Speed, Certainty and Impact: Is Interim Leadership About to Go Mainstream?

Interim leadership might once have been seen as a niche fix for disruption. That view is shifting fast. As AI accelerates change and investors demand faster returns, organisations are rethinking how they access executive capability. Senior Partner, Tom Forrest, who joined Page Executive in 2024 to lead its UK Executive Interim practice, has spent 25 years advising on leadership across permanent, search and interim models. He believes executive interim is approaching a tipping point. Here, he explains why.

Tom, you have said that interim leadership may be about to enter the mainstream. Why do you believe that?

To a certain extent, executive interim is already in the mainstream. What is changing is the pace and scale of adoption. For many years interim operated as a relatively opaque capability, often driven by personal networks at board level. Interims were typically deployed reactively and managed through niche or local providers. That model is evolving. Global organisations now expect their executive search partners to offer credible and scalable interim capability across markets, not as an add on but as a core service. The transition to what I describe as the Intelligent Economy demands it. Cross border and digital transformation, AI integration, regulatory scrutiny and private equity backed growth require infrastructure, governance and global reach. Private equity firms in particular want confidence that their interim partner can mobilise senior talent rapidly and consistently across jurisdictions.

We are also seeing sustained investment across the executive search industry in interim capability. All of this points in one direction. Interim is moving from the margins to the centre of executive talent strategy and, as a skills based and outcome focused approach, increasingly reflects the future of work.

There is also a broader execution reality at play. Organisations are investing heavily in AI and digital transformation, yet many still struggle to translate ambition into measurable results. That gap between intent and delivery is precisely where interim leadership becomes strategically relevant. Boards are not short of vision. They are often short of immediately deployable capability.

What is driving organisations to rethink how they use interim leadership?

The speed of transformation and the relevance of skills; The shelf life of executive capability is shortening as technology and market conditions evolve. Organisations can no longer assume that a static leadership team will remain aligned to strategic priorities over a five year horizon, particularly as AI reshapes operating models. We see this most clearly in AI adoption. Many organisations are experimenting. Far fewer are operationalising at scale. The constraint is rarely strategy. It is capability.

At the same time, the skills landscape is shifting rapidly. Digital fluency, data literacy and change leadership are no longer specialist attributes. They are core executive requirements. When capability evolves this quickly, leadership models must evolve with it. Interim provides access to highly specific expertise at precisely the moment it is needed, without permanently restructuring the executive layer every time a new capability becomes critical. It is not about temporary cover. It is about deploying senior leadership with precision against defined commercial outcomes.

You mentioned the Intelligent Economy. How does AI change the profile of the interim executive?

AI will reshape cost structures, decision making and competitive dynamics across almost every sector. Many organisations still underestimate how profound that shift will be. The interim of the future must combine deep commercial credibility with technological fluency. They need to understand balance sheets, governance and risk, but also be able to translate digital capability into measurable business outcomes.

Two qualities will become critical. The first is the ability to orchestrate AI tools effectively within a business context. The second is what I would call learning quotient. The capacity to rapidly acquire new skills and adapt in real time will increasingly define executive effectiveness. 

There is considerable noise in the AI discussion. Boards hear bold claims but often lack clarity on implementation and return. Effective interim leaders act as translators between technical teams and commercial leadership. They connect digital capability to board level priorities, challenge superficial narratives and define practical delivery roadmaps. That combination of operational authority and forward thinking vision defines the next generation interim profile.

Who inside large organisations should be leading this conversation?

This shift to the Intelligent Economy is not confined to technology functions. AI and an increasingly agentic workforce will break down traditional functional siloes. Ultimately this is an enterprise level conversation for boards and executive committees. CEOs, CFOs and HR leaders all have a role in shaping how technology affects competitive positioning, capital allocation and workforce strategy. Interim leadership can support that enterprise-wide shift by bringing in experienced operators who understand both business fundamentals and digital transformation, and who can move quickly without long onboarding cycles.

Interim is sometimes viewed as a costly alternative. How should organisations assess cost versus value?

The relevant comparison is not day rate versus salary. It is the value lost through delay, failed execution or strategic drift. As the pace of change accelerates, organisations that are not equipped to adapt quickly will experience tangible erosion of value. Interim assignments are typically defined around the delivery of specific transformation or leadership outcomes. That makes return on investment clearer than many traditional executive hires and in some cases, clearer than advisory engagements that stop at recommendation. 

To maximise value, there must be clear board level sponsorship and well defined outcomes from the outset. The interim should help shape the problem statement and agree measurable deliverables. When expectations and authority are aligned, the conversation shifts from cost to value created.

How does this evolution affect the talent market itself?

As interim becomes more mainstream, both organisations and executives need to adjust their thinking. For organisations, the opportunity is better access to experienced leaders who are motivated by impact rather than tenure. The challenge is structural. Many businesses still treat interim as an extension of headcount planning rather than as a strategic skills deployment model. Responsibility often sits in Talent Acquisition when it may be more appropriately aligned to strategic workforce planning.

To fully leverage interim capability, organisations must become more deliberate about identifying business problems and matching them with external expertise. Those that integrate interim skills effectively into their broader workforce strategy will be better positioned to compete in the Intelligent Economy.

For executives, mainstream adoption increases visibility of opportunity. The interim market remains fragmented and access to assignments can be opaque. A more transparent and liquid marketplace would expand opportunity and may encourage greater diversity within the interim talent pool, which today remains disproportionately white and male. For the market as a whole, it broadens the definition of what an executive career can look like and challenges traditional assumptions about progression and impact.

For organisations that have not yet used interim strategically, what would you challenge them to consider?

I would ask whether their current resource model is agile enough for the pace of change ahead. As AI adoption, regulatory evolution and market disruption accelerate, can they deploy the right expertise quickly enough to stay competitive? Interim is not a signal of instability. In many cases it is a sign of strategic maturity. It reflects an understanding that access to elite executive capability at the right moment can materially alter trajectory. Organisations that treat interim as a proactive lever rather than as a reactive solution tend to transform faster and execute more effectively in volatile markets.

Any other final comments?

I would say this: the question for boards is simple, do you want to be reactive or decisive? Interim leadership is no longer a backup plan. It is a strategic lever. Those who embrace it proactively will move faster, execute with certainty, and shape their own trajectory rather than being shaped by events.

The leadership model is evolving. Whether you are building capability for the next phase of transformation, or you are an executive ready to deploy your expertise in high impact mandates, we would welcome a discreet discussion about how interim can shape your next move. 

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