HIRE
Thousands of Interviews. Still Getting It Wrong.
Most leaders think they're great at interviewing. Never met one that's perfect. Ourselves included.
The Problem:
- No process: Every interviewer wings it differently
- Leading the witness: Your questions are telegraphing the answers you want
- Vibes aren't data: "Good energy" usually means "reminds me of someone I already like"
- No accountability: Nobody's watching anybody else interview, so bad habits compound quietly
- Resume bias: Some obsess over the ivy league degree or five years at a Fortune 100. Fast forward six months and that person coasted on pedigree, not performance.
The Fix:
- Build a framework: Something repeatable that any leader can run the same way, new or seasoned
- Set expectations early: Cover the role, the reality, and the hard parts before they ever say yes
- Ask open questions, follow up hard: Never lead the witness. The best (and real) answers come from an open question.
- Shadow each other: One session watching a colleague interview will teach you more than a year of going solo
- Go behind the resume: Titles and tenure are table stakes. What did they actually deliver?
Process won't make you perfect. It'll just make you a lot less wrong.
LEAD
Don't Waste AI. Or Your Team's Time.
Your team is using AI. You're just not sure how. Most aren't using it to move faster on things that matter. They're using it to look busy in new ways.
The Types We All Know:
- The Skeptic: Used it once, got a mediocre output, swears it off as trash. Meanwhile everyone around them is lapping them.
- The Over-Prompter: Spends 45 minutes developing the perfect prompt for a 10 minute task. Activity disguised as efficiency.
- The Copy-Paster: Ships AI output verbatim. No judgment, no editing, no voice.
- The Hoarder: Built 14 custom GPTs and a gorgeous dashboard. Can't tell you what any of it actually improved.
The Fix:
- Know what your team is using AI for and what it's producing
- Set expectations around output quality, not just effort
- Assign a weekly AI learning. One thing each person tried, what it did, and whether it actually helped. Share it with the group.
- AI is a multiplier. If your team can't execute without it, they won't execute with it either.
AI doesn't fix your people. It just makes the crappy ones worse.
GROW
Half the Year Is Gone. What Do You Actually Have to Show?
June is the gut check most skip. Because they're afraid of what they'll find.
Everyone attended the meetings. Most responded to the emails. But execution? Actual results? That's where it gets awkward…
The Mid-Year Audit Most Leaders Avoid:
- Activity vs. output: Is each person producing results or just staying busy?
- Value vs. cost: Is every person on payroll adding more than they're taking? Be honest.
- Goals vs. reality: You (maybe) set them in January. Pull them out. How does it look?
- Execution gaps: Where did you plan to be by now and where are you actually?
The Fix:
- Block time this month for a real mid-year review
- Look at results, not effort
- Have the hard conversation. You already know who it's about.
- Adjust, reassign, or move on
Your business is not a charity (Unless you are. That's cool.). Every seat on your team should be earning it.