Strongly Held Opinion: Humans are at the Center of Every Enduring Business
I grew up in a household where it was expected that you figure out your purpose on earth, then give that purpose 125% of your effort. Both of my parents were internal medicine physicians, specializing in geriatrics & end of life care. Their jobs required literal life & death decisions. They viewed that responsibility as a privilege, so they focused on being the best doctors they could be and helping as many people as possible. They instilled in me the importance of a career with purpose and the fulfillment it can bring to someone’s life. I knew 30 days into my first job as a recruiter at Epic that recruiting was my purpose. Connecting impressive people with great leaders is what I’m supposed to do.
I am in the business of helping passionate, hard-working humans find opportunities that will help them soar. When you have employees who embody the founder’s mentality and take their position seriously, your business will transform. This is a spark that can enable startups and long-standing business alike to beat the odds and navigate the inevitably choppy waters.
I’ve been fortunate to work for human-centric leaders who deeply understand the responsibility of hiring and retaining top talent. When thinking back on offers I’ve extended, I can think of hundreds of faces I looked at and said, “You should take this job. You’ve got a lot of options, but I know the leaders at this company. They are leaders of integrity. If you come here, give your energy and work ethic, they will invest in you and you will grow.” I know from experience that the best candidates can sniff out salesy recruiters from genuine ones, and I know my ability to connect with candidates on a human level has been key to my success as a recruiter.
Over the past 11 years as a Recruiting and HR leader, I worked in-house with executives on recruiting, org design, performance management, and succession planning. I’ve learned the short and long term impact of the wrong hire, and the exponential ROI of the right one. Some leaders take the approach of “hire fast, fire fast.” While that’s certainly better than keeping someone around who’s not working out, I want to illustrate the real costs of hiring the wrong person to begin with.
Let me set the stage from an example I’ve lived: You’re the VP of Sales, and you’ve hired a new Head of Sales Enablement. 3 weeks in, you’ve noticed a couple of things that seemed off, but you want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Fast forward to their 3rd month, things aren’t going well. You call a meeting with your HRBP because you’ve decided to part ways.
The short term impacts show up quickly. Your team isn’t going to hit their quarterly goal. You have to take on the work the Head of Enablement started, and you’re being asked to re-write the go-forward strategy. You’re now having a harder time getting additional budget from the executive team because trust has been lost.
The longer term impacts start to surface months and even years later. First, there is no denying the Head of Sales Enablement had a bad experience. Unhappy former employees can impact your employer brand, making it harder for you to attract talent down the road. The emotional & logistical collateral damage can take up brainspace that could be used to further the company on their mission.
Due to their leadership role & enablement responsibilities, this leader had a hand in training 30 new sales reps during their 90 day tenure. These new reps adopt a culture of bad-mouthing the executive team, because that’s the behavior that was modeled during their onboarding. This class of new reps misses their team goal, and half of them leave before their first year mark.
In addition, your strong performing leaders outside of the sales team are less engaged because company goals weren’t hit. There has been a leadership vacuum as a new search has taken months.
On the other hand, hiring the right person for the right role can provide exponential returns. When impressive talent finds the right role with the right leader, magic happens. Maybe you’ve experienced this; you’ve definitely witnessed it. When the right person is in a role where they feel competent, challenged, and supported, they can start solving future business challenges before they become problems. These people can see around corners ahead and adjust course to keep business moving forward.
What would it look like if the Head of Sales Enablement had been a great hire? Would you be able to tell the board you’ve exceeded your goal? Would 28/30 new reps still be working on the team by the end of the year, hitting or exceeding quota? Would the sales leadership team view enablement & onboarding as a strategic advantage? Would the executive team have a new perception that the Sales team can onboard new talent effectively, hence giving them more investment? You could be living in a world where your Head of Sales Enablement leads a quarterly review to pre-navigate upcoming roadblocks. All of a sudden, you’re playing offense instead of defense.
Your ability to hire & retain the right people is the key to building an enduring business. The hire fast, fire fast mantra may have more downside impact than advertised.
Over the years, I built a recruiting toolkit and honed an approach to sourcing, candidate assessment, hiring decisions, and onboarding to help leaders consistently hire talent that sticks. Yet, when leading People teams, I often needed to supplement with third party resources. I couldn’t find an option on the market that offered me the flexibility I needed, while approaching talent with the same long term strategic view.
I built Rise to provide the value of an in-house Recruiting function with the flexibility businesses need. We call it human-centric recruiting. You’d think that all recruiting is human-centric but, unfortunately, that’s not what I’ve seen in the market. So I set off to build it.
