I lost a client, and I’m actually happy about it.
Let me explain.
A while back, we placed a fantastic team member with what is now our former client. She did such a great job from day one, showing perfect culture and role fit, that they decided to hire her directly.
Yes, it happens in outsourcing. But here’s what really bothered me: poaching talent doesn’t just break terms. It breaks trust and destroys culture.
I believe the most valuable thing a business owner has is their reputation with clients, suppliers, and teams. Breaking terms sends a signal to that employee and to the rest of the team that shortcuts and small acts of dishonesty are acceptable. In the long run, that erodes trust and damages both the business owner’s and the company’s reputation.
Great cultures are built on respect and integrity.
And if a client shows us they don’t believe in that, then we’re simply not a good fit.
Because without values, there is no partnership.
What do you think? Does a little cheating corrode team and company culture?
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The Art (and Science) of Hiring in 2025
Over the past 24 years, I’ve read thousands of resumes, interviewed hundreds of people, and hired across multiple companies. I thought I had a ton of experience — until I met Cecilia and Victoria. I’m in awe.
Why? Because Cecilia and Victoria are true experts at sourcing new team members. The other day, I did a quick calculation: between them, it’s easily over 40,000 interviews throughout their careers. That’s an incredible amount of experience.
And I’m not saying this because they are part of my team, but because I’ve seen firsthand how much hiring has changed over the past 24 months — more than it did in the previous 24 years. Hiring hasn’t gotten easier. Quite the opposite.
I think this is one of the biggest challenges small companies face today: finding the right people in a sea of opportunities. Getting hiring right determines the success of any business. Get it right, and the business grows. Get it wrong, and it stagnates.
Here are three timeless techniques Cecilia and Victoria use when interviewing candidates after scanning thousands of applications:
1. Details that hurt
Anyone can talk about wins. The real test is whether they can tell the story behind them in vivid detail — what really happened, who was involved, and what the friction was. They even ask small things like what the weather was like during a specific event to test authenticity.2. Process over polish
They ask candidates to walk through how they did something, step by step. Real experience is a little messy. Made-up experience sounds like bullet points. They look for the small missteps and corrections that prove genuine experience.3. The pause
Real memory makes people stop and think. Over-rehearsed answers don’t. When on a video interview, do the eyes move slightly as they recall, or do they stay fixed? That’s a subtle but powerful signal.These are fundamentals in a hiring process that has only gotten more complex in recent months. But they remain the foundation — even in a world of a thousand resumes and AI-polished applications.
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Leadership That Starts at the Kitchen Table
Marlene Dandler built her company and a community from her kitchen table.
This week, I sat down with Marlene Dandler, founder of Seashore Academy, a fast-growing network of private hybrid schools that started right there — at her kitchen table.
What inspired me most wasn’t just how far she’s come, but how she leads: with clarity, care, and the conviction that great education, and great leadership, both start with human connection.
My three top takeaways:
1️⃣ Hiring for alignment, not background
Marlene explained that her toughest hires were leaders from traditional education, talented people who struggled to embrace Seashore Academy’s flexible hybrid model. What finally worked was finding a leader who shared her excitement for change and innovation.2️⃣ Leadership energy trickles down
She compared leading her company to parenting: when she’s calm, the household, or the business, is calm. Her morning run and prayer aren’t just self-care, they’re her leadership practices.3️⃣ Culture travels through connection
She keeps her on-site and remote teams united through short daily video huddles and by sharing photos from the classrooms, reminding everyone, even those thousands of miles away, of the joy they’re helping create.Conversations like this remind me how much leadership is about intention — who we hire, how we show up, and how we stay connected across distance.
Grateful to Marlene for sharing her story, her heart, and her wisdom.
Full episode coming soon.
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When Effort Stops Being the Answer
When Effort Stops Being the Answer
One of the hardest shifts for high performers is realizing that effort is no longer the problem.
At a certain level, working harder doesn’t create better outcomes.
It just creates fatigue.
What actually moves things forward is precision.
Knowing where your attention creates the most leverage.
Knowing which decisions matter and which don’t.
Knowing when to stop pushing and start designing better systems.
I see so many leaders burn energy on things that shouldn’t require them anymore. Not because they’re incapable of letting go, but because no one ever showed them how to replace effort with structure.
The goal isn’t to do less.
It’s to do what only you can do.
When you make that shift, work feels lighter.
Decisions feel cleaner.
And progress stops feeling forced.
If everything feels heavy right now, it might not be because you’re doing too little.
It might be because you’re doing too much of the wrong things.
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