Over on LinkedIn, marketing execs are trying to make sense of a Copenhagen commercial… I tried to explain that it was on the packing list for Ranger School. That was probably a waste of time. Not sure that audience understands the tie-in to people with calloused hands. Guessing that group didn’t watch game day this morning either 🤷

You can measure customer loyalty with a Net Promoter Score. But trying to give a leader a static “leadership score” is a trap. Leadership isn't static. It's context-specific. A leader who builds great processes during stability can stall during rapid growth. A manager who excels in crisis can burn through people and cash when steady, efficient growth is the strategy. There is no single metric to evaluate leadership. You need a few KPIs, tied to your specific strategy, that provide leading indicators of successful leadership. In long-term growth mode controlling cost per hire, filling critical roles, and retaining high performing talent match well with increasing revenue while controlling costs. Are you scoring your leaders, or building the framework they need to execute? Reach out if you want to build a system that supports your leadership team.

app.hoopshr.com/jobs/1518551… Great job with a fantastic, high-growth company. DM if interested.

Sending leaders to a seminar is easy. Fixing how you hire is uncomfortable. One of those shows up in cost-per-hire and first-year retention. The other shows up in a photo from the hotel ballroom.

A CEO told me last week his leadership style was “unapologetically aggressive.” I told him he was capsizing his own team. Running a business is like navigating between open water and no wake zones. Out in open water, you push the throttle forward and make your best speed. Around the docks (onboarding new hires, fixing retention, or building infrastructure) you operate in a no-wake zone. You need to understand the operating environment and ramp up carefully. If you throw the engine into full throttle near the dock, you wreck the environment around you and possibly get a ticket. In the middle market, leaders don't usually fail from a lack of skill. They fail because they only know one speed. Great operators don't just push performance. They have the self-awareness to throttle up or down based on the environment. You don't win by running every play at full speed. You win by building a system where leaders know when to go fast, and where haste wrecks new processes. Are your executives driving growth, or capsizing the dock? DM me if you want to align your leadership speed with your operating environment.

Three leaks I see in C-suites: You overpay to hire. You hire too slow. You raise pay to fix a bad hiring process. Pick one to measure this quarter. The other two will follow.

A school district needed teachers and principals and could not get them. 19 hires. $87,500. If replacement cost is $10k a teacher, they came out more than $100k ahead on a conservative number. Open seats do not get cheaper while you wait.

HVAC manufacturer. Turnover down 50% in 9 months. No raise. No new benefits. They fixed hiring. Most companies try to buy retention with compensation. That is a lease. Selection is an asset.

Reflecting that 9-11 may be hitting harder this year because so many of the shared values that united us seem to be missing from half of our people. I remain relentlessly proud of our nation and optimistic that people are rediscovering those values. The thousands of remembrances I’ve seen have been heartfelt and beautiful. Keep them going and pray for our great nation.

I hope we can all be as honorable as Todd Beamer and the Bucca family during our trials. Never forget.

79 hires. $1,836 each. National average: $4,700. 43 days to fill. Some of those jobs paid $200k. Cost-per-hire is not an HR metric. It is a margin metric. What are you actually paying to fill a critical seat?

This was 🤩

The first Saturday of #CFP did NOT disappoint!