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This episode dives into what operations really looks like when a company starts to grow faster than expected — and what leaders get wrong when ops is treated as a reactive rather than a strategic function. 1. When Growth Catches You Off GuardA lot of companies don’t plan their way into growth. They back into it. What starts as a small, focused business can quickly turn into something much bigger — sometimes in directions no one anticipated. We talk about: Why fast, unexpected growth exposes operational cracksHow ops often gets pushed aside until it becomes a problemWhat it looks like when operations lead growth instead of chasing it The big question: Is your ops team driving the business forward or just trying to keep up? 2. Patience as an Operational and Leadership AdvantageThere’s a real conversation here around leadership maturity — especially for people early in their careers or stepping into bigger roles. We unpack: Why rushing titles and responsibility usually backfiresThe value of staying in roles long enough to actually learn themHow patience builds better operators and stronger leaders over time This isn’t about slowing ambition. It’s about earning depth before scale. 3. Solving the Right Problems (Not All the Problems)High-performing operations aren’t built from templates. They’re built by understanding context — where a company is today and where it’s actually capable of going. This part covers: Why companies oversell capabilities before ops can support themHow to prioritize the few pain points that actually matterThe shift from transactional work to deeper, strategic partnerships Instead of trying to solve everything, the focus is on solving the right problems well — the ones that unlock long-term growth and stronger relationships.

Authenticity Wins: LinkedIn Branding Insights Unlocking the power of personal branding on LinkedIn! Patrick Kelly from Zoom shares invaluable insights on authenticity, content strategy, and overcoming imposter syndrome. He emphasizes the importance of being yourself, embracing failure, and consistently providing value. Key takeaways: Mix business and personal contentFocus on quality over production valueUse a structured approach for posts Want to boost your LinkedIn presence? Watch the full video for more tips and tricks from Patrick's journey. #PersonalBranding #LinkedInTips #AuthenticityMatters

Dive deep into the essence of leadership in our latest podcast episode where Rick Hill, an experienced sales leader, shares transformative lessons that challenge traditional notions of success. With years of wisdom and experience, Rick offers a perspective guaranteed to shift how you approach leadership, influence, and collaboration. Why You Can’t Afford to Skip This Episode: ✅ Do you want to be right or rich? 🌟 Rick delivers an eye-opening piece of advice from one of his early mentors that strikes at the heart of decision-making in leadership: "Rick, do you wanna be right or do you wanna be rich? You can choose one or the other, but you can't choose both." This poignant moment acts as a guidepost for anyone seeking collective success rather than personal validation. ✅ Humility Matters 🤝 Ever wrestle with maintaining influence and productivity while keeping your ego in check? Rick highlights critical examples of how humility shapes effective leaders. He contrasts his approach with a mistake he witnessed firsthand—a hyper-controlling leader who sabotaged team meetings, deaf to input and collaboration. ✅ The Power of Reflection 🔍 Rick leaves listeners pondering a powerful reminder for those navigating the challenges of leadership: "Remember why you started." This episode is packed with actionable wisdom and relatable anecdotes, perfect for aspiring leaders, seasoned executives, and anyone striving to balance ambition with teamwork. You’ll Learn: How to prioritize collective success without compromising authenticity.Key strategies for fostering collaboration and flexibility within teams.The dangers of ego-driven leadership and how to avoid these pitfalls.

💡 Most leaders think culture is about perks, pizza parties, or slogans on the wall. The truth? Culture shows up in how your team communicates when no one’s watching. I sat down with Curtis, a seasoned organizational leader, and here’s what stuck with me: 👉 Communication is the baseline. “If I’m 100% and you’re 100%, that makes 300%. The invisible entity is teamwork. And that all starts with making sure our words mean the exact same thing.” 👉 Red flags in culture are always visible. Watch for inconsistent actions, lack of shared ownership, or behavioral drift in how teams interact. 👉 Ego-driven leadership kills trust. Curtis said it best: “If you come in forcing your will over what’s already existing, you’re not gonna get the result.” Observation before action builds buy-in. 👉 Empowered leaders own their results. “I don’t set goals for my leadership team. We’re the leaders. Why would I try to do something I have 100% control of? I expect it.” 👉 Culture must outlast the leader. The ultimate win? When the team can “call their own plays and still score touchdowns” without you. For executives in hardware, software, or tech integration companies, this isn’t just philosophy—it’s survival. High performers won’t stick around in a broken culture. Neither will your customers. The challenge for leaders isn’t building culture for today. It’s building culture that lasts beyond you.

🚨 Most leaders fail at transformation before it even begins. Why? Their team doesn’t believe them. In our latest conversation, I sat down with Ehrika to talk about the brutal realities of leading through change. Here’s what stood out: 👉 75% of communication is nonverbal. Your team reads your body language before they ever hear your words. 👉 Top performers disengage quietly. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll lose them without warning. 👉 The hardest truth? Leaders usually know who won’t make it through transformation on day one. The challenge is respecting the people who got you here, while preparing for who will take you forward. Ehrika nailed it when she said: “Isn’t leadership the key part of anything we’re doing? People are looking to the leader. Culture is at the heart of every transformation. How you communicate dictates how fast your organization will move.” If you’re a CEO, CRO, VP of Sales, or Ops leader inside a hardware, software, or technology integration company—this episode is for you. Because transformation isn’t just strategy. It’s people. It’s talent. It’s leadership.

🚨 Most sales leaders underestimate how brutal transformation really is. The truth? You can’t wait for people to get on board; you’ll lose the race before it starts. In our latest conversation, I sat down with Larry and Paul to unpack what it takes to lead effective sales team transformations, especially in private equity-backed businesses. Here’s what stood out: 👉 Impatience is a strategy. “The biggest mistake is not being impatient. You have to be impatient.” Waiting for people to adapt costs time and kills momentum. 👉 Team transformation is the hardest job in sales leadership. Shifting teams—whether inherited or rebuilt—to align with new goals is where most transformations stall. 👉 Frontline leaders reveal the truth. If your frontline managers resist, your sellers will too. That’s the first red flag of deeper misalignment. 👉 Sometimes you have to let go of top performers. Larry put it bluntly: “You may have to move away from high performers if they don’t buy into where the company needs to go.” Yesterday’s results can’t outweigh tomorrow’s vision. 👉 Succession planning is a blind spot. 90% of companies lack it. Which means when transformation hits, they lose talent they can’t afford to lose. 👉 Compensation drives behavior. Shifting from hardware to software models? Incentives must reward the new direction—or the team won’t follow. Transformation succeeds not by strategy alone, but by talent, urgency, and the strength of your leadership.

Thinking about jumping into sales? Here’s the truth: it’s not about perfect timing—it’s about the mentality you bring to the table. I sat down with Mark, a tech professional who made the leap from engineering to sales, and here’s what stood out from his journey: 👉 Perseverance beats instant results. At the 6-month mark, Mark thought he was failing. His boss reminded him: “You’re calling customers. You’re prospecting. You’re building relationships. Keep doing what you’re doing.” 👉 Adopt a hunter’s mentality. Mark thrived in roles where he was compensated for opening new doors. His advice? “Where do you start? You gotta pick up the phone and just go for it.” 👉 Stick to what you know. Shifting industries was one of Mark’s toughest challenges. His lesson? “Stay in your swim lane. Sell what you understand.” 👉 Culture and leadership matter. Great management vs. poor management can make or break your sales career. Do your due diligence before jumping in. Mark’s story is a reminder for anyone in hardware, software, or tech integration: Sales isn’t about being flashy—it’s about consistency, trust, and putting yourself in the right environment to succeed. The leap might feel risky. But if you’ve got the mentality, it can change your career trajectory forever.

Most Tech Integrators say they want recurring revenue… but few are actually set up to sell it. 🎙️ Just recorded a powerful episode with Andrew Gross from Xyte — and this one’s packed with insight. We talked about: ✅ What’s changing in buyer behavior across tech ✅ Why managed services still feel out of reach for many integrators ✅ The mindset shift companies need to compete ✅  What type of Talent is needed ✅ Where the industry’s headed — and how to stay ahead This wasn’t just talk. It was the kind of convo that cuts through the noise. If you’re a Technology Integrator in: ➡️ Workplace Technology (AV, Video Conferencing, Digital Signage) OR ➡️ Building Technology (Access Control, CCTV, Structured Cabling, Data Centers) And you are navigating industry shifts and exploring new ways to serve your clients while growing revenue — this one's worth your time.

Ever heard of a "skip level talk"? 🤔 It's a powerful leadership technique where executives bypass the chain of command to connect directly with frontline employees. This means stepping out of your office to chat with IC's (Individual Contributors) who see everything on the field. It's not about micromanagement... but about staying in touch with the real pulse of your team's process on what is going very well and what can be improved, sometimes even immediately addressed. Why is this important? Because the view from the top isn't always clear, skip-level talks help leaders stay grounded and make informed decisions. If this is not a strategy you are using in your organization, I would highly recommend it. From the talent acquisition lens and from the feedback we get from talent in the market, this is a strategy that could provide a huge ROI.

The 30-60-90 Day Plan? Straight to the Trash. Let’s be real – no one actually uses that thing. You put one together for your final interview and straight to the trash it goes The traditional 30-60-90 day plan is a waste. It’s filled with shallow milestones, checklist-ticking, and rushing through “stages” that don’t move the needle. Plus, the whole process takes way too long. So, what should a new sales leader focus on when they step into a company? I’m 100% aligned with Larry on how he views his entry as a CRO/Global Sales Leader/US Sales Leader. ⚠️ Forget arbitrary timelines and pointless checklists. The best Sales Leaders I’ve worked with, recruited for, and strategized with, focus on these things: 🟢 Who’s my top talent? 🟢 Who are our best customers, and what do they really think of us? 🟢 Who are our top vendors or partners, and how do they view us? 🟢 Is our sales compensation driving the right behaviors? No predetermined plan here. This is about being strategic, not reactive. Your best sellers, customers, and Vendors/partners will tell you exactly what’s working – and what’s not. The real planning starts when you figure out what's broken and what’s actually working.

Larry Satterfield breaks down one of the most underestimated aspects of sales success: the sales compensation plan. 💡 Key Insight: A well-designed comp plan isn’t just about numbers—it’s about behavior. It drives motivation, aligns individual goals with organizational objectives, and ultimately determines the success of your sales team. 🚩 The Problem: Misaligned or overly complex comp plans lead to: Confused sales teams. Lack of motivation. Missed revenue targets. ✅ The Solution: Build a sales compensation plan that is: Simple: Clear and easy to understand. Aligned: Directly tied to business outcomes. Motivating: Rewards the behaviors you want to see.

The question that I really wanna ask you is because you've led a lot of different teams in different environments and have had a lot of successful teams that you built out, I have no doubt that you've had your fair share of underperformers. How do you deal with underperformers? S1 Speaker 1 00:16 - 01:54 The biggest challenge you have as a leader is to figure out why they're underperforming, what the problem is. And, the best way to do that is through coaching. So the first place you look when you have people who are performing, it's are they hitting those KPIs or tables or whatever a business wants to call them, but the 3, they're the 3 or 4 things that a seller has to do to be successful. And so if you find out they're doing those things and yet they're still not being successful, then it's incumbent upon you as the sales leader. And usually this is the first line sales leader. If you find it, this, this person, this individual is hitting all of their metrics that you felt were important to do it. Then a lot of what you have to do is going to involve direct contact with that seller, going out and visiting customers with that seller and having discussions about those visits at the each visit. If you develop a culture of coaching, you can give constructive coaching to the individual. When you look at all those metrics, if you can look at them and be really thinking constructively about how they can improve those tangibles, then you wanna talk to the individual about what they're doing long. What many sales leaders don't do is get involved to the detailed level, why they're not making those metrics. And then when they do get involved, they don't provide proactive coaching because what's important is that that individual has to face up to what they're doing wrong, typically to to try to progress them to become a performer. S0 Speaker 0 01:54 - 02:10 Anecdotally, just in conversations with leaders, I could say they're probably not doing this because the feedback I get from candidates is they've been told, you know, or coached out. But the words you use or the tones you use, like how important is that? S1 Speaker 1 02:10 - 04:29 You know, words are important, but the frequency of coaching is I think the critical factor. I wasn't the kind of sales leader that looked to try to demean you. What I would like to do is just to talk about where you're doing well, where you're not doing well. And if you're not making your number, it's a problem. And you need to know that it's a problem. Sales leaders are funny. You know, one of the things they don't, most people don't make their quota. Like if I'm a sales manager, it's gonna be hard to make my quota if I don't keep a full staff. So I can't have a lot of attrition and I can't be fired a whole lot of people. A lot of sales leaders will, permit underperformance to relax and just continue along their way because maybe they believe they've got some over performers that are going to cover up for them. I never thought that was a good idea. I always thought that what you needed to do is to build up a funnel of potential candidates that you could always go to. And so you're not, reluctant to have that tough conversation with your underperforming salesperson. So the idea that you go out with a salesperson and they do a whole lot of things wrong, and you say, oh, it was a pretty good call. Yeah. You, you may wanna be able to think about doing this and doing that the next time. No, you can't do that. You have to say, you know, the call was really bad. Okay. That was not a pretty good call. Call was really bad. You got to set the tone really upfront. The call was really bad. I was disappointed that you let these things take place during the call. It doesn't appear to me that...

Welcome to Talent Acquired, a Chris Edward Consulting podcast hosted by Chris Nakiso, where we bring you the stories, strategies and the viewpoints of candidates, hiring managers and recruiters.  The world of talent acquisition has changed dramatically in the last decade. It feels like not so long ago when we printed curriculums and took them to an office dressed in a suit and tie. Now, recruiting has merged with technology, and the way of applying, and interviewing for a position is very different. In this episode of Talent Acquired, Chris talks to his long-time friend and colleague, Leah Harrigan Verouden, Founder of Career Copilots and Talent Acquisition Partner at WestJet. Leah has a long career working on talent acquisition and has helped some of the world’s biggest companies like Google find and hire the best professionals out there. In this conversation, Leah shares her expertise and tells you how to work LinkedIn to your favor, tips for a successful online interview and shares exactly what to do if you don't hear back from your dream job. Tune in and learn the best practices and how to avoid common mistakes from a recruiting professional! Jump straight into: 00:10 - Leah’s background on talent acquisition for the world’s biggest companies - “When Google calls, you answer. Essentially I packed up my belongings and skipped countries to head over to the States and help with their hiring.” 02:51 - Career coaching with Leah’s consulting company Career Copilot - “I've got about 12 years of in-house recruitment and agency recruitment, so I've converted that into a business that allows me to give behind the scenes knowledge.” 05:33 - How hiring has dramatically changed over the last years - “The item that I noticed that has changed the most is that always-on job searcher. Having something like a LinkedIn, you can be found at any hour of the day!” 09:02 - The importance of LinkedIn in today’s recruiting processes - “Legitimately massive companies are still proactively recruiting people that they want to come join them. LinkedIn remains such a hot tool.” 12:41 - Tips and tricks on how to have a perfect LinkedIn profile - “What are your values? What's important to you? It's an opportunity to highlight the things that maybe don't show up in a job description.” 14:02 - Common mistakes: The new norms for professionals - “I think people are getting too casual. If you're interviewing and you're on a video interview, that's still an interview.” 21:09 - Why am I not hearing back after my job application? - “Depending on the scale of the company and the vast number of resumes they might be getting, there might not actually be a person on the other end reviewing each and every resume so that sometimes is also why people don't hear back.” 26:48 - Where is the recruiting world going in the next 10 years? - “I think the way we use LinkedIn, the way we use social media, the way we use things like video are going to replace a lot of those traditional job searches and how you attract candidates.” Resources Connect with Leah through LinkedIn or via email Thanks for tuning in, if you want to know more, please visit our website. This show has been produced by StudioPod, for more information about their service, you can visit their a...

Welcome to Talent Acquired, a Chris Edward Consulting podcast hosted by Chris Nakiso, where we bring you the stories, strategies and the viewpoints of candidates, hiring managers and recruiters.  Is today’s situation the perfect opportunity for hiring managers to get exceptional talent? Should your corporation be looking at profiles from outside the industry to cover key positions? In today’s episode, Chris talks to Luis Berlanga, Senior Sales Manager for Smart Collaboration North America at Lenovo about recruiting during COVID19 and the opportunities that remote work can offer. Plus, he tells us why the future for IT is definitely the cloud and what we should be looking forward to regarding collaboration spaces. Join this conversation now and learn firsthand how big companies like Lenovo find the best talent for their teams! Jump straight into: (05:22) - Recruiting on times of COVID19: How do successful companies get the best talent - “ I want people that are looking to create momentum and really move from one stage of growth into another explosive growth. And I think that's the opportunity at hand with what we are doing now.” (07:09) - Should you get talent from outside the industry? - “The challenge that most hiring managers have is that the people that you want usually aren't looking for jobs. They're not looking for work, they're not out there.” (12:16) - How to get out of an old hiring mentality - “If you're trying to talk about the old days to customers that are buying now and that are buying differently, those are the things you really have to care and feed for.”  (14:54) - What is the future of collaboration spaces? - “The number one priority for IT buyers today is to get their applications into the cloud and their number two priority is to get video turned on everywhere.” (15:49) - The magic of today's accessible technology - “If you look at all of 2020, and up to the pandemic, everybody got shut down and sent home and had to continue working in different ways. You couldn't have done that in the past.” Resources Connect with Luis through LinkedIn Thanks for tuning in, if you want to know more, please visit our website. This show has been produced by StudioPod, for more information about their service, you can visit their website.

Welcome to Talent Acquired, a Chris Edward Consulting podcast hosted by Chris Nakiso, where we bring you the stories, strategies and the viewpoints of candidates, hiring managers and recruiters.  Going from an operational role into a leadership position is not easy. It takes time to master your craft and get noticed plus a lot of strategic decision-making to rise to the top. In this episode of Talent Acquired, Chris sits with sales legend and sensei, Larry Satterfield, retired Sales Leader at Jazz Networks, to talk about his professional career from the time he was running around calling clients, to becoming the Sales VP for companies like Dell, Tanberg, and Cisco. Join in to listen to Larry’s expert advice on how to be sufficiently driven, process-oriented, and competitive to rise to your dream position. Jump straight into: (03:29) - The reason that made Larry discover the sales world - “I noticed the freedom you get as a seller and I noticed the amount of money that you can make because you're getting paid commissions.” (05:22) - The challenges for young sales professionals - “ Get self-aware and understand how you're going to feel when you get rejected, because in sales if you're good you're going to get rejected three out of every four times.” (11:35) - Learning the business back in the 80’s - “Back in those days, the sales guy was an engineer, as well as the seller. And so you got out there in front of customers and you had to be able to answer past the first three questions.” (15:27) - Larry’s jump to sales leadership - “When they came to me and said 'You have helped train the sellers that we have today and we think you can do this' I was doing some of the sales management while I was a seller to help out my teammates, but it didn't feel like a move I needed to make.” (20:26) - Advice to young professionals looking to get into leadership positions - “Be self-aware, you're really good at what you're doing as a seller and you're having a lot of success. Are you willing to make these kinds of sacrifices?” (24:55) - The characteristics of a good sales leader - “Do the people that work for me think that I'm looking out for them? That I have their back? That I have their best interest at heart? Do they trust me?”  (31:01) - Larry’s mindset as a sales leader - “I believe that if you can't do a job in a great way, then you should probably look for a different role and not barely making quota or barely missing quota didn't put me as number one in the company.” (35:09) - Competitiveness and money motivation - “I want sellers to understand that sales is a process and have a good understanding of what their process is, but I also want them to be greedy.”  (40:30) - Moving for business and getting demoted - “If your job is as VP of sales and people don't believe you're doing a good job at it, then instead of demoting you, they should just get rid of you, let you go find something that you can do better.” (52:12) - Are you suited for sales? - “If you're in the job now, if you're doing well and having success and you enjoy it. But if you're struggling, don't struggle forever.”  (55:05) - The importance of having mentors in your professional career - “There were always people that were around me that challenged my thinking and were great coaches.” Resources Connect with Larry through a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrysatterfield/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...