Ezekia at the Signium Conference, Brussels
Updated: 6 days ago
Joseph Blass, CEO of Ezekia, was in Brussels for the Signium conference 2026, where he presented on business development, AI, and how a network of firms can compete with the global search giants.
Signium is an international executive search and leadership consulting network. The conference was hosted by Martin GP Bernard and the Signium Belgium team in Brussels, with thanks also going to Signium's Global Chair, Annelize van Rensburg, and Director of Corporate Operations, Ken Haley. Signium Belgium has been a leading name in Benelux executive search since 1995.
Three Topics, One Session
Joseph's session, "Business Development, AI, and Alliances in Executive Search," was built around three questions that most search firms are asking right now: how does business development break down and what fixes it, what does AI actually mean for a search practice, and how do firms in a network compete with the global powerhouses together.
Why Business Development Breaks Down
The session opened with an honest look at how BD tends to work in practice. For many consultants it is a chore, something to be handled after delivering for current clients. It is disjointed, it lives in outdated spreadsheets, and it is tedious. Most firms also default to farming existing accounts, which feels safe but creates a crowded pond: a small pool, high competition, and everyone fishing the same water.
The alternative Joseph set out was a shift from hope-led BD to data-led BD, built on two simple questions. Who do we know, and who do they know? Former candidates who are now hiring, former clients who have moved on, peer companies in the same sector, and mutual connections all sit in a firm's own data. The firms that can see those connections are the ones that find opportunities nobody else is chasing.
The same logic applies to outreach. With 150 or more emails hitting a senior executive's inbox every day and very few phone calls being made, most outreach looks identical. What works is hyper-personal messaging that references real shared history, picking up the phone, sequenced follow-up rather than one-and-done, and context that comes from your CRM rather than from memory.
What AI Actually Means for a Search Practice
The AI section started from the pace of change already under way. The session quoted a consultant at a recent Hunt Scanlon webinar who said their team can now move from kickoff call to job spec, introductory script, market map, and an initial top five in under an hour, where a year ago that took days. The question is no longer whether AI will change the work. It already has. The question is whether your platform keeps up.
From there the session looked at what that means in practice: AI that lives inside your CRM, AI that works with your own data, and AI that saves hours rather than seconds. It covered Ezekia's Claude integration, which lets users talk to their CRM in natural language, the natural language query builder that lets you search the way you think, and automation that removes admin so consultants have more time for relationships.
Competing with the Global Firms, Together
The final section took on a question that matters to every network. When a client is deciding between a boutique network and one of the global firms, with their brand, scale, and reach, what are they really thinking? Does the network actually work in concert, or does it just share a logo?
The advantage a network like Signium has is global coverage with local expertise, shared intelligence, and genuine continuity. The session explored what it takes to make that real: sharing a database of assignments and contacts, building shared communities, and sharing candidate information. The examples of collaboration winning mandates were about showing track record across the alliance, leveraging contacts nobody knew you had, and strengthening cross-border opportunities.
Why This Matters for Ezekia
For a network, the value is only as strong as how well its members can see and use what they collectively know. That is the thread running through Joseph's session, from data-led business development to AI to cross-border collaboration.
We are grateful to Signium and to the Brussels team for the invitation and for a very warm welcome. If you are a Signium member or part of another search network and want to see what this looks like in practice, get in touch.
