When you’re making critical hiring decisions — whether for your legal department, executive team, or key advisory roles — the final stages can feel rushed. You’ve done the interviews, you like the candidate, and now you’re asking: “Can you provide references?”
Too often, this step is treated as a checkbox. However, for chief legal officers and CEOs, references are one of the best tools for de-risking a hire and validating a candidate’s real-world effectiveness.
Why References Still Matter — Especially at the Leadership Level
In law and business leadership, performance isn’t just about technical expertise. It’s about integrity, judgment, resilience, leadership style, and trustworthiness under pressure.
No résumé — and no interview — fully captures how someone operates once inside the organization. Well-conducted reference conversations reveal:
- How candidates manage challenges they didn’t mention in interviews
- How they influence cross-functional teams without authority
- How they respond to adversity, shifting priorities, and internal politics
- How they maintain (or lose) trust with stakeholders
When done thoughtfully, references give a 360° view of skills and real-world behavior.
A Strategic Reference Process Builds Confidence
Top candidates expect a thorough vetting process. When your organization shows it takes references seriously, not as an afterthought, it reinforces the company’s standards of excellence. It signals to candidates: we care about how people show up, not just what’s on paper.
It also builds internal consensus among stakeholders, giving hiring committees more confidence when extending an offer.
Pro Tip: Encourage your top candidates to prepare their references. This demonstrates self-awareness and professionalism and helps avoid vague or misaligned feedback.
How to Maximize the Value of References
- Request Specificity: Ask about key leadership competencies aligned with the role, not just general performance.
- Check for Patterns: Don’t just listen for glowing endorsements — listen for consistent themes across references.
- Explore the Edges: Ask about how the candidate handles conflict, failure, and ambiguity. These moments define leadership.
- Pressure Test the Fit: Especially in legal or high-regulation roles, probe for examples of judgment under complex or sensitive circumstances.
What to Avoid:
- Rushing the reference call just to “get it done”
- Accepting surface-level comments (“great team player”) without probing
- Only speaking with provided references — it’s often smart to ask for a second layer (clients, peers, or skipped-level managers)
References are not about catching a candidate off-guard.
They’re about gaining deeper insight, so your next leadership hire is not just technically qualified, but culturally and operationally ready to thrive.
Taking references seriously for Chief Legal Officers and CEOs isn’t just risk management. It’s leadership.
It’s one of the most important steps you can take to protect your team, your culture, and your organization’s future.
