Linda Bialecki

President, Bialecki Inc.

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Company Info: Bialecki Inc.

Web site: www.bialecki.com

Address: 780 Third Ave., Suite 4203, New York, N.Y. 10017

Phone: 212-755-1090

E-mail: Linda@bialecki.com

Advice: Have a personal board of directors with two or three strong mentors among them. Learn from their collective wisdom and never underestimate the extraordinary power of networks. There is increasing transparency around reputations. Choose the very best teachers and advocates that you can—and use them.

Qualities sought in emerging leaders: Clarity, insight, and moral strength. Leaders have to be able to assess a situation or problem honestly, and understand what is possible given the internal alliances and external competitive dynamics. It all starts with clarity and insight, but true leaders must then have the courage to do the right thing. Employees want to work for organizations whose leaders they trust in this increasingly complex global world.

Sector specialization: Investment banking, hedge funds, private equity, investment management

Job function specialization: Highly customized position/client requirements requiring deep due diligence and assessment; investment bankers; risk management; credit and market risk; senior analysts; credit and structured products; investment professionals

Geographical Focus: Americas, Europe

Companies I often recruit for: Confidential

Favorite historical figure: Eleanor Roosevelt. As a strong champion of women and civil rights, she, in the process of forging an independent life, redefined the role of women in work and in politics. Eleanor made a difference—in the U.S. and globally—as an influential and powerful leader, and as such is a heroic role model for women.

Education: Stanford Univ., MBA, 1979; Univ. of California Berkeley, BA, 1969

Languages: English

Employment history: Bialecki Inc., President, 1986 to present; Ingram Associates, Consultant, 1986; Jay Gaines & Associates, Consultant, 1983-86; Citibank, Manager, 1979-83; Univ. of California Davis, Assistant Vice-President, 1973-77; UC Davis Credit Union, President/Manager 1971-73

Other interests: Boating: skipper and diesel mechanic; SCUBA diving top 10 dive spots around the world; serious cooking

Professional/Membership Affiliations: Stanford Business School's Woman's Initiative Network

Experience in executive search consulting: 25 years

High Profile Placement: Confidential

Other paths I might have pursued: Strategic consulting, future trend analysis, CIA agent, or psychologist

The global business trend that will most influence corporate performance in the future: Customization and transparency. Customers/clients don't want one size fits all. They want products/services to fit their specific needs and uses and they want them faster. Customers/clients will demand to have transparency around who delivers the best quality and service for their requirements. Therefore a more formalized blogging mechanism will develop with the capability for users to post reviews of every product/service, similar to what exists today on Amazon.com and eBay. Executive search is ripe for this kind of honest appraisal and transparency.