Global recruiting: Richard Ferry helped take Korn/Ferry International from two-man office to world's No. 1 executive search firm.

With 63 offices in 38 countries and with $236 million in revenues for the year ended April 30, Korn/Ferry International is the largest executive search firm in the world.

Formed in 1969 by Lester Korn and Richard M. Ferry, Korn/Ferry International has grown from a two-man office in Los Angeles to a company that serves more than 2,600 clients a year and that has conducted more than 50,000 assignments since its inception 27 years ago.

The company is the No. 1 executive search firm in North America, Latin America and Asia, and the No. 2 firm in Europe. Among Korn/Ferry's clients are AT&T, Johnson & Johnson and General Electric.

Korn/Ferry is recognized as the firm that institutionalized the business of executive search, and was featured in the book "The Headhunters." Ferry has been the company's head since Korn retired in 1990.

Q: What are the attributes you look for in today's executives vs. when you started 27 years ago?

A: I don't know that there's been a lot of changes in terms of what we're looking for in executives if you're talking about the basic qualities and characteristics of executives. There's certainly a change in terms of the marketplace and the types of executives that are in demand.

When you're dealing with senior executives, you're talking about leadership and vision and communication skills. Those characteristics haven't changed in the 27 years I've been in business. If you're talking about something that's different now today than it was 27 years ago, clearly globalization is one of the traits that one would have to add to the list.

Q: What countries are currently producing the most skilled, valuable executives?

A: I'd put North America on the top of the list. I do that with a qualifying statement though, and that's simply that many of our North American executives don't have the global skills we're talking about. But those who do have the global skills are still the best executives one can find in the world today.

You find that the Europeans who have had the opportunity to work across different cultures, different countries (and) different borders have developed these important leadership skills that the North Americans can only gain by having assignments outside the U.S.

Q: How do corporate cultures differ from one country to another, or from one continent to another?

A: We and the Europeans have probably the most developed corporate cultures, and that's generalizing. But when you get into other parts of the world - Asia Pacific, parts of Latin America - you tend to see a lot of family business enterprises that have grown up to become important businesses today.

The family enterprise - the family culture - is obviously much different than the culture you'll find in a mature corporation like a General Motors.

And if you want to take it down to the next level of differentiation, between mature cultures, then you have to deal with the uniqueness of the American executive and the uniqueness of the European executive. We tend to be very individually focused as executives in this part of the world. We tend to think of it from the standpoint of a single individual often running major enterprises. We are now beginning to see changes taking place here, where the team is becoming more evident in the process of managing business.

The Europeans have moved well beyond the individual, as have the Japanese, for example, who think of it in terms of teams. You seldom see an individual Japanese executive who stands above the rest until he is the most senior individual in his company. The Americans tend to be much more individualistic.

Q: How much are top executives making these days? Is it going up significantly?

A: What we have in America is different than what we have in many other countries. When we talk about the Americans' compensation, we have got to deal with it in terms of what the base compensation is. We are highly incentivized in this country so we have the incentive programs that are built into the system.

They also have, as you know, the benefit of stock options which has become an important part of compensation. And if you look at the record over the last five years, stock options have delivered substantial appreciation for the U.S. executive.

I think what we're seeing is the result of a very bullish stock market that has generated large sums of stock appreciation that has been added into the compensation numbers.

Q: Are executives staying in their positions for a shorter time before than in the past?

A: If you think of it in terms of the attitude executives had two or three decades ago, the "once with a company, always with a company" attitude is a thing of the past. That doesn't exist anymore.

So executives are looking for change not for the sake of change, but to advance their careers or to advance their compensation. There are some companies that have a higher turnover than others, but that's a reflection of the company - in most cases a reflection of management - not the marketplace, and not the industry.

People are more willing to make changes than they were 27 years ago; people are more willing to talk about changes than they were 27 years ago. There are few people who would not take our phone call today if we would call them up and ask them to consider another opportunity. They may not take the job for a lot of different reasons, but they would certainly be willing to listen.

Q: What do you see in terms of women and minorities in executive positions?

A: I got in trouble once for saying the glass ceiling cracked, and I still say that, so I can still get in trouble because I think the glass ceiling has cracked.

It's not gone; it's there. There's still some discrimination in the marketplace. But the minorities and the women have advanced dramatically in the last decade, and they will continue to advance because more and more young people are coming into the ranks of the business world out of the business schools. If you just look at the classrooms today in business schools, you find large populations of women and minorities. So it's a matter of time for them to work their way up through the corporate hierarchy. So my view is that they will continue to advance and we will see more and more women and minorities in the most senior ranks of management in the next decade.

Q: Of all the positions you've filled, which would you most like to have filled with yourself?

A: I would love to run a major foundation, because there is nothing more satisfying in my mind than being able to help other people. We've done work in the foundation field, but I've never offered myself as a candidate. I think it is one of the most rewarding experiences one can have.

Snapshot 

Richard M. Ferry

Company: Korn/Ferry International

Title: Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Born: Northeast Ohio, 1937

Education: B.S. in accounting, Kent State University Most admired person: His wife, Maude

Hobbies: Golf, outdoor exercise, spending time with grandchildren. Career turning point: Forming Korn/Ferry International with Lester Korn in 1969.

Personal: Wife Maude, six children, six grandchildren.