How to Get Hired as a PE-Backed CEO

Let's examine how firms like Blackstone identify top candidates.

Today, it’s common for top executives to jump from public companies into the world of private equity. So much so that some worry about a brain drain from the traditional corporate lines of succession.

The more prestigious the PE company, the more executives are drawn to roles at their portfolio companies. CEOs see particularly career-defining opportunities in working with PE powerhouses like KKR, Carlyle Group, or Blackstone.

And the jobs are available. PE firms nearly always replace the CEO after an investment, and unlike non-PE-backed companies, the new CEO is almost always an outside hire.

One thing that makes these big PE companies interesting is their growing expertise in hiring CEOs. The sheer volume of CEOs they have to hire—and their intense interest in how these recruits play out—have allowed them to build frameworks for what makes a successful PE-backed CEO. This kind of rapid learning is something a typical board, which only occasionally replaces a CEO, would struggle to replicate.

A new article in Fortune showcases one pioneer in this space: Courtney della Cava, global head of portfolio talent and organizational performance at Blackstone. Since Della Cava came on in 2021, she has assembled an exhaustive playbook for bringing top CEO talent into Blackstone’s 250 portfolio companies.

She doesn’t make it easy on applicants:

Under Della Cava, each aspiring company leader now undergoes a rigorous and time-consuming three- to four-month recruitment process that includes nearly a dozen interviews with Blackstone stakeholders, advisors, and consulting partners, as well as board presentations, third-party assessments, exhaustive feedback from references, and a nearly five-hour psychometric evaluation that’s designed to deeply probe the candidate’s cognitive ability, character, motivations, and essence as a leader.

The article reveals that Della Cava once had a pivotal realization that informed her approach to CEO recruiting: The “who” is just as important as the “what.”

I had this aha moment . . . If we could help companies get the right people in, they could figure out the ‘what’ because good leaders know the right questions to ask.

If you are interested in working as a CEO at a PE-backed company, especially one backed by one of the big boys, how can you get recognized as the right “who” for the job?

Below are some assorted thoughts I have on that, many prompted by reading about Della Cava’s playbook: