Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash
When you hire the best people you discover what you are really bad at…
The question is, will you turn away or turn towards this opportunity?
I recently hired Hunter Crown’s first VP of Operations. It was a big hire for my small business but through a mix of luck, timing, and need, a path forward appeared. On March 3rd, Ron Dermady joined the team! I couldn’t be more excited but it has also been a challenge for me as it has forced me to be really honest with myself about what I am doing well and also what I am not doing so well. Let me put it this way, I am eating a lot of humble pie…breakfast, lunch and dinner…and trust me, it is an acquired taste (and it is good for you)!
Whenever you hire an All-Star to your team, it will have a very dynamic impact on the team. Top performers tend to push other high performers to a higher level and the opposite is also true. The organization will not remain the same, it will evolve. This change can feel uncomfortable and will challenge everyone to think about who they are, what they do, and how their contributions affect the business.
In my case, consider that Ron has over 25+ years of experience in the recruiting industry and he has sat on every side of the desk. His passion and purpose is to help everyone around him to elevate their performance through practice, process improvement, and aligned intrinsic motivation. He has trained over 1000 recruiters, while working with hundreds of business owners, who, collectively, have worked with tens of thousands of candidates. And…Ron is really good at what he does!
Contrast this with my experience…I never worked for a recruiting company and yet I started a recruiting company! Most of my learning has been organic. I found processes that worked for me but I did not have the benefit of being able to learn best practices or even being able to know the right questions to ask regarding improving my skills.
Given these differences in origin and experience, when Ron and I meet to talk about process, tactics, and strategies, I find myself frequently slapping my forehead…DUH! Why am I doing things the way I am doing them? Why didn’t I think of that? Over and over again, these are the thoughts that I have been having. This can also be said for most of my team, as nearly all of them came to Hunter Crown as part of a career change.
While change can feel uncomfortable, it is important to realize that we are all being presented with an opportunity to “level up”! We have the aptitude, we have a foundation, and we get to make the choice regarding how we respond. I choose to grow. I choose to be better. I choose to elevate my game. I choose all these because I know I am working with the best and that together this growth will benefit every single person in my sphere of influence. What an incredible gift to give myself and those around me!
Welcome to the team, Ron. Thank you for this opportunity to grow. I am super excited about the journey ahead!
Written by: Austin Meyermann, Founder and President of Hunter Crown, LLC
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