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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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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High Performers Don’t Apply to Chaos
High Performers Don’t Apply to Chaos
ClicYou don’t have a hiring problem. ❌
You have a clarity problem.
Every week I hear:
“There’s no good talent.”
“Everyone we interview feels average.”
“We just can’t find the right person.”
But when we audit the role?
It’s vague.
It’s overloaded.
It’s reactive.
And it’s built around relieving pressure — not creating ownership.
High performers don’t apply to chaos.
They apply to clarity.
They want to know:
• What exactly am I accountable for?
• What does success look like in 90 days?
• What decisions can I make without permission?
• How does this role move the company forward?
If the role sounds like:
“Jump in and help wherever needed…”
You’ll attract helpers.
If the role sounds like:
“Own and optimize our sales pipeline to increase close rates by 20%…”
You’ll attract operators.
The market responds to how you position the opportunity.
The best candidates are not just choosing a paycheck.
They’re choosing leadership.
They’re choosing structure.
They’re choosing a future.
Before you say “talent is hard to find,” ask yourself:
Would YOU be excited to apply to this role?
Because hiring isn’t about searching harder.
It’s about designing smarter.
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Women Lead Differently And It’s Time We Talk About It
A couple of weeks ago, I announced that I’m relaunching my podcast—this time focusing on female entrepreneurs: how they lead, how they grow their teams, and how they build businesses that last. Because I truly believe that we women lead differently.
This week, I finally sat down with Merlijn Mazairac to record the first episode, and I left feeling absolutely energized. From the start of our conversation, the connection was there. She spoke with such openness about living abroad, building her consulting company, and leading her team through growth and change.
Here are three ideas from her leadership journey that inspired me most:
1️⃣ Colleagues sitting side by side for years without really knowing each other. Merlijn has seen it happen, and now uses intentional exercises to help people open up and truly connect.
2️⃣ Team fails are leadership lessons. She reminded me that struggles, mismatched hires, disconnection, and even tough exits all carry value. Talking about them openly makes us better leaders—and helps others avoid the same mistakes.
3️⃣ Salary conversations in times of inflation. She doesn’t shy away from the tough talks—the ones that test not just your budget, but your leadership itself.For me, this first recording is about growing as a leader by listening to the honest stories of others. I’m deeply grateful to Merlijn for sharing her journey so openly—and excited for all the conversations ahead.
