push pull marketing
strategy also brings in clients to us. So today we
find our business growing month over month, court over quarter,
certainly well into the double digits as a result of that.
We'll be right back with more of my interview after
(17:53):
this quick break. So, so, Frank, what do you say
to uh corporations who say I want to diversify uh
my executive suite, but I just can't find any Uh
(18:15):
what is that conversation like? Because because we hear it
all the time. Uh. Matter of fact, I was at
a dinner last night and I heard the same thing.
So what do you say to those people and they
said they just can't find it? I say to them,
in a very direct way, you're not committed to it.
When you say you can't find diverse talent, particularly of
(18:40):
African American Latino descent. You're just not committed to it
like you think you maybe. So what I then drilled
down on is their level of commitment. Is it really
a part of their strategic plan? And if it is
a part of their strategic plan, why what is the
result that they want to get at the result of
(19:00):
it being part of their strategic plan. And if it's
it's the right thing to do, if it's it's great
social action, if it's because it's the markets reserve, that's
why you're not finding people of color, because those are
not meaningful enough for you to be committed to it
to make it an enduring strategy. When you're committed to it,
you tell me, I want to drive more market share.
(19:22):
I want to create more products in the market that
we don't have today. I want to retain the best
talent in our company and develop that talent. And I
also want to drive performance when it comes to top
line growth. When you start communicating that, that means you
really understand the business value proposition behind it and you're
helping the company see it's blind spots in those areas.
(19:47):
Tell me about the conversation, uh that you have from
people said we we we loved high and Loan and
we can't find people with the exact qualifications that we're
looking for. When I hear that conversation, Frank, I always
go to that could be true because of your lack
(20:09):
of diversity, equity and inclusion. But there's this thing called
transferable skills, all right, tell me about a conversation that
you can have with a CEO about transferable skills. Because
we all reading in the Wall Street Journal and Unfortune
magazine about someone who was a CEO of a packaged
(20:34):
good company becomes a CEO of an automotive company, or
a CEO of a beverage company that becomes a CEO
a quick service restaurant organization. Tell us about transferable skills,
because I think a lot of times you can't find
(20:55):
the person because you're using old qualifications that they have
been viable years ago. But in a marketplace like today,
it's not absolutely couldn't agree more. Uh, And you're right, Louis.
You see those transitions all the time in the marketplace
with our with our mainstream C suite executives transferring from
(21:18):
a small technology company to amid size um healthcare company
to be CEO. So these skills are certainly very transferable,
and they're transferable for a couple of reasons. One is
technology helps things become transferable. UM, with the advent of technology,
you certainly don't need to be narrow and deep to
(21:40):
transfer from professional services to something in UH strategy as
an example, or profit or consulting. Those skills around leadership
are homogeneous in the in the sense of leading people,
of leading strategy, of garnering an operation, and executing Those
(22:02):
are the skills that you need to run a company,
not necessarily the myotic industry one to one correlation. UM,
I don't need to be an engineer necessary to run
an engineering business. I certainly don't. In fact, I run
an engineering business quite frankly without being an engineer, without
going to engineering school, and I had thirty forty engineers
(22:24):
reporting into me that were mechanical, electrical, chemical engineers. So
when I say the skills are transferable, is transferable when
you have this body of work, louis this body of
works specifically around leadership, being able to lead people, being
able to drive strategy and execute on performance, execute on
strategic agenda items, and last but not least, have this
(22:47):
fundamental understanding of what's important to differentiating your company from
others as well. Those skills, if you have those, they're
certainly transferable and doable, whether you're my already in the
African American community or whether you're more so of a
mainstream candidate as well. So do you ever use the
example of of of your dad who who had a
(23:09):
law degree but energy company, all right, you know, that's
a lot big the low hanging fruit as an example
for you, you know, and he ran it for a
long time. But he had a law degree. He didn't
have an engineering degree, he didn't have a science degree,
(23:32):
he didn't have a technology degree. He had a law degree,
but ran an engineering company. He did. He went to
law school and business school and ran an energy company
for many years, um decades, quite frankly. So again another
example of transferable skills not necessarily needing to be an
(23:55):
engineer for a scientist, if you will, to run an
engineering company. Literally was was a lawyer and actually practiced
law for a number of years as well. So there
are many examples like that, My father being one of several.
You know, Ken Chanot, who was CEO of American Express,
was also a lawyer by training and became CEO of
(24:18):
a financial services company, right, one of the biggest in
the world, one of the biggest brands in the world.
So it happens countless times, but you as the executive
have to know that your skills are transferable and not
get caught into the wonder one correlation relationship and be
able to communicate why your skills are transferable and why
they're valuable. Whether it's an industry like energy or an
(24:42):
industry like financial services, those skills are still impactful and transferable. Uh.
So here is a very hot topic right now, African
American frank armed boards. Uh. There quite a few successful
executives uh our multiple industries. How do they know and
(25:05):
how do they sort of get in the pipeline to
get on corporate boards? A couple of different streams that
and you're right, um, there are several um groups of
African Americans that are board ready today and many just
haven't had access to boards. So it's a couple of
(25:27):
ways to do that. One is having relationships with a
company like Encore, uh, specifically someone who runs the board practice.
That would be mean when it comes to Encore. That
is certainly a way to get yourself board ready, and
not only just board ready, getting access and exposure to
a variety of boards that you wouldn't know about. They're
actually looking for African American talent um. And then the
(25:52):
other way to do it is get into these organizations
like Executive Leadership Council, which is probably the most pre
eminent African American organization for executives. That's certainly a hunting
ground for African Americans getting on boards Executive Leadership Council UH.
And then the third way to do it is have
(26:12):
your own campaign. Have your own campaign as an executive
with your board bio with you will that talks about
your key accomplishments. Some of you are not for profit
board work, which is important to get on a public
company board or a large private company boards, you should
have some board experience and the not for profit world
with some leadership as well, because many of those skills
are transferable to public company boards, many of them committee work,
(26:36):
strategy work, work on governance, produciery. A lot of those
skills are transferable to the public company and private company boards.
So when you think about your business, how much is
focused on board work and how much is focused on
(26:58):
UH C suite work? Percentage wise, M seven of our
work is certainly focused on C suite work, and then
the balance is board work. So about is board work. Okay,
that's good to know. So, uh, Frank, before we shut
this down, tell people how they can get in contact
(27:20):
with you, whether they are a corporation or whether they
are an individual who are looking to sort of do
something different. Sure. Sure, so. Our website is en Core
Leadership Advisors dot com. You can get a hold of
me that way, um, certainly, and my email is listed
on that as well well. I'm also on LinkedIn under
(27:43):
Frank Clark. Uh. If you want to connect that way,
please do so. I'm always available to you in that
area as well. Encore again is a national organization that
has a global scope as well, focused on d n I.
That is one of our key focuses along mainstream executive search. Well, Frank,
thank you so much for taking time out of your
(28:05):
schedule today to talk to the way maker audience before
I let you go. Uh, we a way maker. Believe
that no one has been successful without a way maker.
Tell us who were some of the way makers in
your life that sort of put Frank Clark onto this
road to success. M hm. That's a wonderful question, Lewis
(28:29):
UM and I'm very grateful to say my father, Frank
Clark Senior, is a key way maker for me to
be on the journey that I've been on for the
last thirty plus years. I would also say, um, Mr
John Johnson, Mr John H. Johnson was a way maker
for me way back in probably early two thousand, maybe
(28:49):
even late nineties, when I got an entree to him,
and he sat me down in his office and told me, hey,
this is how you do this, young man, and it's
great to see it. U. So he was. He was
certainly warm and welcome me. And I would say a
third way maker is brother Lewis carr Um. You've been
fantastic in my journey and I appreciate you as well.
(29:10):
Thank you for that, Frank, and we wish you uh
and the Encore family the best of blog and tremendous success.
So thank you, thank you. Have a great day.
Host
Louis Carr
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.