Look beyond the surface
Surface Signals Can Feel Safe
But It's Not Where Security Is Found
Talent is the most volatile risk to the execution of strategy, but the risk is asymmetric. An underperforming employee compromises a workflow. An underperforming leader jeopardizes the entire value creation plan.
Mitigating this risk requires looking beyond superficial optics, biases, and artful language that conflate candidates with superstars. This 'superstar trap' typically stems from two sources of skewed due diligence:
-
Superlatives and indiscriminate language can lead to misplaced confidence in a candidate's abilities. Words like 'excellent' and 'best' are unquantifiable and lack a defined ceiling, and are often used to generalize and exaggerate performance. A 'superlative superstar' may well be great, but without the data, it remains a gamble.
-
Big-logo brands and personal recommendations can create a prestigious 'superstar effect' that bypasses scrutiny. When prestige supplants rigorous analysis, it creates a false sense of security—flags are excused, and the investment thesis is compromised.
Superlatives ≠ Objective
Prestige ≠ Diligence
Geode Talent Insights is a full-service executive search and leadership consulting firm founded in 2025 by Thomas McDonald. Through our rigorous leadership analysis framework, Geode empowers private investors, executive teams, and human resources leaders to make confident leadership decisions backed by hard data and research-driven insights.
Financial due diligence reviews bring hundreds of pages of raw data.
CFO candidate reviews are a one-page summary.
We don't leave you to speculate what was excluded from the summary.
The Layered Executive Alignment Due Diligence Review—LEADR™—is our proprietary framework, auditing every candidate against two benchmarks: your specific requirements and peer-reviewed research.
Hundreds of data points, structured, graded, and explained.
We don't tell you who to hire. We don't paraphrase in a summary.
We give you the data. All of it.
A
Defined,
Layered,
Repeatable
Framework
The rigor of our LEADR framework ensures we deliver quality candidates and market-leading insights, even in niche and novel industries.
With our framework, we prioritize caution and speed—in that order. Poor leaders kill more deals than time.
We'll walk you through our process flow diagrams for Executive Search, Due Diligence, and Leadership Development—ask us anytime.
More than 70% of private equity portfolio CEOs are replaced before the exit. Most for underperformance.
EQ accounts for ~90% of the gap between top- and average-performing executives. Our LEADR framework measures it through the MSCEIT® .
The MSCEIT is the most scientifically rigorous, most validated ability-based measure of EQ—providing an objective measure of emotional intelligence competency through tested performance, not self-reporting.
2
PREFERENCES
CULTURAL
IMPACT
EXPERIENCE
COMMUNICATION
STYLE
EQ
PERFORMANCE
HISTORY
LEADERSHIP
STYLE
Every Strength.
Every Gap.
No Filter.
Beyond Gut Checks
What We Do
Executive Search
Due Diligence
Leadership Development
-
Advisory Board Appointments
-
Executive Leadership Appointments
-
Senior Leadership Appointments
-
M&A Due Diligence & Talent Planning
-
External Leadership Appointment Diligence
-
Internal Leadership Appointment Diligence
-
Executive Leadership Development
-
Team/Portfolio Leadership Development
-
High Potential Leadership Development
Extensive Market Maps
+
Weekly Update Reports
+
Layered Executive Alignment Due
Diligence Review (LEADR™) Reports
+
LEADR-Based Post-Appointment
Executive Support Strategies
Layered Executive Alignment Due
Diligence Review (LEADR™) Reports
+
LEADR-Based Post-Diligence
Executive Support Strategies
+
LEADR-Based Post-Diligence
Organizational Design Strategies
Layered Executive Alignment Due
Diligence Review (LEADR™) Reports
+
Monthly Update Briefs
+
Quarterly Update Reports
+
6 & 12 Month Updated
LEADR Reports
Citrine Partner
Single-project engagement — For targeted leadership needs
-
Fixed Project Engagement Retainer
-
Fixed Project Milestone Retainer
-
Variable Closing Fee
-
Fixed Project Engagement Retainer
-
Fixed Individual LEADR™ Review Fee
-
Fixed Team Due Diligence Review Fee
-
Fixed Engagement Retainer
-
Fixed Project Milestone Retainers
-
Fixed Final Invoice
Opal Partner
Multiple project engagements — For select leadership needs throughout the year
-
Fixed Multi-Project Engagement Retainer
-
Fixed Project Milestone Retainers
-
Opal-Aligned Variable Closing Fees
-
Complimentary Client EI/EQ Assessment
-
Fixed Multi-Project Engagement Retainer
-
Opal-Aligned Fixed Individual LEADR™ Review Fees
-
Opal-Aligned Fixed Team Due Diligence Review Fee
-
Fixed Multi-Project Engagement Retainer
-
Fixed Project Milestone Retainers
-
Opal-Aligned Fixed Final Invoice
Trust + Reliability + Mutual Interest
Long-term relationships and partnerships are built on a simple formula. So, when a partner bolsters their fee with something unexpected or unjust, are they a true partner or merely a supplier? Hidden and self-serving fees undermine the trust element of a real partnership. That's why we don't have them.
Our Total Annual Cash Compensation—TACC—variable fees are calculated using only two datapoints:
TACC = Base Salary + Target Bonus
≠ Relocation Packages
≠ Signing Bonus
≠ Retention Bonus
≠ LTIP
≠ Equity
≠ Cash Allowance Benefits
≠ Earned Compensation
We want you to do whatever is necessary to secure a candidate's commitment, and these are powerful tools to help you to achieve that. As powerful as they are, however, they can significantly increase onboarding costs. For this reason, we structure our fees according to a simple principle: never compromise the ability to secure the right leader.
What we do, we do well. We are thorough, not to layer additional fees to our services, but because we believe it is the right way to identify where the risks are, how severe they are, and the strategies to mitigate them. We don't exchange a simpler process for a discount, and we don't charge extra for our thoroughness.
Final Invoice = (% of TACC - Retainer Fee) + Consultant Travel
≠ Psychometric Assessments
≠ Reference Checks
≠ Advertisements (we do not advertise)
≠ Technology Platforms
≠ Administrative Fees
≠ Confidentiality or Urgency Premiums
≠ Earned Compensation