How Korn Ferry Got Married

(MoneyWatch) 

Headhunting is a cyclical industry, which is another way of saying that Korn/Ferry has had a very rough 18 months: Its clients were doing a lot more laying off than hiring. Ditto for Korn/Ferry, which cut almost 500 jobs as revenues in fiscal 2009 fell by 20 percent. So naturally, CEO Gary Burnison figured this was just the right time for a major acquisition. Was he crazy?

The target company was Whitehead Mann, a struggling but well-regarded London headhunter. Burnison needed to expand Korn/Ferry's international presence, and the recessionary price seemed right. In addition, Burnison had spent the early part of his tenure repairing Korn/Ferry's balance sheet so that it had the wherewithal for just this kind of move, even if its stock price was down.

On the other hand, there was the minor matter of the Great Recession. And Burnison was well aware that most acquisitions founder not on the numbers, but on the failure of the merged cultures to mesh, particularly in the personality-driven executive search business. Success would hinge, he realized, on whether Whitehead Mann and Korn/Ferry were compatible. Here, in his own words, Burnison describes how he investigated the human factor and finally made the call.

• The Headhunter Goes Hunting


• Reality Check: How Wall Street Sees Korn Ferry
• How to Execute a Merger