A recent, very public CEO exit reminded the market of a truth many prefer to ignore: experience may win the job, but it does not guarantee the judgment required to keep it.

Just over 100 days into his role, Kohl’s CEO Ashley Buchanan was terminated for cause following a board investigation. The issue wasn’t performance or results. It was ethics. According to Fortune, Kohl’s stated that Buchanan violated company policies by directing business to vendors tied to undisclosed personal relationships. Financial performance was said not to be a factor. 

This distinction and specification that the termination was because of ethical matters. The failure wasn’t operational, it was judgment. When leaders lose credibility, earning it back is rarely possible.

This situation wasn’t just a leadership failure. It was a hiring failure. Situations like this are often framed as leadership breakdowns. But that misses the deeper issue.

Hiring a CEO is not about validating a resume or rewarding past success. It’s about anticipating how a leader will behave when pressure is high and ethical lines are tested. Experience alone cannot answer these questions. 

Too often, boards anchor on what a candidate has done rather than how they decide. Titles, prior wins, and industry familiarity feel like the right choice, some may say. Judgement, by contrast, feels harder to measure. But it precisely matters as much as titles. 

Effective executive search starts with clarity, not candidates.

Before engaging the market, companies must answer the fundamental question: What does the business actually need right now? Growth, turnaround, stabilization, or discipline each demands different leadership instincts. Without a clear definition of success, even the most experienced executives can fail.

This is where many C-level hiring processes break down. They prioritize background over behavioral fit and judgment.

Past achievements are only part of the picture. Real leadership is revealed in moments of uncertainty.

• How does this person make decisions when facts are not clear?
• How do they respond to pressure, conflicts, or challenges?
• How do they navigate ethical gray areas?
• What happens when results fall short?

These are not hypothetical questions. These are predictable moments in every CEO’s experience. A rigorous hiring process tests them directly.

Fit matters just as much. Alignment on values, governance, and long-term objectives is not optional. When goals do not meet, or expectations are assumed rather than discussed, risk heightens very quickly.

The most effective boards treat CEO selection as one of the highest-risk decisions they will ever make. Interviews and resumes are necessary, but they are not sufficient. They are only supporting inputs, but not conclusions.

That’s why many boards choose to work with external partners. Not to delegate responsibility, but to introduce discipline, objectivity, and confidence into a decision that carries consequences.

At NEO Search Partners, we specialize in executive talent acquisition and CEO search, where judgment, ethics, and values alignment matter as much as experience.

We’ve seen how the wrong executive hire, even one with an impressive track record, can quietly drain an organization. And we’ve seen how a deliberate, insight-driven executive search process reduces hiring risk and strengthens leadership at the top.

Our approach begins with clarity. We define executive roles against strategic priorities, not historical templates. We go beyond résumés with structured leadership assessment, evaluating how candidates think, decide, and act under pressure. Alignment comes first. Ensuring boards and candidates share expectations around governance, values, and long-term outcomes before an offer is ever made.

At NEO Search Partners, we don’t just fill roles. We help organizations make confident, risk-aware leadership decisions. Because the most dangerous assumption in executive hiring isn’t that a candidate lacks experience.

It’s believing that experience is enough.