Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And our team in China has more fortitude and more perseverance and they’ve been in a very difficult situation. It’s been 3 years. So I really do think it kind of — it depends on where you are in the world. And I think it’s a very spiritual and a very human question to ask. For us, what I’m really proud of is our purpose is to change people’s lives, to enable people and organizations to exceed their potential. And when we see something. We don’t just talk about it, we’d be about it and whether that’s — whether that’s George Floyd, whether it’s our charitable foundation, whether it’s Leadership U for Humanity where we put over 1,000 people of color through our leadership programs, whether it’s our own Mosaic programs where we, again, put 1,000 people now through that.

And I think that we’re a firm that walks the talk. And at the end of the day, I think that’s what it’s about. Are you working for an organization that you believe in its purpose that inspires you. And the truth is, like in personal lives, companies are going to go through cycles. And this is a cycle for sure that we’re in right now. And Korn Ferry has an incredible track record of accelerating through the turn. And I think that probably reflects most people’s views.

Tobey Sommer: I’ll try to sneak in a last brief one. Could you provide some color on the drivers of digital growth? We haven’t heard as much about KFL or the other individual products recently. So I want to you to refresh us.

Gary Burnison: Well, I think the — look, the — this is definitely more of a medium-term play because there’s 2 aspects. One aspect is the digital offerings and the products that you have. And what are you trying — who are you trying to reach? And for that part of the business, what we’re trying to do is, number one, sales professionals; and two and this is relatively new, is creating a platform where we can upskill technologies. So those are the 2 areas that we’re really focusing and the latter being one that is brand new to us. On the distribution side, I believe that when you look at world-class consulting firms, you’ll find that they have partners that help to enable further business growth and that’s something that Korn Ferry historically hasn’t really attempted.

And I think when we look forward, that a big, big part of that is to what extent are we going to have successful developing an ecosystem of partners that can help distribute our IP and that is not a 2-day exercise. And we’re working very, very hard. In fact, as we speak, there’s a team that’s working on that right now at a client to — at one of those partners. So it’s certainly more of a medium-term undertaking. And that’s what I’m expecting and we’re working very hard on it.

Bob Rozek: And Gary, I would just a little bit more color on that, Toby. One of the things you’ll notice when we went back to Q1, we talked about where Digital landed and the lack of large deals in that quarter. In this quarter, they actually rebounded nicely and they had 7 deals above $1 million, 2 of them were about $5 million and 1 was north of $900,000. So it’s also a function of selling — continuing to be able to sell the larger deals.

Gary Burnison: Okay. Amy, I want to conclude and thank everybody. And despite all of this talk that you read about every single day, there is opportunity. And that’s what we have a demonstrated track record of seizing and that’s what we’re going to continue to do. And so — during this festive season, I wish everybody Happy Hanukkah , Merry Christmas, happy holidays and we’ll talk to you in 2023. Thanks, everybody.