When Your Biggest Hire Ever Is a Bust

This week, in episode 259, Jaci Russo tells David C. Barnett and Kate Morgan how the hiring of her agency’s first top-level sales person went wrong. About four months ago, when Jaci first told us about this big step, she sounded thrilled. She said her new sales chief was a delight to be around, had hit the ground running, and had already lined up at least one impressive client. Unfortunately, none of that panned out. But Jaci, who is hardly the first business owner to have an important placement go off the rails, offered to walk us through her process to see what lessons we can all learn: Were the interviews flawed? Was the onboarding effort insufficient? Was it the executive recruiting firm she used? Was it the compensation structure? Or was it the remote-work arrangement? Plus: We also discuss the mounting evidence that companies have stopped filling entry-level positions. And should that trend continue, where will owners find the next generation of leaders?