In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Scott MacGregor, Founder and CEO of SomethingNew LLC and Talent Champions Council. He is the four-time author of the Standing O! series of books, and a record seven-time winner of the American Business Award for Innovation.

Listen in as Scott explains why the best recruiters seek to find alignment between client and candidate and why he sees those in talent acquisition as consultants rather than as salespeople. He also shares why he tends to shun metrics and quotas and focuses instead on allowing recruiters to set their own goals.

Scott then discusses why talent strategy is the number one thing that any leader needs to focus on. He lays out the common misconceptions around creating a great company culture, cautioning businesses to avoid relying solely on what he calls “cultural Febreze”.

He reiterates that putting metrics front and center of any strategy is not going to lead to optimal results in the long run. Instead, the quality of the people—employees, clients, and candidates—needs the most attention if any company wants to thrive.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• [01:26] Why Scott named his agency “SomethingNew”
• [03:47] The mindset that recruiters need to succeed in today’s industry
• [09:42] Helping recruiters achieve their goals
• [13:03] How the pandemic has forced companies to change their approach to evaluating employees
• [17:27] Why culture is often misunderstood and how to create a great one
• [22:34] Creating advocates instead of adversaries
• [29:12] Three questions to ask if profitability is an issue
• [31:40] Having a strong brand as an insurance policy
• [34:59] Focusing on the end result rather than KPIs
• [38:26] Why SomethingNew does everything differently
• [44:47] About the Talent Champions Council

Key quotes:

• • “We seek one thing and one thing alone: alignment. It’s not rocket science: We’re looking for alignment between what our client wants and what our candidate wants.”
  • “I don’t care how many emails they send out. I don’t care how many phone calls they make. I don’t care how many candidates they interview. I care about the candidate experience and the client experience being exceptional.”
  • “The number one predictor of success or failure for any company is the teams they build. Talent strategy always was and always will be the number one thing that any leader should be focused on.”
  • “Every day, you have an opportunity to either create advocates or adversaries.”
  • “The end result is twofold: Are candidates having a phenomenal candidate experience, and is our customer having a phenomenal customer experience? If the answer is ‘yes’, we’ve won.”