Global Executive Search and Leadership Consultancy, guided by science
MU is a global Executive Search and Leadership Consultancy. We help clients identify, select and develop leaders to meet their future needs.
We believe leadership effectiveness is decisive for organisational success. Our mission is to improve organisational results through effective leadership. Our proven approach and deep industry expertise help clients make better leadership decisions and achieve stronger results.
Our experts provide science-based, precisely tailored, quality assured and ethical Executive Search, Professional Search, Leadership Assessment and Coaching services for private and public sector clients worldwide. We work as one global team, supporting clients wherever they need us.
Mercuri Urval is an independent foundation-owned company with origins in Sweden. Read more about who we are.
Securing effective leadership is one of the most important decisions an organisation makes. Leaders shape people’s success at work and have a decisive influence on organisational results.
Our experts combine deep industry knowledge with MU Leader Selection Science® to help clients select leaders who will succeed and improve the effectiveness of existing leaders. We tailor our advice to each client’s situation, organisational goals and future needs. Learn more about MU Research Institute and the science behind our approach.
Today it is clear, that securing effective leadership is one of the biggest challenges’ organisations face.
Comprehensive and repeated research studies show conventional Executive Search, recruitment and development ideas and methods are very often unsuccessful. Despite the many excellent professionals working in the industry, 40-50% of leader appointments fail, and CEOs regularly complain that less than 10% of their leader development expenditure delivers business value.
Even more worryingly, as difficulty in selecting and developing leaders increases, success rates are deteriorating. Read more:
Mercuri Urval’s approach has its roots in the 1960s, when scientists worked with organisations to understand how people influenced their results. This work shaped our approach to selection and development, with a clear focus on matching people’s capabilities to the demands of their roles.
Today, MU Leader Selection Science® guides how we assess leaders and advise clients. Our experts combine scientific methods with industry knowledge to understand what effective leadership requires in each organisation.
Our work begins with understanding the results your organisation needs to achieve and the challenges its leaders will face. This provides the basis for identifying relevant leadership requirements, assessing candidates and making recommendations.
For existing leaders, we assess capabilities against current and future demands, helping organisations establish clear development priorities. Our advice connects selection and development decisions to the results leaders need to deliver.
The independent MU Research Institute supports our scientific foundation through research into leadership effectiveness, selection and development. It shares its research publicly to help organisations make better-informed decisions about leaders.
We are very proud to share that each year since 2022, MU has received the Sweden’s Best Managed Companies recognition. We are now a gold member after receiving the award for four consecutive years.
Best Managed Companies is a quality award given to private Swedish companies based on criteria that assess strategic direction, operational capacity, corporate culture, and financial development. The program was founded by Deloitte in Canada in 1993 and has since been established in over 20 countries worldwide. Sweden's Best Managed Companies was launched in 2018 by Deloitte.