How to Hire the Best People in the World

Summary

The transcript emphasizes the significance of high-performing employees, who can be up to eight times more productive than average ones. It details the author's journey in learning to attract top talent, illustrating how superior talent can outpace competitors regardless of strategy. The narrative underscores the importance of a talent attraction strategy, which includes an employee value proposition addressing compensation, benefits, career, work environment, and culture. The speaker shares a five-step 'T' strategy for talent acquisition, targeting the right talent, identifying top qualities, optimizing touch points, and tracking results to enhance a company's ability to attract and retain the best employees.

Takeaways

• 🚀 High-performing employees can be 4 to 8 times more productive than average employees, significantly impacting a company's speed and effectiveness.
• ⏰ Talent is more critical than strategy; a company with better talent will outperform competitors, regardless of the strategy's brilliance.
• 💡 The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding what top talent seeks in an employer, akin to focusing on customer needs when building a product.
• 📉 Two out of three company strategies fail due to talent-related issues, highlighting the need for effective talent management.
• 🤔 The speaker shares personal experience, illustrating the challenges of attracting and retaining top talent, especially in the early stages of a business.
• 🔄 The concept of 'company-talent match' is introduced as a critical factor for attracting and retaining top talent, similar to achieving product-market fit.
• 🏫 The education industry is cited as an example where the lack of a company-talent match leads to high turnover and dissatisfaction among teachers.
• 💼 The speaker discusses the evolution of their talent strategy, moving from hiring anyone to focusing on attracting high-quality talent to drive business growth.
• 📈 The importance of an employee value proposition (EVP) is highlighted as a key tool for attracting top talent, similar to a marketing offer for customers.
• 🔑 The 'five T's of talent strategy' are introduced as a framework for building an effective talent attraction strategy: Targeting, Top Qualities, Touch Points, Tracking, and Talent.

Q & A

How much more productive are high-performing employees compared to average ones?

High-performing employees are four to eight times as productive as average employees.

What is the significance of having top talent in a company?

Top talent can execute strategies faster and better, which can significantly outpace competitors regardless of the strategy's quality.

Why do many strategies fail in companies?

Two out of every three strategies fail due to talent-related issues, as the talent in a company dictates how well and how quickly strategies are executed.

What is the role of an employee value proposition in attracting top talent?

An employee value proposition is a strategy to present an offer to potential employees, similar to a market offer for customers, which should answer why someone should work for the company over others.

What are the five components of an employee value proposition?

The five components are compensation, benefits, career, work environment, and culture.

What does the 'Talent match' concept refer to?

Talent match refers to the degree to which a company's infrastructure satisfies the demands and desires of the talent it seeks to attract.

Why is it crucial for companies to understand what top talent wants?

Understanding what top talent wants helps companies to create a compelling employee value proposition that can attract and retain the best employees.

What is the 'five T's' strategy mentioned in the script for building a talent strategy?

The 'five T's' strategy includes targeting talent, top qualities, touch points, tracking results, and talent match.

How can a company improve its talent acquisition funnel?

A company can improve its talent acquisition funnel by identifying bottlenecks, expanding outreach channels, and creating targeted messaging to attract the right applicants.

What is the importance of transparency in compensation for attracting talent?

Transparency in compensation helps build trust with potential employees and is a key component of an attractive compensation package that can draw top talent.

How can a company ensure it has a strong 'company-talent match'?

A company can ensure a strong 'company-talent match' by understanding the needs and desires of its target talent and aligning its employee value proposition and work environment to meet those expectations.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 The Power of High-Performing Talent

The speaker emphasizes the significant productivity gap between high-performing employees and the average, suggesting that top talent can execute strategies faster and more effectively than their mediocre counterparts. They recount a personal experience where they struggled with a team of underqualified individuals, leading to a realization that attracting and retaining top talent is crucial for business success. The speaker introduces the concept of 'talent attraction machine' and the importance of understanding what top talent seeks in an employer, drawing parallels to product-market fit and the necessity for a 'company-talent match'. They also discuss the common failure of strategies due to inadequate talent execution and the need for a talent strategy that goes beyond just hiring anyone available.

05:01

🌟 Transforming a Struggling Business with Talent Strategy

In this section, the speaker shares their journey of transforming a struggling business by focusing on talent acquisition. They recount a moment of desperation that led to a pivotal realization: instead of working harder, they needed to work smarter by attracting better talent. The speaker then delves into the concept of an 'employee value proposition', which is essential for attracting top talent. They outline the five components of an effective employee value proposition: compensation, benefits, career, work environment, and culture. Each component is explored in detail, providing insights into how they contribute to attracting and retaining high-performing employees. The speaker also discusses the importance of understanding and articulating what makes a company an attractive place to work for top talent.

10:02

📈 Crafting a Talent Strategy with the Five T's

The speaker outlines a strategic approach to building a talent strategy, focusing on the 'five T's': targeting talent, top qualities, touch points, and tracking results. They discuss the importance of identifying the right talent goals, such as increasing the number or quality of applicants, and crafting a candidate persona that aligns with the company's needs. The speaker also emphasizes the need to identify and leverage key touch points where potential talent interacts with the company, such as online searches and social media, to effectively promote the employee value proposition. Lastly, they stress the importance of tracking and measuring the effectiveness of talent acquisition strategies to continuously improve and adapt the approach to attracting top talent.

Keywords

💡Productivity

Productivity in the context of the video refers to the efficiency and effectiveness with which employees perform their tasks. It is emphasized that high-performing employees can be four to eight times more productive than average employees, which significantly impacts the speed and success of a company's strategy implementation. The video uses this concept to highlight the importance of attracting top talent to ensure that strategies are executed swiftly and effectively.

💡Talent Attraction

Talent Attraction is a central theme of the video, referring to the strategies and methods used by companies to draw top talent. The speaker shares personal experiences and insights on how to create a 'talent attraction machine' that can identify and attract the top one percent of talent. This is crucial as the video argues that having the right talent can outpace competitors and ensure the successful execution of business strategies.

💡Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Employee Value Proposition is a concept discussed in the video as a way to attract top talent. It encompasses the total value an employee receives from working at a company, including compensation, benefits, career development, work environment, and culture. The video explains that a strong EVP is essential for companies to communicate why top talent should choose to work for them over competitors.

💡Product-Market Fit

Product-Market Fit is a term used in the video to describe the match between a product and what the market wants or needs. The speaker draws a parallel with 'Company-Talent Fit,' which is the alignment between what a company offers and what top talent is seeking. The video uses the example of Instagram's initial struggles and eventual success to illustrate the importance of achieving the right fit to attract and retain talent.

💡Compensation

Compensation in the video refers to the financial rewards an employee receives, which includes salary, raises, promotions, and pay transparency. It is one of the components of an Employee Value Proposition and is critical in attracting talent. The video suggests that a competitive compensation package is necessary but not sufficient on its own to attract top talent; it must be part of a broader EVP.

💡Benefits

Benefits are non-monetary aspects of employment that can attract talent, such as time off, flexible work schedules, remote work options, education, retirement plans, and insurance. The video emphasizes that a comprehensive benefits package can enhance a company's appeal to potential employees, especially when combined with other elements of an EVP.

💡Career Development

Career Development in the video pertains to the opportunities and support provided by a company to help employees grow professionally. This includes training, clear career paths, and performance feedback. The video argues that top talent is attracted to companies that offer robust career development programs, as it signals a commitment to employee growth and success.

💡Work Environment

Work Environment refers to the conditions and culture in which employees work, including factors like autonomy, recognition, and challenge. The video suggests that a positive work environment is a key component of attracting top talent, as it can lead to higher job satisfaction and productivity. It contrasts a supportive environment with one that is micromanaged or lacks clear expectations.

💡Culture

Culture in the video is described as the internal branding of a company, encompassing its mission, values, and the way work is conducted. It is a critical part of the EVP, as it helps potential employees understand the company's identity and whether it aligns with their own values and work preferences. The video stresses the importance of a strong culture in attracting and retaining top talent.

💡Talent Strategy

Talent Strategy is the overarching plan a company has for attracting, developing, and retaining talent. The video outlines the importance of having a clear talent strategy that includes understanding target talent, top qualities, touchpoints, and tracking results. It suggests that a well-executed talent strategy is essential for companies to compete for top talent, regardless of their size or stage of growth.

Highlights

High-performing employees can be four to eight times as productive as average employees.

Productivity of employees can significantly affect the time it takes to execute a company's strategy.

Attracting top talent is crucial for companies to outperform their competitors.

Talent is more important than strategy because it dictates how well a strategy is executed.

Many strategies fail due to a lack of suitable talent within a company.

To attract top talent, companies need to focus on what top talent wants from an employer.

Product Market Fit is crucial for a product's success, and Company Talent Match is equally important for attracting talent.

Understanding the needs and wants of top talent is key to creating an attractive employee value proposition.

Compensation, benefits, career, work environment, and culture are the five key components of an employee value proposition.

Compensation includes salary, raises, promotions, and pay transparency.

Benefits can range from time off to flexible work schedules and insurance.

Career development opportunities are essential for attracting top talent.

Work environment includes factors like autonomy, recognition, and challenge.

Company culture is the internal branding that reflects the mission, goals, and values of the organization.

Targeting talent involves identifying the type of talent a company needs and the current constraints in attracting them.

Top qualities help define the ideal candidate persona for a company's open positions.

Touch points are the various interactions where talent engages with a company and can be influenced by its employee value proposition.

Tracking results is essential to measure the effectiveness of a talent attraction strategy.

Even small or inexperienced companies can develop a competitive talent attraction strategy.

Transcripts

High performing employees are four to

eight times as productive as a normal

average employee meaning there are also

four to eight times as fast I want to

share with you how I learned this lesson

the hard way and how I've taken those

lessons and turned them into a talent

attraction machine so that you can

figure out how to attract the top one

percent of talent into your company how

that works is let's say company a has

mediocre talent and they set out a

strategy and it's going to take them

three years while Company B who happens

to be their competitor sets out with the

same strategy but because their

workplace is 800 percent more productive

it takes them one year obviously no

matter the strategy no matter how smart

you are with it if you have better

Talent you will beat your competitors

Talent beat strategy why because Talent

executes on the strategy talent you have

in the company dictates how the strategy

gets executed how fast it gets executed

how well it gets executed ultimately at

the end of the day if you look at the

statistics two out of every three

strategies that are set to be completed

by a company actually fail due to the

talent but here's the thing people

always say you've got to get the right

people in the right seats the reason

that you're struggling is you don't have

the people okay go get good people cool

how do I do that what does that look

like what do I need to attract those

people just like if you tell somebody

who's overweight hey you need to go lose

20 pounds they're like wonderful I've

been told that for the last five years

but how do I lose the 20 pounds tell me

what to do step by step it's not like

people with mediocre Talent don't know

that oftentimes people know that their

team isn't competent for the task at

hand they just don't know how to go get

people who are more competent and the

reason I know this is because I've

worked with thousands and thousands of

business owners and I can tell you they

don't know how to attract that Talent OR

to figure out how to attract top talent

we need to stop thinking about what do

we want as a business and we need to

start thinking about what does top

talent want out of an employer that's

like when you're trying to build a

product you're not thinking what would I

like it's what would my customer like

and in this sense your customer is the

top talent you're trying to attract

companies who are trying to achieve

product Market fit often fail because

it's very difficult and they can't

figure out what the product Market fit

is companies also fail because they

don't have a company Talent match

example of like failed product Market

fit is in the beginning of Instagram it

was called something to the extent of

like bourbon

b-u-r-b-n burb n it was like when you go

meet up with people and you're at a

meet-up place you post pictures of it it

just wasn't what people wanted and so

for a long time they struggled until

eventually the Founder's wife suggested

hey I think people just want pictures

and they want to be able to post

pictures and edit them and do all the

stuff and on a whim this guy changed the

app because it was going down and he

thought that he was going to be out of

business he changed it he achieved

product Market fit and here we go

billion dollar company how important

product Market fit is to a company like

Instagram is just how important it is

when it comes to attracting talent you

have to get the match Right company

Talent match is the degree to which the

infrastructure of the company satisfies

the demand the talent has so an example

where there's not a company Talent match

is in the education industry I'm sure

you've seen that there was the great

resignation and one of the industries

that was greatly affected was education

now why is that let's look at why people

fail to have a company Talent match

teachers are not paid well they don't

have good benefits they have to work

very hard and they don't have a good

workplace culture so if you look at it

the benefits of working in a Traditional

School System actually tend to be less

than the cons so if you feel like you

can kind of relate to this like you're

like Layla I know I need more talent but

I don't know how just keep listening

when I started my first company gym

launch I did not understand Talent match

I didn't understand that you needed a

talent strategy I knew that you needed

talented people I didn't really know

what they looked like I didn't know how

to attract them I think I vaguely kind

of understood conceptually but I didn't

know enough to be able to execute it I

hired literally anybody that had a pulse

and applied for the job I was just so

grateful that people wanted to work for

us I continued to hire that way for the

first year and a half a lot of times

companies can afford to do that because

in the first year and a half there's

typically not some explosion in a

company right two three years into it

that you really need to level up your

talent and who you're hiring for us it

was actually the opposite we absolutely

exploded six months into the new model

that we had for Denmark we had been

essentially flying people out to gyms

and then we turned into a licensing

model where we would teach people how to

execute that on their own in their gym

and when we did that the company

exploded but my skill set to attract

Talent did not explode and so what I

ended up doing is hiring all these

underqualified people promoting under

qualified people and having a very large

team that I felt the burden of the goal

is that if you have a large team that

the founder feels relief enough so that

they can lead the business neither

myself nor Alex felt that way at all it

felt like it was this huge burden like

we were carrying people I felt like

things weren't getting done I didn't

feel like it was efficient and I felt

like I didn't know what to do one I was

kind of scared I was like I'm

inexperienced I'm young like how am I

going to get these people right like why

would they come and work for me I also

thought to myself like I'm afraid what

if I make these investments in these

people and then they leave they don't

like it they think the companies this

big pile of burning and so they

don't want to be here anyways on the

other hand is you know I felt really

guilty that I had all these people I put

in these roles and I kept thinking maybe

it's me maybe it's my fault and

obviously to a degree it is but I kept

thinking I just need to train these

people more I need to make sure they

have better skills I need to pour more

of myself into them and it really all

came to a head in 2019 when I had a

moment where we had had our biggest

month ever we've done like 4.5 million I

was just so anxious and stressed and

overwhelmed I looked at Alex in a moment

of just desperation I was like I don't

want to do this anymore it feels awful

you know I quickly was like listen I

don't actually want to end the business

but I need to do something about this I

remember I contacted this woman who was

a coach I was hoping that she could help

me figure out how to get out of this

hole like I felt like I built myself

into which was essentially a company

that was just full of underqualified

people and I remember I met with her and

she said well what do you think the

problem is I feel like everyone's

underqualified you know I feel like I've

been pouring myself into it I've gotten

really good at training skill transfer

and a lot of these things but it's just

not it's just not cutting it it's just

not going fast enough for the rate that

we're growing what if your job is not to

work harder but to get better talent to

work harder on your behalf I was like

oh and at first it felt weird because I

was like I so pride myself or did on

working hard and it was really hard for

me to accept that in that moment I

realized that working hard wasn't going

to get this company to where it needed

to be I needed to get other people to

work hard as well at least work as hard

as me I've been trying so hard to bring

this team along but at the same time

like in my gut I knew it I'd read enough

times in enough books that eventually

when the company has matured to a

certain point you need to make sure that

you start up leveling the talent you

need to make sure you're getting high

performers in there so from that point

on I really dedicated myself to

understanding what makes great talent

how do companies attract great talent

how do you keep great talent how do you

get it when you're new in experienced

and have no idea what you're doing over

the next year and a half I went from

having a team that I felt overwhelmed by

I didn't want to be on the meetings I

didn't want to talk to people because I

felt so resentful that I was doing so

much work on others behalfs to going to

have a team where I was not involved in

the day today I didn't have to be there

all the time I could take a vacation and

things wouldn't fall apart and it all

came down to understanding a company

Talent match and then a talent

attraction strategy if you don't have a

talent attraction strategy what you end

up doing is you end uploading the

organization diluting the culture

decreasing the efficiency of the team

and not ultimately being able to carry

out any strategy that you set for the

business so how do you attract top

talent you attract top talent with an

employee value proposition just like you

put an offer into the marketplace to get

people to buy something you put an offer

into the talent Marketplace to get

people to come and work for you so just

like you put together an offer stack in

terms of what somebody's going to get if

they sign up with your company if they

buy your product Etc you put together an

employee value stack that shows them

everything they're going to get while

joining your organization and so what an

employee value proposition should do is

it should answer the question why should

I work here and not somewhere else there

are five pieces to an employee value

proposition I want you to follow along

and understand these five pieces so I

can explain to you how to put these into

action the first piece should be fairly

common which is compensation but

compensation doesn't come down to just

salary and what you're paying in person

compensation comes down to a few things

there's salary there's how do you raise

and promote people within the

organization there's fairness in terms

of evaluating people for raises and

promotions there's paid transparency

which is are you being transparent with

the people in the organization about how

and when they're paid all that together

is compensation the second piece that

follows compensation is benefits

benefits is time off flexible work

schedule remote work versus in-person

work education retirement plans and

things like insurance now on the other

end of the spectrum the other three

pieces of an employee value proposition

are career work environment and culture

so career is does this person in their

role have the ability to progress top

talent wants opportunity do you provide

training do you provide Career

Development do you talk about Career

Development you talk about their career

path do you ask them questions of what

they want in the organization do you

evaluate them and give them feedback

those all go into Career Development

work environment what kind of

environment are they working are they

autonomous or are they micromanaged are

they recognized or are they punished do

they have clear expectations or do they

have no idea what's going on and are

they challenged or are they just

clocking in clocking out every day and

then lastly there's culture culture

really comes down to understanding the

mission and the goals of the company why

are we here why do we do the work we do

and then how do we do the work we do

which is the value piece culture of a

company is really the internal branding

so just like externally there's a brand

of company and that's what the customers

see internally there's the brand of the

company that is what the talent sees

that's a lot of how do we put that

together to figure out employee value

proposition I call it the five T's and

this is the strategy that I follow to

put together a talent strategy so that I

know I'm going to have a strategy it

doesn't need to be all of those things

but I should be very clear on what

things it is and what it is not so the

first of the five T's is targeting

talent that means what are your target

Talent goals do you need more applicants

do you need more qualified applicants

that are applicants do you need a

different kind of applicant what is the

current constraint in terms of getting

people in so for example we had a

portfolio company they had a very hard

time getting coaches in and coaching was

a department that they need to attract

people that had a certain skill set and

they needed a lot of them and so we

looked at their strategy and they were

getting qualified people but they

weren't getting enough of them they

didn't have enough Nets cast to get

enough of them so just like a lot of

people post on indeed or LinkedIn and

then they say I'm not getting enough

talent coming in it's like well why

aren't we posting on indeed LinkedIn

Glassdoor Craigslist I mean like posting

everywhere as well as doing Outreach on

our behalfs to get Talent so you have to

look at where the bottleneck is in

getting the talent and that's your first

piece that you need to identify is do I

need more or do I need better and so for

them they needed more and so on their

website we actually added a second

funnel that was kind of parallel to

their customer funnel that said do you

want to be a coach essentially like a

sales page selling people on why they

could become a coach why it was so great

to become a coach and why it's so great

to work as our company and then we

actually ran paid ads asking would you

like to become a coach here's the

opportunity here's what it looks like

and so now they're able to get unlimited

coaches because they they have a talent

acquisition funnel that gets them more

qualified applicants the second piece in

determining your talent strategy is top

qualities what this means is you want to

identify what is your candidate Persona

that you're looking for who's the

perfect person to work at your company I

have had three companies prior to

acquisition.com I've had gym launch I've

had Prestige labs and I've had Alan and

my talent Persona has looked different

for each one of them the person I'm

going to get to work at gym launch they

might be a great director of customer

success at gym launch but they're not a

great director of customer success at

Allen in gym launch when I'm looking for

a director of customer success I'm

looking for somebody that can talk to

customers all day they can take

escalation calls and they really

understand a customer experience on the

other side with Alan when I'm looking

for a director of customer success that

person doesn't necessarily need to

understand and talk to people as much as

they did on the server side you want to

identify what do current employees love

about working at your company and what

if done more would cause them to love

working there more so typically what

people value in a smaller company tends

to be more of the soft stuff it's the

culture it's the workplace it's the

autonomy whereas if you ask somebody at

that bigger company they're probably

going to say compensation benefits

because bigger companies know that as

they get bigger the soft side is

actually what decreases and so they make

up for that in compensation and benefits

the fourth key to this is touch points

where does Talent interact with your

company so that you can promote your

employee value proposition so just like

you promote your business to get

customers you have to promote your

company to get talent and so the

question you have to ask yourself is

when I put our company out there into

the internet where are people looking at

it and what are they looking for well

typically if somebody sees your company

they're going to Google it that's the

first thing I've recruited thousands of

people for not only my own companies but

our portfolio companies and the first

reason that people won't work at a

company is what they get when they

Google it the best talent they're not

going to not do diligence they're going

to Google your company they're going to

look you up they're going to look at

your customer ratings they're going to

look at anything they can find those

places that they're looking to do due

diligence on your company are exactly

where you put your employee value

proposition and then the fifth T is

tracking results this ties back to

number one are you trying to get more

candidates are you trying to get more

qualified candidates are you trying to

get more brand awareness you have to

find the metric that goes along with it

and then you want to measure it to see

the question is how do you measure to

make sure it's effective when I'm trying

to get more qualified candidates I've

tried different strategies some of it

has been through the content that I make

and talking about interviewing tips and

things like that and then I look at okay

I launched a video for example on top

five interview questions did we get more

qualified candidates during that time

and if we did then I would say it's an

effective strategy I should do more of

that and if we didn't then I would say

it's not effective and we should go back

to what we're doing or try something

else what I want you to understand you

don't need to be the most established

the biggest or the most profitable

company to attract top talent there are

so many other things that you can do to

attract top talent I tell you this as

somebody who has been there no matter

how small you are no matter how

inexperienced you are no matter where

your company is at you can have a

competitive Talent match strategy