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Recruit Rockstars Podcast

Recruit Rockstars is the only podcast on the people part of PE & VC portfolio companies.
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Now displaying: January, 2018
Jan 30, 2018

How do your Rockstar employees derail? As their manager, can you prevent it or get them back on track? What are the early warning signs?

Carter Cast knows.

My friend - and fellow Kellogg professor - derailed early in his career… and recovered. Bigtime!

Carter started as marketing manager at PepsiCo. Then he moved to Frito Lay, where he led the development of Tostitos Scoops. After stints at Electronic Arts and Blue Nile, Carter was named CEO of Walmart.com

In 2011, Carter joined the faculty of Kellogg School of Management, where he’s an award-winning professor, teaching entrepreneurship, leadership & marketing.

In addition, Carter is a venture partner for Pritzker Group Venture Capital, where he assesses potential investments and advises portfolio companies.

And now, Carter is author of the outstanding book “The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made – and Unmade” It defines the 5 archetypes that derail successful careers.

In this 20-minute episode, Carter & I explore the role of the manager in this derailing. How to identify it, prevent it, and recover from it. If you hope to be a Rockstar - or recruit & lead them - you can’t afford to miss this episode.

Jan 25, 2018

It’s not often that I get to unveil hot-new research on our Podcast.

Bersin by Deloitte is THE go-to firm when it comes to talent acquisition. They just released a brand new research study, years in the making.

This is big.

My guest today Robin Erickson is VP Talent Acquisition, Engagement, and Retention Research. She leads the research on best practices — what’s working, what’s changing, and what’s missing.

In this 20-minute episode, Robin shares the key findings of this new study. If you’re planning to hire even one person this year, you can’t afford to miss this episode.

Jan 23, 2018

I. Was. Nervous.

When you finally meet one of your business idols, you find yourself tongue-tied. And it shows in this episode.

His book changed my life 25 years ago.

You’ve heard this word: Onboarding. If you hire a fast-learning Rockstar, you shouldn’t need to. Just throw them in the pool, right? Wrong.

Michael Watkins is the world’s leading expert on accelerating transitions i.e. Making sure your Rockstar new hire is successful once they join your company. He’s spent two decades studying, learning, and teaching this.

You can totally mess this up. But Michael will make sure that you don’t.

Most notably, his works include the international bestseller The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at all Levels. The Economist recognized it as "the onboarding bible." 1 million copies sold in 24 languages! Amazon declared it “one of the 100 best leadership & success books to read in your lifetime.”

He’s Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at IMD, the well-known executive business school in Switzerland. Prior, he was Associate Professor at Harvard Business School.

In his role as co-founder of Genesis Advisers, a transition acceleration consultancy, Michael advises executives globally & the firms that hire them.

In this 20-minute episode,  Michael reveals

what you must do as hiring manager in order to ensure a successful ramp up. If you plan to hire even one Rockstar in 2018, you can’t miss this episode.

Jan 18, 2018

When a PE firm invests in a new portfolio company, one of the primary areas of focus is the people part of the business.

Often, the company hasn’t put in place the right (or any!) processes to ensure that it recruits & keeps rockstar talent.

That’s where today’s guest comes in. Mark Rittmanic is CEO of ForteONE, a national consulting firm that specifically works with PE funds & portfolio companies.

Mark started ForteONE in 2000 and its grown to 60 consultants, most of whom are former business executives (CEO, COO, CFO, etc) from a broad range of industries. PE firms deploy them into portfolio companies that need to dramatically improve performance.

And this gives Mark a broad perspective on the people part of PE companies. In this 20-minute episode, he shares his key observations after working with hundreds of PE companies. And the biggest mistakes they make.

Jan 16, 2018

Let’s get real.

If you’re going to be a great leader, you can’t do it on your own. You need to develop a team of great leaders, who can in turn recruit & energize their teams of Rockstars.

Unfortunately, the managers who report to you likely haven’t been trained & developed when it comes to recruiting & managing. 

Weak middle-managers are the curse of death for an organization.

Simply read your staff’s reviews on Glassdoor.com and you’ll see what I mean. Just when you feel like you’re educating, inspiring, and communicating for the tenth time, that’s the first time the rank & file are hearing it. And middle-managers are the missing link.

So I searched for an expert on how to improve in this area. And I found him … in Tulsa of all places.

David Burkus is a bestselling author, a sought-after speaker, and professor of leadership at Oral Roberts University. 

He’s delivered keynotes to the leaders of Fortune 500 companies and the future leaders of the United States Naval Academy. And his TED Talk has been viewed 1.7 million times!!

David’s also the author of the phenomenal book “Under New Management” in which he challenges traditional mindsets.

In this 20-minute episode, David & I examine two of them.

  1. Recruiting - how to hire as a team, just like Whole Foods does (after 60 days, teammates vote new-hires in or out)
  2. Leading & managing - teaching your managers how to coach & develop their teams

Most executives assume their middle-managers are good at hiring. Most aren’t. 

Listen to this episode, and you can change that.

Jan 11, 2018

How do you ensure that your firm’s culture thrives & doesn’t get diluted as it grows? 

You know what I mean. 10 people, then 100, then 1,000. The more you hire, the more that rare precious culture can become diluted.

So I tracked down an expert on how to prevent that syndrome.

Josh Bersin is Founder & Principal of Bersin by Deloitte, the leading provider of research-based membership programs in human resources, talent, and learning. 

Based in San Francisco, Josh is known globally for tracking trends in leadership, management, HR and talent management technologies. He built a successful namesake consulting firm, before its acquisition by Deloitte. 

More than 60% of the Fortune 100 are Bersin members, and more than a million HR professionals read his research each month.

In this 20-minute episode, Josh explains how to ensure that your special culture remains special, and doesn’t dilute with your company’s growth.

Jan 9, 2018

Business is tough. And particularly tough on our bodies. The hours. The stress. The 6-packs… of soda.

Is it even possible to build a healthy business, while building a healthy body?

Ryan Lee is widely considered one of the world’s most influential “lifestyle entrepreneurs.” In fact, he started his first fitness website in 1999.

As a busy stressed entrepreneur, he had his Oh Sh*t Moment last year. And he did something about it.

Ryan has been featured in Entrepreneur and The Wall Street Journal, has written 2 best-selling books, and is the founder of Freedym, the world’s largest lifestyle entrepreneurship media company.

His new company REWIND recently launched the world’s first SuperBar.

In this 20-minute conversation, Ryan reveals how he pulled it all together and took back his life, his health, and his waistline.

 

Jan 4, 2018

The war for talent is on! 2018 will bring 3.5% unemployment for the first time in 50 years.

Are you ready?

If you’re posting your job descriptions on job boards, good luck. It’s just not enough.

So I tracked down Jeff Dickey-Chasins…he’s (literally!) known as The Job Board Doctor. Jeff is a veteran of the job board industry, including the original marketing director for Dice.com He’s worked with over 400 job boards (there are tens of thousands!)

In this 20-minute episode, Jeff reveals the best practices for getting the most out of job boards. And how to avoid the biggest pitfalls. Even how to write your job description to get the most Rockstars interested in your role.

If you’re going to hire during 2018, you can’t afford to miss this episode.

 

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