Mission One: The Executive Edge

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that winning the C-suite game is all about telling a compelling story, understanding what you're actually solving for and learning to spot potential beyond the resume. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Gerard and Dan reflect on their most impactful conversations from the year, joined by Alexis Bonte, CEO of Stillfront Group, and Jonathan Knight, Head of Games at the New York Times, for a breakdown of the executive hiring process from both sides of the table.

What You’ll LearnHow to reshape a role before you start the...

Before outreach, interviews, or scorecards, every effective hiring process begins with a clear definition of the role. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Dan Hampton and Gerard Miles open a new mini-series on world-class hiring by breaking down the first step leaders often rush: framing the role with precision and aligning every stakeholder around it.

They explore how to identify the real business problem the hire must solve, whether the role is replacing someone or creating something new, and why this distinction reshapes expectations, scope, and candidate fit. Drawing from their experience guiding senior...

Happy Thanksgiving from the Mission One team!

As we take a moment to reflect on gratitude and growth, we're excited to share a conversation that embodies both.

Career acceleration rarely follows a straight line. For Alexis Bonte, curiosity has shaped every step: from joining the founding team at lastminute.com and riding the first internet wave, to building eRepublik, learning the investment world at Atomico, and now leading Stillfront Group as CEO. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, Alexis reflects on career ownership, smart risk, and the discipline of choosing growth over comfort...

Leading creative teams demands more than vision, it requires clarity, alignment, and consistency. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, host Gerard Miles speaks with Jonathan Knight, Head of Games at The New York Times, about his journey from EA and Zynga to building one of the most successful digital puzzle platforms in the world. Jonathan reflects on how clear leadership communication, authentic organisational culture, and future-focused hiring strategy create the foundations for sustainable growth.

He shares how to craft a message that teams can echo across every layer of the business, why leaders must repeat...

Once you have prepared your story and built your network, the next frontier is understanding how recruiters work. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Dan Hampton and Gerard Miles round off their three-part job search series with a candid conversation on the role of the headhunter, how to engage them, how to stay visible, and how to turn those introductions into real career movement.

They unpack the language of executive search, from retained to contingent to boutique, showing when each model applies and what it means for your search. Drawing from years of experience...

Once the preparation is done, the real challenge begins, knowing how to approach the market. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Dan Hampton and Gerard Miles continue their three-part series with Part 2: Approach to the Job Search. They break down what it truly means to position yourself strategically, from crafting a credible LinkedIn presence to activating the right relationships across your network.

Gerard and Dan unpack why clarity of narrative often matters more than years of experience, and how to frame a specialisation that feels both authentic and marketable. They reveal how to make...

Executive job searches can throw even the most experienced leaders off balance. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Dan Hampton and Gerard Miles kick off a three-part series with Part 1: Prep for the Job Search. They lay out the foundations every senior leader needs: building a target-company ecosystem, researching market cycles, and warming your network before you need it.

They also unpack why culture due diligence can save months of wasted effort, how personal brand and reputation play differently at the C-suite level, and the cold reality of skill-role fit, including why startup versus...

In this debut episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Gerard Miles and Dan Hampton dig into what it truly means to reach the C-suite and why the corner office isn’t always the prize it seems. Drawing on their years of executive search experience across global giants and fast-growth startups, they unpack the leap from VP to C-level, where the job shifts from delivering results to owning vision, influence, and strategy.

They explore why empathy and communication are underrated power skills, how “leading through layers” separates good leaders from great ones, and why gravitas, more than charis...

Interviews can rattle even the sharpest executives. In this episode of Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Gerard Miles and Dan Hampton share the secrets of great interviews, from tailoring answers and framing metrics to asking the right questions and running a process that doesn’t scare candidates away. Whether you’re in the hot seat or leading the panel, this is your playbook for interviews that actually work.

They also explore how context can transform even flat or declining results into a compelling narrative, and why great interviews feel more like conversations than interrogations. For hiring managers, Gera...

Climbing the career ladder or hiring for the C-Suite requires insight into the skills that you need to operate at the top level.

On Mission One: The Executive Edge, hosts Gerard Miles and Dan Hampton reveal the truths they’ve learned building an international executive search firm. At Mission One, they’ve shaped senior leadership teams across leading Entertainment and Consumer companies, combining global reach with a culture built on responsiveness, agility, and service that goes deeper than results alone.

Gerard has spent more than a decade advising global organizations at the highest levels,  he is also...