Original research
from inside the practice.
Market intelligence drawn from JOH Partners’ mandate book and structured intelligence across the Gulf. Each report is a practitioner’s read, not a consulting deck.
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A standing brief on the executive search and leadership market across the Gulf.
The full library.
N° 16The Operating Seat: The Chief Operating Officer Mandate
A Gulf chief operating officer's mandate is set by what the chief executive delegates, not the title, and it is rarely written down before appointment.
N° 15The People Seat: The Chief People Officer Mandate Across Gulf Platforms, 2026
Gulf governance codes now require documented succession planning for senior executives, but few boards have decided which seat owns delivering it.
N° 14The Control Layer: Legal, Risk and Audit Beneath the Gulf CEO
The Operator CEO Index named who runs the Gulf platforms. This asks who controls them, and finds governance built on paper, not the reporting line.
N° 13The Revenue Seat: Commercial Leadership Beneath the Gulf CEO
The 2026 Operator CEO Index named the people running Gulf platforms. This report asks who sits beneath them on the revenue side, and finds the gap.
N° 12The Technology Seat on the Gulf Board
Gulf boards have added AI to the risk register without naming who answers for it: the CTO, the CIO and a new chief AI officer each carry only part of it.
N° 11Board Pay in the Gulf 2026: What a Non-Executive Seat Earns
The Operator CEO Index priced the people who run Gulf companies. This report prices the people who govern them, market by market, seat by seat.
N° 10Who sets executive pay in the Gulf
Governance codes across the Gulf now require a remuneration committee at listed platforms; this report examines whether the committee actually decides.
N° 05AI in the Gulf Boardroom: The Readiness Gap
How Gulf boards are being asked to oversee artificial intelligence, where directors fall short on readiness, and the leadership the boardroom now needs.
N° 06The Rise of the Chief of Staff in the Gulf
The chief of staff is the fastest-rising role beside the Gulf CEO: what it is, how it differs from a COO or an EA, and why appointments are climbing.
N° 07The Gulf Executive Reward Report 2026
How Gulf boards reward senior leaders in 2026: base, bonus, equity and long-term incentives, and why executive pay structures are starting to shift.
N° 08Inside the Gulf Family Office: Leadership and Talent
The Gulf's family office boom is a leadership story. Who runs a single or multi family office, the roles they hire, and the governance behind the capital.
N° 09Nationalising the C-Suite: Saudization and Emiratisation at the Top
Saudization and Emiratisation have reached the executive floor. How nationalisation is reshaping Gulf boards and C-suites, and what it means for leaders.
N° 04The retained executive search market in the GCC: 2026
A mid-2026 reading of the Gulf's senior search market by sector, role and geography. Composition is shifting; the headline figure is not the story.
N° 03The new mandate for chairs in Gulf-listed family businesses
What sixty GCC family-controlled listed companies reveal about the changing chair role, and the four shifts boards must make to stay credible to capital.
N° 02The succession gap: readiness across sixty GCC family groups
Forty-seven of sixty Gulf-listed family companies face a succession event within five years, and only fourteen have a documented internal successor.
N° 01The 2026 Gulf operator-CEO index: who runs the mandate
Sixty-four operating CEOs run the Gulf's corporate platforms in 2026: where they came from, what they earn, how long they stay, and what is shifting.
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