Most CEOs assume their last bad C-suite hire cost them a severance check and a few wasted months. The math says otherwise. Spend 60 seconds finding out what the real number is.
Here's what most leaders don't want to hear: the wrong executive hire isn't a setback. It's a year of your business you don't get back — and right now, that year costs more than it used to.
Companies are running leaner than they have in a decade. Headcount is tight. Every seat carries twice the weight it used to, which means every hire has to land. When one C-suite hire fails today, the damage compounds — because there's no slack left in the system to absorb it.
I've watched this play out for two decades. A CEO hires a COO who looks great on paper. Nine months later, the team's losing people, the strategy's drifting, and the founder is doing the COO's job again — on top of their own. By the time the call gets made, the bill is already in the millions.
This calculator is the same math we walk our clients through in Hiring on Purpose. It's not designed to scare you. It's designed to make the number visible — so the next hire doesn't have to be another one.
Max Hansen · Co-Founder & CEO, Y Scouts · Co-Author, Hiring on Purpose
The stakes keep climbing. As companies hire fewer people, every executive seat has to be right the first time. One miss no longer costs what it cost five years ago — it compounds across a team that doesn't have the headcount to absorb it.
Enter what you know. We'll calculate sunk compensation, opportunity cost, team disruption, hiring restart, and delayed growth — then show you the total.
The estimated total cost of one wrong executive hire:
That's 0x their annual compensation — and it's in line with what Bradford Smart's Topgrading research finds across hundreds of companies (5–15x is the typical executive range; CEO-level can exceed 24x).
A typical mis-hire at this level runs $0–$0 for an executive at this compensation. Your estimate is in line with that range.
Luck is only by chance. You can't rely on the luck of somebody making an introduction every time. To take the stress out of hiring, you have to get intentional about the process — starting with clarity on what success looks like in the role.
Max Hansen · Hiring on Purpose
In a 20-minute call, the Y Scouts team will pressure-test your current executive search and show you exactly where the risk is sitting.
It's the only recruiting firm I've ever worked with where the experience was world-class start to finish. The quality of candidates was beyond what I expected, and Y Scouts delivered the exact outcome we needed.
Nick DanielCo-Founder & CEO, V SHRED
Y Scouts has an incredible reputation, and they've always been able to find talent we never even knew was out there. The biggest benefit of working with Y Scouts is results — they just delivered results.
Scott RobertsCEO, Roberts Communities
I couldn't have asked for a better partner in this process. Everything was spot on — from the culture fit to the location — and it felt like Y Scouts truly became part of our team throughout the entire search.
Jason PaulusPresident, Paulus Engineering
A 20-minute call with the Y Scouts team will tell you whether your current process can deliver the leader you actually need — or whether you're set up for another expensive cycle.
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