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Transcript below, for those of you who prefer reading over listening! Angie This is part 2 of a conversation. In part 1, Jeff shared a template for understanding what is happening in the macro environment, and why this downturn feels different than ones that CEOs, founders, investors may have lived through in the past. He...

Transcript below, for those of you who prefer reading over listening! Angie I think this conversation is going to be helpful to a lot of the leaders out there who feel like something is different right now, who feel like they’re operating in tighter constraints, but who may not be able to describe what’s going...

Companies experience a productivity decline when they surpass 150 employees. We hear it consistently from our clients, regardless of industry, growth, or tenure. They tell us that they have to hire more people to get the same amount of work done, or spend more time and attention to get the same result. They have to...

I have trouble saying no. Lots of reasons. Chief among them is that I’ve gotten reward signals for a long time that are basically along the lines of “if you say yes and solve the problem quickly, the more people would like you, the more value you will add, the more money you will make.”...

The recent waves of sweeping layoffs in large tech companies are deeply unfortunate and painful, but not surprising. We’ve talked about the fallacy of the ‘wartime’ CEO, and the free flowing capital markets that made tech companies believe that growth was never-ending. Those companies could overinvest, manage poorly, and largely ignore what wasn’t working. When...

In my early days of working with Talentism I encountered the distinction drawn between unleashing potential, and changing people. “Not trying to change people, that’s nice,” I thought, but it wasn’t an element that immediately drew me in. Over time, as I’ve applied Talentism concepts and frameworks to the real world, I’ve come to see...

At Talentism we often reference the idea that context, rather than a static slate of strengths, is what you’re good at. This is in opposition to general wisdom, which posits that skills are the things you’re good at. In this latter framework, people are a blank slate. They go to school and get training at...

Fabio was introduced to Talentism in 2019, when he was invited to receive complimentary Clarity Coaching as a component of the training program for a new cohort of coaches. He immediately saw the appeal in a coaching approach that wasn’t rooted in simply making a client feel better or providing advice, but rather was about...

Of the many challenges that our clients encounter, a persistent one is the frustration that founders and leaders experience when they attempt to move from “doing the thing” themselves, to enabling others to execute. In some cases our clients are perplexed by how difficult this is. In others, they don’t even realize how much their...

We have the benefit of talking to hundreds of executives every month about their fears and challenges, and unsurprisingly, themes emerge. We’re hearing that people expect their leaders to be coaches, not “just” managers. What does that mean, and how do you do it? Talentism defines management as a responsibility that achieves goals through the...

In the flurry of intentions and goal setting for 2023, we’re talking about blind spots. Because no matter how disciplined you may be, your blind spots sit alongside you, undermining those goals. And you have no idea.  Scientifically, the concept of the blind spot originates with our eyes, where the optic nerve intersects with the...

My partner Matt has loved cooking since he was a child. But in college, he studied advertising and marketing, then got a job at the local radio station followed by a big think tank in Washington DC. For more than five years he stayed in a relatively low-level position, doing the basic job requirements but...

Talentism ran an analysis a few years ago of 90 failed strategic initiatives and missed plans at growth companies. More than 80% of CEOs at those companies blamed bad hiring: employees with a lack of capabilities or character, or both. In a pre-pandemic study, it appeared that laziness was endemic in the workforce. 75% of...

The human species didn’t plan to use fire. Fire happened. It was probably scary. And then someone or some group decided to see what they could do with it. The wheel didn’t happen because a genius set out to make one. Someone made a mistake and got confused. Instead of dropping the whole business and...

Your company culture is defined by the behavior you reward, tolerate, and punish. Talentism Founder and CEO Jeff Hunter talks to the Wall Street Journal about the hardline culture cues and commands coming from Twitter head Elon Musk. Elon Musk Takes a Hard Line on Quiet Quitters—and Anyone He Thinks Is Close The Wall Street...

You’re feeling strategic, thoughtful, creative…until it hits: that one thing that plunges you directly into reactivity. Or maybe you’re already in freefall, and that one thing was the last straw. You find yourself shutting down, getting angry, feeling despondent – whatever your flavor of threat response happens to be. All of us have threat triggers that hijack...

Talentism CEO and Founder Jeff Hunter weighs in on the fast and furious happening layoffs across the tech industry: “They’re bringing in a ton of money. They don’t want to lose the talent war. And then the party just stops.” It’s the New Saying Among Tech CEOs: I Apologize The Wall Street Journal

I was the type of adolescent who said things like, “human beings are a parasite upon the earth.” Not because I was going through a significant goth phase, as I likely said this while wearing bright baggy trousers and a Jurassic Park t-shirt, but because I had been highly influenced by my mother’s environmentalism. My...

Working with thousands of leaders and their organizations, Talentism is deeply familiar with the power dynamics of work. Quiet quitting is the latest in a long line of those power dynamics to spark a frenzy of attention, inspiring thousands of takes in one of three categories: here’s why it’s great!, here’s why it’s horrible!, or here’s how to...

I sat in the bleachers in the corner of the gym. My then three-year-old held her place on the mat doing jumping jacks, eyes glued to the instructor. They switched to a choreography of punches and kicks punctuated with diaphragmatic “HA” sounds. I had enrolled my firstborn, who had a tendency toward timidness, in karate...

Transcript below, for those of you who prefer reading over listening! Jeff  Welcome, everybody. It’s my great pleasure to be here today speaking with Joshua Walsky. Joshua is Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Broadway Technology. We got to know each other when a mutual friend introduced us, and said, Hey, maybe Broadway and Joshua could...

Most people are taught through our educational system, managers, and culture that there are “right” answers. A failure to find the right answer is often chalked up to an issue with someone’s intelligence or character. At Talentism, we call this a BSL narrative: it’s common to attribute mistakes to your own or someone else’s bad,...

Transcript below, for those of you who prefer reading over listening! Angie Jeff, I’ve often heard you use the analogy of swimming to shore against a strong current to describe the role of leadership. Can you say more about what that means? Jeff The origin story is that I was on a family vacation down...

In the inaugural episode of Coaching In the Clear, Jameel talks to Jeff about addressing systemic racial injustice, takes us inside the world of working with icons, and shares his perspective on how coaching unleashes potential. Jameel has been a force in the world of fashion and brand management for over 20 years. He has...

Christina and Jeff discuss seeking out inherent blind spots in the corporate world. Christina shares lessons she’s learned from her personal experiences as a founder and activist, and ways that we can invest in people and handle growth, both personally and as a nation. Christina is the Co-Founder of Andela, which scales high-performing engineering teams...