# Adastrum Consulting

> Adastrum is an executive search firm in London appointing C-suite and technology leaders for organisations in growth, change or transformation.

Adastrum is a retained executive search and leadership advisory firm based at
22 Tudor St, London EC4Y 0AY. Every mandate starts with the problem the
appointment has to solve, and assesses how a leader behaves under pressure
rather than what their CV lists. Adastrum does not work on a contingent basis
and does not fill volume or below-director roles.

## Services

- [About Adastrum Consulting | Executive Search London](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/about): How Adastrum supports organisations with executive search, interim management and leadership development that strengthens culture and performance.
- [Contact Adastrum Consulting | Executive Search London](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/contact): Get in touch with Adastrum Consulting for executive search, interim management and leadership development in London.
- [Executive Search for C-suite and Technology Leaders](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search): Retained executive search for technology-focused C-suite leaders, from London.
- [C-suite Executive Search | CEO, CTO and COO Appointments](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/c-suite-search): Retained C-suite executive search for CEO, CTO, COO and CHRO appointments, with market mapping and behavioural assessment.
- [Private Equity Executive Search for Portfolio Leaders](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/private-equity): Retained executive search for private equity.
- [Executive Search by Sector | Cross-Industry Appointments](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors): Executive search across technology, healthcare, retail, legal, media, energy, education and hospitality, led from London on a retained basis.
- [Education Executive Search | Universities and EdTech](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/education): Executive search for universities, EdTech businesses and education groups.
- [Hospitality and Travel Executive Search | London](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/hospitality): Executive search for hospitality and travel groups.
- [Life Sciences Executive Search | Healthcare Leadership](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/healthcare): Life sciences and healthcare executive search.
- [Legal Executive Search | COO, CIO and CTO for Law Firms](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/legal): Executive search for law firms and legal businesses.
- [Energy and Utilities Executive Search | Renewables](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/energy-utilities): Executive search for energy, utilities and renewables.
- [Media Executive Search | Commercial and Product Leaders](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/media): Executive search for media, publishing and broadcast.
- [Retail Executive Search | Retail and Consumer Leadership](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/retail): Retail and consumer executive search.
- [Technology Executive Search | CTO and CIO Search in London](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/executive-search/sectors/tech): London retained executive search for boards, chief executives and investors appointing CTOs, CIOs, CPOs and data leaders through growth or transformation.
- [Executive Search and Interim Leadership Expertise](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/expertise): Adastrum Consulting specialises in executive search for the digital age, placing the leaders who drive digital transformation and business growth.
- [Product-Led Business Transformation Consultancy](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/expertise/product-led-business-transformation): Adastrum Consulting helps organisations adopt a product-led business model, aligning leadership, teams and strategy to deliver customer-defined outcomes.
- [Interim Management Agency UK | Interim Technology Leaders](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/interim-management-agency): Interim management for technology, transformation and C-suite mandates: senior cover for boards and chief executives before a permanent appointment.
- [Retained Executive Search Firm London | Board and C-suite](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/london-executive-search-firm): Retained executive search and leadership advisory in London, for boards, chief executives and investors appointing C-suite and technology leaders.
- [Our Approach to Executive Search and Interim Leadership](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/our-approach): Adastrum’s evidence-led approach to executive search, interim leadership and technology talent, built to strengthen senior teams and how they perform.
- [Team Development Consultancy for Leadership Teams](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/team-development-consultancy): Evidence based team development consultancy using data driven diagnostics and focused programmes to build measurable, lasting team performance.
- [Upload Your CV](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/upload-cv): Upload your CV to Adastrum Consulting, executive search and interim leadership specialists.

## Other pages

- [/](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/)
- [Executive Search and Leadership Guides](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/guides): Practical guides covering executive search, interim management and leadership development to help organisations strengthen capability and performance.
- [Leadership Development and Assessment](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/leadership-development): Leadership assessment and development consulting for boards and senior teams, grounded in evidence and aligned to business strategy.
- [Privacy Policy and How We Use Your Data](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/privacy-policy): How Adastrum Consulting collects, uses and protects your personal data, and the rights you have over it.

## Recent writing

- [Chief Technology Officer (CTO): The Role, Responsibilities, Salary and How to Hire One](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/chief-technology-officer): What does a chief technology officer do, what does a CTO earn in the UK, and how do you hire the right one?
- [When Seeking Consensus Stops Decisions Being Made](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-collaborator-s-endless-round): The Collaborator is the schema you appoint to make a divided organisation move as one.
- [The Senior Hire With a Perfect Plan and No Delivery](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-architect-who-never-shipped): The most expensive senior appointment I have watched fail had the best roadmap I have ever seen.
- [When a Decisive Leader Becomes a Risk](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/when-decisiveness-turns-to-liability): The Commander is the schema you appoint in a crisis.
- [The Four Behavioural Schemas Behind Senior Hires](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/meet-the-four): Commander, Architect, Servant and Collaborator: the four behavioural schemas behind senior hires, and what each one does when the pressure rises.
- [A Better Interview Question Than Asking About Failure](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/why-i-don-t-ask-senior-candidates-about-their-failures): Why ‘tell me about a time you failed’ is a weak question in a C-suite interview, and what we ask senior candidates instead to see how they learn.
- [Emergency Succession Planning for Boards](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/emergency-succession-planning): Most succession planning assumes someone is ready to step up.
- [Hiring a Leader With an End Date Built In](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/in-three-years-i-m-going-to-fire-you): Imagine accepting a senior leadership role and, in the same conversation, being told the date you will be let go.
- [What Separates Good Leaders From Outstanding Ones](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-gap-between-good-and-outstanding-is-smaller-than-you-think): I was briefing a candidate last week.
- [Driving Transformation Without a Burning Platform](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/no-burning-platform-no-transformation): Some companies are so successful that they never have to be brilliant.
- [Leadership Succession: The Right People or the Loudest?](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/leadership-succession-are-you-developing-the-right-people-or-the-loudest): Succession planning too often rewards visibility over viability.
- [Why a Strong Track Record Is Not Enough at the Top](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/successful-in-a-successful-business-and-why-that-s-not-enough): I interviewed someone who has spent 31 years at one organisation.
- [Why Boards Need Product Thinking to Make AI Pay](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-absence-of-product-thinking-in-the-boardroom): Why AI investment stalls without product thinking in the boardroom, and the customer outcome questions product-led boards ask before they commit.
- [EQ Test for Leaders: Assessing Emotional Intelligence](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-eq-test-how-to-hire-for-emotional-intelligence-without-guesswork): How to assess emotional intelligence when hiring senior leaders: the EQ tests worth using, why interviews miss it and how to build EQ into a search.
- [Technology Leadership in 2025: What Changed](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/technology-leadership-review-of-2025): Leadership performance in 2025 is being judged on evidence, not assertion.
- [Product-Led Starts at the Top: Leading by Customer Outcome](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/product-led-starts-at-the-top-why-leadership-needs-a-customer-compass): You would not launch a product without understanding the user.
- [Leadership Health Check: Is Your Team Built for 2026?](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-leadership-health-check-is-your-executive-team-built-for-2026): A leadership health check for 2026: the flexibility mandate, the AI value gap and the empathy deficit, and the signs your executive team is under strain.
- [Interim Leadership as Firepower, Not a Stopgap](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/fractional-firepower-why-interim-isn-t-a-stopgap): Why interim and fractional leaders are a strategic choice for transformation, turnarounds and scale-ups, with a case study of a fractional CTO at a retailer.
- [The Cost of a Mis-Hire: What It Does to the Team](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-hidden-team-cost-of-a-mis-hire): The cost of a mis-hire goes beyond salary.
- [Hiring for Character as Well as Competence](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/post/the-character-equation-hiring-beyond-competence): Why hiring for character as well as competence predicts leadership success, and how to weigh character and context in a senior appointment.

## Optional

- [Talent Talk, the full archive of 124 articles](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/talent-talk)
- [Sitemap](https://www.adastrumconsulting.com/sitemap.xml)