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Recruiting chief executives is an inexact science: process can involve hundreds of candidates, cost firms a lot of money.

Article Excerpt
The process of selecting a new chief executive attracted a lot of attention recently when Walt Disney Co.'s board elevated company President Robert Iger to be Michael Eisner's successor--after apparently considering only one other candidate.

The Burbank-based media giant was criticized for not mounting a more broad-based search, given that Iger will be running a media conglomerate with $31 billion in annual revenues. The boards of other major companies now looking for a new chief executive officer, including Boeing Co., Fanny Mac, Hewlett-Packard Co. and American International Group Inc., likely will face criticism in their selections as well.

The thing is, conducting executive searches is not like completing a quarterly report: It's a lot less precise.

"Recruiting is a science and an art," said Caroline Nahas, the managing director of Korn/Ferry International's Southern California operation. "The science is the process one follows. The art is determining whether an individual's background, personal style and aspirations fit."

That said, headhunters have established procedures to conduct searches for all kinds of managers, including those at the...