Practical, non-promotional guides on executive search, leadership hiring, C-suite roles, executive compensation, governance, and building leadership teams — with deep focus on beauty, personal care, and the broader consumer sector. Start with our hubs: C-Suite Roles, Executive Hiring Guides, Beauty Leadership, Executive Compensation, and the Glossary.
CMO vs Chief Digital Officer: What’s the Difference?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA CMO owns marketing and demand broadly — brand, positioning, and how the business grows through marketing; a Chief Digital Officer owns the digital dimension of the business — digital channels, experience, and often the digital transformation of the whole business. They overlap in digital […]
What Does a Regional Director Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Regional Director leads a company’s business across a region — a group of markets, countries, or areas — owning its performance, operations, and team, and coordinating across the markets within it. It sits between country or local leadership and the group centre, blending running […]
How to Hire a Chief Communications Officer
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a Chief Communications Officer who combines communications craft with strategic judgement, the standing to advise leadership, and genuine crisis and issues capability. Define whether the priority is reputation-building, media and PR, public affairs, or crisis management, and assess for judgement and steadiness as much […]
What Does a Head of Investor Relations Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Head of Investor Relations manages a business’s relationship and communication with its investors and the financial community — conveying the company’s strategy, performance, and story clearly and credibly, handling investor queries and expectations, and serving as a key link between the business and its […]
What Does a Chief Communications Officer Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Chief Communications Officer leads a business’s communications — its external and often internal messaging, media and public relations, reputation management, and increasingly its role in crises and public issues. The role protects and builds the organisation’s reputation and ensures it communicates clearly and consistently, […]
Professional & Salon Beauty Leadership: Hiring for the Channel
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire professional and salon beauty leaders who understand the distinctive dynamics of the professional channel — the relationships with salons and stylists, the role of education and professional credibility, and the interplay with consumer brands. The best combine genuine understanding of the professional world with […]
Leading a Customer-Centric Transformation
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading a customer-centric transformation means genuinely reorienting a business around its customers — its decisions, structure, culture, and measures — not just adopting the language. It takes leadership commitment from the top, deep customer understanding, changes to how the business works and what it rewards, […]
Influencing Without Authority: A Key Leadership Skill
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerInfluencing without authority means getting things done through people you do not directly control — peers, other functions, partners, or a board — by building relationships and trust, understanding others’ interests, communicating persuasively, and creating genuine buy-in rather than relying on power. It is increasingly […]
Purpose-Driven Leadership: What It Means
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerPurpose-driven leadership means leading a business around a genuine purpose beyond profit — a clear sense of why the business exists and the difference it seeks to make — and aligning strategy, culture, and decisions with it. Done authentically, it can motivate people, guide decisions, […]
How to Hire a Nutraceuticals & Supplements Executive
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire nutraceuticals and supplements leaders who combine consumer and brand-building strength with genuine credibility on the science, health, and regulatory dimensions the category demands. Because these products make health-related promises to increasingly discerning consumers, the best leaders pair commercial and brand capability with real substance […]
