Experience

Leveraging over 75 years of experience in higher education, Meritus Consulting specializes in recruiting and vetting candidates with the talent and experience necessary to lead mission-oriented state and private colleges and universities. We also recruit and vet candidates for leadership roles in higher education centers and institutes, and for Christian, classical, and charter K-12 schools.

Mission-aligned

In recent years executive search has too often become a means by which ideological causes are advanced through the search process. In stark contrast, we are laser-focused on our clients’ mission. Our client’s mission provides our definition of merit, and merit is the heart of our approach. We strive to curate a final pool of mission-aligned candidates that reduces the risk of institutional mismatch.

Matchmaking

Each institutional position is unique, so often the best candidate will have a unique set of skills and experiences. We leverage our extensive national and international professional networks to bring the best candidates into the pool, including non-traditional candidates who offer fresh perspectives for adapting to the rapidly changing environment of higher and K-12 education. 

Resolutely Transparent

Unlike current practice with many search firms, no candidates are hidden from the view of the search committee or the members of the unit for which the search is being conducted. Candidates we view as very poor matches are simply ranked as such. This allows those closest to the work to be able to see the whole sample at any time. 

Candidates

If you would like to be added to the candidate pool for current and future searches, please contact us at collaborate@meritus.consulting.

A Culture of Trust

We offer evaluation and training to help leaders and others in organizations see precisely how a culture of trust creates value for the organization. To this end, we employ proprietary instruments to measure not just the quantity but also the quality of trust in organizations. From this data, we tailor programs to best cultivate the kind of trust most essential for organizational success. 

Mission Aligned

There is a close connection between mission-alignment and trust. People can’t do their best to advance the organization’s mission without making the fullest use of what they know to pursue the clearly stated mission. Trust is the key to unleashing creative problem solving and the exercise of good judgment throughout the organization instead of simply enforcing bureaucratic obedience. But no organization can give people the flexibility needed to do this if they cannot trust them, and no person will even try to do what’s best if they can’t trust they will get their just deserts. Clarity of mission in conjunction with trust allows organizations to benefit from all paddles pulling the canoe in the same direction – the organization’s ultimate mission. It is from very clear aims that people can determine whether what they do produces genuine value for the organization. This produces solace from esteem and improves morale by reducing frustration with ever changing goals. In so doing, it produces more effective and happier organizations. 

Resolutely Transparent

Organizations need to go beyond saying they are transparent. They need to practice transparency to the fullest extent possible. When transparency is impossible (e.g., HR conflicts) it should be easy to explain the absence of transparency. 

Signature Events

We have extensive experience designing and executing events of all kinds, including those in foreign countries and remote locations. We also have extensive experience in designing and executing educational seminars and training. We don’t just offer advice. We offer systematic solutions in the form of precisely tailored training.  

Customized Consulting

Employing the latest economic, sociological, psychological, and managerial research, we can offer evaluation of your organization’s degree of mission clarity and of effectiveness of your existing mechanisms for achieving it. We can help your organization organize how it makes decisions, delegates duties, and creates incentive programs to ensure the existence of a climate of trust arising from the just deserts.