Egon Zehnder and Sinequanon (SQN) Formalize Business Partnership to Scale SQN’s Revolutionary, AI-enabled Approach to Culture Transformation Through the Harnessing of Human Potential

Egon Zehnder, the world’s leadership consulting firm, has formalized an agreement to purchase a minority stake in Zurich, Switzerland-based Sinequanon (SQN), a firm that uses AI and advanced analytics to improve workplace culture and performance. SQN is the first to have cracked the code linking culture to performance consistently over time and in every client engagement.

The investment in SQN signals Egon Zehnder’s intent to build on its 55 years of experience shaping leadership and culture through SQN’s unique combination of advanced technology and a human approach to leadership. The companies will work together to disseminate SQN’s Living Analytics™ platform and Flow Operating System™.

SQN’s flowOS™ uses a data-driven and AI-enabled process to identify an organization’s optimal culture and then drives the behavioral change needed by individuals, teams and business units. In its work with clients, flowOS™ has consistently delivered significant improvements in people energy and productivity.

“We hear consistently from clients that culture change is one of the most challenging aspects of leadership. In SQN we have found an innovative partner to deliver integrated services to our clients by marrying both human leadership insights and pioneering technology,” said Jill Ader, Chairwoman, Egon Zehnder. “We strongly believe the best consulting services we can offer our clients combine technology and humanity,” she added.

The partnership is founded on the shared belief that culture change is critical to helping organizations adapt to and thrive in today’s complex world. It combines Egon Zehnder’s expertise advising and unlocking the potential of senior leaders with SQN’s ability to assess and accelerate the power of the full organization through cultural change.

“It has always frustrated me that large organizations trap massive amounts of human energy. In fact, our data shows that less than 10% of employees operate at their full potential. Now as organizations are feeling the brutal effect of disruption, an extraordinary win-win opportunity between employees and businesses is emerging. My life’s mission is to find a business-minded method to enable this – and that is flowOS™,” said Per Lagerstrom, Chief Executive Officer, SQN. “Egon Zehnder and SQN share a core mission to unlock human potential. I believe we can make magic together, and am excited to be partnering with them,” he added.

“We believe the world needs more great leaders. In fact, recent research we conducted with 402 CEOs revealed they find culture change one of the most challenging aspects of the role,” noted Gabriel Andrade, Partner, Egon Zehnder and Board member, SQN. “With SQN, the intelligence of the end-to-end operating system and guided support we can provide clients can change human resources and performance management for the foreseeable future.”

SQN brings new capabilities to an already powerful set of partnerships. Egon Zehnder’s strategic alliance with Mobius Executive Leadership, the London and Cambridge, MA-based leadership development firm, delivers customized executive development programs at the CEO and executive levels that enable breakthroughs often described by participants as “life changing,” which in turn can serve as a multiplier to the impact of SQN. In addition, Egon Zehnder has partnered with Paradox Strategies, the consulting firm co-founded by Harvard University Professor Linda Hill, to develop the Innovation Quotient (IQ), a proprietary culture diagnostic based on Hill’s research that helps clients better understand the degree to which their cultures enable – or inhibit – their ability to innovate.