Leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire businessfourzero. The deal will give Heidrick & Struggles access to roughly 60 experts, strengthening its culture and organisation solutions offerings.
Employers are having to re-evaluate their offerings to workers, in order to compete for talent. With bosses reluctant to pay the market rate for labour, however, many are looking to other aspects of their offering as a means to attract prospective workers. In particular, demand trends demonstrate that executives are focused on purpose and culture, more than ever. According to a recent study by Heidrick & Struggles research, over 80% of CEOs around the world now see culture as a key priority with two top reasons for this prioritization: to improve financial performance and to increase employee engagement.
Headquartered in London, businessfourzero is a consultancy tapping into this trend, by specialising in developing and implementing purpose-driven change. By purchasing the firm, Heidrick & Struggles hopes to bolster its existing set of leadership advisory services, as well as to accelerate the company’s ability to help clients drive successful business transformations by linking purpose and strategy to leadership and culture.
Krishnan Rajagopalan, President and CEO, Heidrick & Struggles, commented, “Powerful, purpose-driven cultures and inspired and engaged workforces are critical drivers of successful business transformations and long-term, sustainable performance. businessfourzero will form an integral part of Heidrick Consulting’s offering, strengthening our ability to work with clients who are focused on developing future-ready cultures and organisations with pragmatic, actionable strategies.”
The acquisition is expected to close in April 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. While terms of the transaction were not disclosed, businessfourzero’s brand name, management team, roster of around 60 employees, and clients, will all remain in place – ensuring business and client service continuity.
Atif Sheikh, CEO, businessfourzero, remarked, “businessfourzero has moved well beyond purpose statements to help our clients become businesses driven by purpose, joining the dots between purpose, commercial strategy, culture and leadership. Becoming part of Heidrick & Struggles allows us to accelerate and expand our international footprint and further accomplish our own company purpose: to get every team on a mission to actually do business better.”
This high level of demand and focus has been accelerated by the pandemic’s lasting impact on hybrid work, retention of top talent and the importance of linking purpose, culture and strategy for shareholders, employees and customers. Additionally, proprietary company data shows, when organizations get purpose right, every driver of organizational performance is more powerful within the organization.
Heidrick & Struggles is a global professional services firm specialising in executive search work. The acquisition of businessfourzero is not the first time the Chicago-headquartered consultancy has used deals to strengthen its leadership and corporate culture offering. In April 2021, it also acquired Business Talent Group – a talent platform which connects top independent consultants, subject matter experts, project managers and interim executives with companies around the world.
