Talent Mapping & Market Landscapes
Before you open a search, you should already know where the talent lives.
We build named, verified maps of a leadership market — who leads what today, where the strongest people actually sit, how a target function or geography is really organised, and what it would take to move the people who matter. This is the research engine that already powers our retained executive-search practice, offered as a service in its own right — so your board sees the whole addressable talent universe before a single mandate is scoped.
Talent Mapping & Market Landscapes
Comprehensive, first-party maps of a leadership market — who leads what, where the best people sit, how a function is really structured, and what would move them. The research engine behind Gladwin's retained search, offered in its own right.
Perspective
A shortlist is not a map
Most talent decisions are made against a fraction of the real market — the people already visible on a database, a rival’s public org page, or a headhunter’s existing rolodex. The leaders who would genuinely change your function are frequently the ones no list surfaces: content in their current seat, deliberately low-profile, or sitting one layer below the title you were searching for. Working from a shortlist, you are choosing from what is convenient, not from what exists.
A talent map is the opposite discipline. We construct the whole addressable universe for a defined role, function, or market — the org structures beneath it, where capability is concentrated, who is rated by their peers, and what would actually move each name. It is the difference between reacting to who applies and understanding, first-hand, who is out there.
Because Gladwin runs this research to power our own retained search, the maps are built to the standard a mandate demands: named, corroborated, and framed for the decision in front of you — not a repackaged desk report.
Named, verified individuals — not counts, ranges, or anonymised bands
Full market structure: who reports to whom, and where capability really sits
Passive and below-the-radar leaders no database or job board will show you
Calibre and movability commentary on the people who matter most
Scoped to a decision — a search, a new function, a market entry, a succession plan
Method
How we build the map
Every map begins with the decision it must inform — opening a search, standing up a new function, entering a market, or planning succession — so we chart the right universe, to the right depth.
Scope & target universe
We agree the role, function, sector, and geography the map must cover — and the layers beneath the headline seat where tomorrow’s leaders sit — so the boundary of the search is deliberate, not accidental.
Universe construction
We build the candidate universe from first-party research and our own network, resolving the same person across sources into one verified entity. AI accelerates this construction and entity resolution across fragmented sources, but every name and structure is then human-verified before it reaches you.
Structure & calibre reads
We map how each target organisation is really built — reporting lines, spans, and where capability is concentrated or thin — and calibrate individuals through practitioner conversation, not job titles alone.
Movability & motivation
For the names that matter, we assess what would actually move them: tenure signals, ambition, comp posture, and the personal levers that determine whether an approach lands — the intelligence a search team needs before it ever picks up the phone.
Synthesis & handover
We deliver the map as a decision instrument — structured, navigable, and briefed — with a clear read on the strongest people, the realistic targets, and where the market is deeper or thinner than assumed.
Scope
Typical outputs
- Named, verified map of the market for the defined role, function, or geography
- Organisation structure views for each target company, with capability commentary
- Individual profiles with calibre reads and movability signals on priority names
- The true addressable talent universe — including passive leaders no database surfaces
- Diversity-slate landscaping where the brief calls for it, mapped to real availability
- A shortlist of realistic targets, with the reasoning that ranks them
- Direct hand-off into retained executive search when you choose to act
Where a map earns its keep
- Before opening a retained search — so the mandate starts from the whole market, not a partial list
- Standing up a new function or leadership team from scratch
- Entering a new market or geography and needing to read the leadership landscape
- Succession and bench planning that must look beyond the names already known internally
- Diversity-slate landscaping grounded in who is genuinely available, not aspiration
- Sizing the real addressable talent universe for a critical or scarce capability
Named, verified, defensible
A map is only worth acting on if you can trust every name on it. We work from legitimately sourced, first-party research and corroborate through our executive network — no misrepresentation, no improper data acquisition. Where the market is genuinely thin, the map says so rather than padding it. This work feeds our retained executive search and sits alongside Competitor Talent Intelligence, End-to-End Organizational Research, and Compensation Benchmarking — so a map can deepen into an ongoing rival picture, an organisational study, or a pay view whenever the decision demands it.
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