One of the most unique roles you may think about adding to your company is the COO Chief Operating Officer.

Often known as the “right hand” or “number two” or “second in command”

The relationship between CEO & COO is vital, and nobody has studied it as intimately as Cameron Herold. He even created the COO Alliance.

Cameron is a top business consultant, best-selling author, and speaker. Named by Forbes Magazine as “The CEO Whisperer,” Cameron has touched thousands of businesses directly. By age 35, he had built two $100M companies. And by 42, he had grown 1-800-GOT-JUNK? from $2M to $106M in revenue in just 6 years.

Cameron has since gone on to help hundreds of companies grow, and exponentially increase revenue. He has earned his reputation by showing his clients how to double their profit in just three years - the process outlined in his bestselling book “Double Double.”

In this 20-minute conversation, Cameron reveals what you need in a COO, where to find one, when to add one, and how to make it a screaming success.

James Ellis has become one of the gurus of recruiting properly.

Between the two of us, we’ve seen 40 years of recruiting mistakes. And pulled out most of our hair in the process. (What remains is grey.)

Based in Chicago, James is host of The TalentCast… the only other recruiting podcast I listen to.

He’s clear, edgy (but not just to be annoying), practical, and has pushed my thinking. Essentially, we’ve concluded, that to hire the best just do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. That’s how bad most executives are at it.

James rants. I chime in.

And we swear A LOT.

Don’t lose your hair or go grey. Instead invest 20 minutes on this episode.

Jason Lauritsen is one of my all-time favorite experts on employee engagement.

He’s incredibly insightful. Which we need, because employees are more disengaged than ever.

I’ve featured him on my podcast before. And with his new book Unlocking High Performance just released, I’m doing it again.

In this 20-minute conversation, Jason reveals how to use performance management to engage & empower your employees to reach their full potential.

In case you missed it, Google For Jobs launched in 2018 and is quickly shaking up the way your candidates look for jobs.

In fact, 73% of all job seekers start their job search on Google. But, if you’re like most employers, you’re still missing this massive opportunity to engage directly with highly qualified candidates.

Unfortunately, the process for posting jobs to Google For Jobs requires deep coding expertise and access to the page code for every job post.

Until now.

Based in Woburn Massachusetts, Jobiak created the industry’s first AI-based recruitment marketing platform specifically for Google For Jobs.

Jobiak’s platform scans your job posts, identifies the attributes that Google requires, and structures the Google tags—all without touching the underlying code.

Jobiak is the brainchild of Founder & CEO Venkat Janapareddy.

Previously, he founded Gozaik, the social jobs platform which helped employers engage with job seekers on Twitter & Facebook. Monster Worldwide acquired Gozaik.

In this 20-minute conversation, Venkat reveals everything you need to know about Google For Jobs and how to get the most out of this powerful & free resource.

You have one key job.

And that’s to ensure that you’re creating a wonderful place to work.

Because that’s the only thing that’s going to attract top-performers. Unfortunately, most companies suffer with lousy managers.

And that’s the key reason people leave. Or won’t come in the first place.

Alexi Robichaux, Co-founder & CEO of BetterUp, is out to change that. Based in San Francisco, his company delivers personalized & professional coaching to improve the scalability of your business.

To make sure you have Rockstar managers in every seat. Managers who help your employees find meaning in their work.

Executive coaching has been life-transforming for me. It’ll do the same for you & your team.

In this 20-minute conversation, Alex reveals how to do it.

Shally Steckerl is often credited with being one of the founders of the Talent Sourcing specialization within Recruitment and HR.

A globally recognized recruiting thought leader, over the last two decades, Shally has helped build sourcing organizations for Microsoft, Google, Coca Cola, and Cisco, amongst others.

Today, as President of The Sourcing Institute and Director of The Sourcing Institute Foundation a 501(c)(3) public charity, Mr. Steckerl advises recruiting leaders on successfully embedding key sourcing initiatives into their current efforts.

In short, he knows where to find the Rockstar talent. Even in a tight labor market.

Often compared to a shot of adrenalin for recruitment organizations held back by confusion, hesitation, or fear Shally's unparalleled obsession for talent sourcing continuously drives him to probe for practical solutions where nobody has looked before.

In this 20-minute conversation, Shally shows how it’s done.

Admins, Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff, EA’s … call them what you want. The assistant is the bedrock of any company.

And they can make your life far easier - or far harder. A good one is worth their weight in gold.

But, because the relationship between you & your assistant is incredible intimate, they’re very hard to find.

So, I tracked down the expert.

Hilani Ellis leads the Denver-based company called Exceptional Admins. She’s wildly passionate about remarkable assistants, and she matches the best of them with the executives who need them.

In this 20-minute conversation, Hilani reveals how & where to find them, how to onboard them, and what makes this relationship so magical when it works well.

Jason VandeBoom is CEO of ActiveCampaign, a privately-held leader in email marketing automation. (I’m a raving fan because I use it to stay in touch with my customers.)

He founded the company 13 years ago, built it steadily & bootstrapped with no outside capital. And then, 2 years ago, BANG!

Silversmith Capital Partners invested $20 million, and Jason ramped the business from 30 employees to over 300.

Now based in Chicago & Sydney, the business has 60,000 small business customers all over the world.

In this 20-minute interview, Jason reveals how to recruit, build, and lead a team in the face of hypergrowth. Not an easy thing to do.

In a 3.7% unemployment market, you’re lucky to find an amazing candidate.

But once you find them, do you extend the offer?

Or do you keep looking?

Jason Fiftal is uniquely qualified to help us answer the question. He’s Chief Operating Officer of ghSmart, which has created an unrivaled reputation for helping executives make that decision.

In the next 20 minutes, Jason shares a specific framework for helping you decide.

Never settle.

Autumn Manning is co-founder and CEO of YouEarnedIt, a leading HR SaaS company that improves bottom-line performance metrics by enhancing the employee experience.

Based in Austin, she has a compelling vision: to improve the lives of employees everywhere, one company at a time.

Autumn's been featured in The New York Times and HuffPost, Inc., Business Insider, and Entrepreneur.

Under her leadership, YouEarnedIt created the world's most robust employee experience platform and was named to Entrepreneur Magazine's list of Best Company Cultures in 2017.

In this 20-minute conversation, Autumn shares what she's learned about employee experience and how to get yours right.

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that LinkedIn is where you’re most likely to find your next job.

But it’s also where you’re likely to find your next hire. And your best candidates.

But only if your LinkedIn profile… and your company’s page… are super compelling.

Why?

Because it’s the very first place that a candidate is likely to look, to learn more about you. That’s right… You.

Candidates want to know who they’re going to be working for. And even before they invest their time applying & interviewing, they want to know if they’re likely to learn something from you.

So, I tracked down an expert. In fact, the expert.

Donna Serdula pioneered the concept of LinkedIn profile optimization and is the author of LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies. She and her team of 40 writers have helped thousands of LinkedIn users strategically write their profile in order to engage with their audience and grow their brand.

(And that includes employer brand.)

If you hope to recruit even one person by the end of this year, you’ve got to update your LinkedIn profile & catch this 20-minute episode with Donna.

Did you know that 80% of job opportunities at $100,000+ filled every month aren’t advertised?

Despite the internet, it’s still a highly inefficient & hidden market.

Joe Meyer, Founder & CEO of Execthread, intends to change that. It’s NYC-based VC-backed job-sharing network that enables executives to access that “hidden job market.”

ExecThread has become the largest global aggregator of unpublished executive-level job opportunities.

Joe has been a successful start-up CEO and operating executive at high-growth tech companies including HopStop (acquired by Apple), Quigo (acquired by AOL) and eBay. He’s been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Crain's New York Business.

And investors have taken notice. He’s raised $6.5 million in capital from Canaan Partners, Javelin Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, and Corazon Capital.

In this 20-minute conversation, Joe explains how it works & why. If you’re looking for a senior-level role, or senior-level talent, pull on this thread & listen.

Following a successful career at Google Japan, Renee Wong left to start Castbox 3 years ago.

It’s an award-winning global podcast platform that enables anyone to easily find, access, create, and enjoy spoken audio content. (I’m a fanboy.)

Castbox’s proprietary technology includes cool features like curated podcast recommendations & in-audio deep search to customize your listening experience.

With 40 employees in Beijing, Palo Alto, and Hong Kong, Renee’s riding a the very big wave of podcasting.

And investors are taking notice…

She’s raised millions in venture capital from GV (Google’s venture capital arm), Qiming Venture Partners, IDG Capital, SIG China, GSR Ventures, and ZhenFund.

In this 20-minute episode, Renee reveals how she leads a distributed team that literally spans the globe. (And you think you’ve got leadership challenges?…)

Every day, people move into new roles but things don’t work quite right. In fact, 40% of them bomb.

That’s why George Bradt started PrimeGenesis in 2002.

Following successful careers at Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble - and degrees from Harvard & Wharton - he knew there had to be a better way.

George wanted to help new leaders move successfully into their roles. And he’s led the revolution in how people start new jobs on the right foot.

Along the way, he’s learned how new leaders can ramp in 3 months instead of the typical 6-12 months. And reduce the 18-month failure rates from 40% to 5%.

He’s the author of 6 books on onboarding & leadership including “The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan"

In this 20-minute conversation, George reveals why onboarding is usually so hard. And why it doesn’t have to be.

When I created Strong Suit Podcast to help people learn how to hire smarter, I didn’t know if I’d make it to episode 25.

And here we are at episode 250.

In these 2 years, I’ve had the good fortune to interview business legends like Tom Peters & Christie Hefner. Bestselling authors like David Allen & Michael Watkins. CEO’s like Mark Mader. VC’s like Saydeah Howard. And legendary HR executives like Libby Sartain of Southwest Airlines.

So what do you do for episode 250?

You turn the tables, of course. With my most important guests to-date. Max (14) & Jonah (12) interview me...

I reveal what a headhunter actually does. What it’s like to fire someone. And the boys share their career aspirations (tip: scoop them up now, before their price increases).

Here’s to the next 250.

Let's be frank.

There are so many places where people botch up the recruiting process.

They're non-compelling. Misleading. And sloppy.

And then they wonder why Half of their new hires don't work out.

I just interviewed Steve Acho of Solstice Consulting Group. Based in Detroit, Steve is one of the clearest thinkers I've met in the recruiting field.

He'd better be.

Because he focuses on recruiting software developers, I.T. folks, and data warehousing experts. Arguably the tightest candidate pool there is.

In this 20-minute conversation, Steve reveals some of his best secrets for getting your fair share of great technical talent (although they apply to any hires you'll make.)

Brianna Rooney has been a technical recruiter for most of her career.

10 years ago, she founded Techees, which recruits software engineers, data scientists, and similar folks in Silicon Valley.

Not an easy task these days.

But Brianna is relentless. And in this 20-minute conversation, she reveals how to hire your fair share of them.

Jamie Schneiderman is CEO of Toronto-based Career Spark.

After earning his MBA at Harvard, Jamie found himself obsessed with how to find a better match between employers & employees.

So he founded ClearFit, where he served as CEO for 10 years. They developed a patented Fingerprint™ technology based on research into the direct linkage between personality & motivation on job success. It provides a clear picture into what drives & motivates each employee.

4,000 corporate customers use ClearFit to develop clear action plans to manage & support each employee’s maximum performance and engagement.

In this 20 minute conversation, Jamie reveals what he’s learned about finding the right match between employer & employee.

It takes a lot to convince a successful entrepreneur to trade in their “Founder/CEO” title for employee status. You know that must be one pretty special organization.

Following a homerun experience starting, building, and selling Caring.com to a public company, Andy reconnected with an old friend from his time at Intuit.

And he became hooked on the shared vision.

Andy now leads sales at 350-employee Bill.com, one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing companies.That's one of the hardest recruiting & leadership challenges in business.

He inherited a mixed team.

But with upgrading, restructuring, and just plain caring, the team has gone on to incredible accomplishments. In fact, he’s scaled the business that now moves over $60 Billion per year.

Incredible.

In this 20-minute conversation, Andy reveals step by step how he’s build this high-performance salesforce.

Alex Salkever is a confessed former tech addict who had a near-death experience texting while driving.

That event got him fascinated by the topic of how tech affects our brain.

And it ain't pretty.

So, he just published his conclusions in the new book "Your Happiness Was Hacked: Why Tech is Winning the Battle to Control Your Brain"

And there are many implications for how - and who - you hire. It's vital to find compatible working styles, with regard to inescapable technology.

He is a columnist for Fortune and Guest Researcher at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering.

Alex has been a senior executive at a number of Silicon Valley startups, most recently at Mozilla.

Precision targeting… Imagine if you had a map that showed you where your target customers actually made their decisions to buy. 

Christopher “Toph” Day is Co-Founder & CEO of DemandJump.

Based in Indianapolis, Toph’s team helps marketers outmaneuver their competition & double their marketing performance using the Traffic Cloud Customer Acquisition Platform. 

With $6M in venture capital from Revolution, Flyover Fund, and Hyde Park Venture Partners, DemandJump is out to make customer referrals far smarter.

What’s not to like about that?

In this 20-minute conversation, Toph reveals how he’s building the organization that’s building one of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.

It’s not every day you met an entrepreneur who bootstrapped a company to $13 million revenues and 130 employees.

I just met one.

Tyson Quick started Instapage. 

And he’s on a mission to personalize & optimize online experience for all of your customers. In short, they make your marketing landing pages smarter.

They already have 15,000 customers.

Now he’s raised $15M in venture capital from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital to scale the business.

In this 20-minute conversation, Tyson reveals how he’s building the team that’s building these customized landing pages. (Hint: they’re located in San Francisco, Poland, and Romania)

As Denver suffered in its third year of drought, Chris Klein saw an opportunity.

So he co-founded Rachio, where today he’s CEO, leading 60 employees.

Rachio is the personal watering assistant that automatically adjusts for the weather & improves the water efficiency of your home.

Installation takes less than 30 minutes and you begin saving water & improving your yard's health immediately. And of course, its smartphone-controlled. 

Rachio is “blossoming” thanks to venture funding from top investors like Arborview Capital, Amazon’s Alexa Fund, and Bonaventure Capital.

I was blown away by his “First of Four” & “Hiring Sprint” process. In this 20-minute interview, Chris shares how he’s growing the organization that’s growing lawns everywhere.

Malvika Jethmalani has never backed down from a challenge.

So when she joined a turnaround CPG company 2 years ago, she was ready.

As VP of Human Resources of Flavors Holdings (you know them as the makers of the Equal sweetener you use in your coffee), she’s helped rebuild the organization bottom to top.

Not an easy task… because Flavors has 600 people across 21 countries.

Business turnarounds have been compared to changing the tires on a car that’s speeding down the highway at 70 mph.

Malvika’s experience at Danaher & CareerBuilder, and her Kellogg MBA, prepared her for the task.

In this 20-minute conversation, Malvika reveals how to tackle the people part of a turnaround.

His grandmother in Barbados was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Which inspired Gil Addo to start a company.

So, in 2013, RubiconMD was born. It’s goal is to connect primary care physicians with specialist doctors.

Why?

Believe it or not, your family physician doesn’t have all the answers. 

So RubiconMD gives them instant online access to top specialists all over the world. This way, they can provide better care, improve their patient experience, and reduce healthcare costs.

No more driving all over town from specialist to specialist.

RubiconMD’s no typical startup. It’s based in NYC already with 50 employees.

And Gil’s no typical entrepreneur. He holds an MBA from Harvard and Biomedical Engineering degree from Yale. He was named one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” in healthcare. He’s raised $13 million from HLM Venture Partners & Optum Ventures.

In this 20-minute conversation, Gil reveals how he’s building the team that’s building this life-saving company.