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SCARF (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness)

Words I don’t like: “I would prefer not to.” – Bartleby Five words Bartleby used instead of quitting or arguing. He just stopped caring, with an eerie calm, a quiet refusal of a man who’d decided showing up wasn’t worth it anymore. Herman Melville wrote “Bartleby” in 1853, but I’ve sat with enough CEOs to know that every workplace today has one. Not always this extreme, just present. Not that you are doing anything wrong, you’re pulling every lever you know, and nothing moves, because it isn’t about burnout or bad culture fit. It’s a brain thing. Neuroscience calls it

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A woman sitting at a desk with a laptop looks stressed and overwhelmed as several people around her hand her documents, a tablet, and a phone while pointing at her screen.

The Strategic HR Playbook For Growing Companies

Words I Like: If you want to know how tall a building is going to be, look at how deep they dig the foundation. Let’s be real: no CEO wakes up excited to think about HR compliance. Here’s what might surprise you: some of the most painful, expensive, and distracting issues CEOs face don’t come from competitors or customers…they come from cracks in the HR foundation. It’s the remote hire in a new state that quietly triggered legal obligations you didn’t know you had. It’s the stock option grant that can’t vest because the paperwork was never actually filed properly.

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5 Hiring Lessons I Learned the Hard Way (So You Don’t Have To)

Words I Like: The cost of a bad hire isn’t just money. It’s momentum, morale, and missed opportunities. Hiring can make or break your business. No one gives you a manual. If you’ve ever second-guessed a new hire, felt overwhelmed by options, or avoided the whole process altogether by working more hours, I’ve been there, too. As a CEO, your team is your leverage. These 5 hard-earned hiring insights will help you hire smarter. And if you’re really smart, you’ll scroll down for Your Free CEO’s HR Wake-Up Call Checklist. 1. Be Unapologetically Clear About What You Want (and Don’t

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Two business professionals reviewing documents together

When Good Hires Go Off Track: Your Performance Improvement Plan Guide

Have you ever found yourself in that uncomfortable position where a key leader or team member just isn’t measuring up? You’ve had the conversations, provided informal feedback, nothing changed, and now you’re considering that dreaded next step: the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). PIPs can sometimes turn things around, but they often signal the beginning of the end for that working relationship. In fact, studies show that approximately 70% of employees placed on PIPs eventually leave the organization, either voluntarily or involuntarily. We’re here to help you with a template for your PIP and guidance for the 70% that don’t turn

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Fractional HR: What It Is and When Your Business Needs It

Fractional HR provides HR support (compliance, performance, culture, retention) without incurring a full-time executive salary. For most small and mid-size businesses, it's the bridge between "HR is whoever has time" and a full HR department. Here's what a fractional HR leader does and how to tell if you need one. Weighing fractional against a full-time hire? Start with when to hire a fractional executive over a full-time employee. Our Fractional vs. Full-Time Decision Worksheet walks you through the call. What a Fractional HR Leader Does They embed part-time, learn your specific challenges, and build solutions across the core HR functions:

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How a Fractional CHRO Strengthens Your HR Strategy

A fractional CHRO is a part-time, on-demand chief human resources officer: the strategic HR leadership of a full-time CHRO without the full-time cost. For growing companies that can't yet justify a senior HR salary, it's how you get strategy (not just admin) into your people function. Here's what one does and how to hire the right one. New to the model? Start with what a fractional executive is and when to hire a fractional executive over a full-time employee. What a Fractional CHRO Brings Beyond day-to-day HR, a fractional CHRO leads the strategic work most growing companies neglect: strategic people

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A manager welcoming a new team member on their first day

Onboarding Plan for New Team Members

A new hire's first week sets the tone for their whole tenure, and "show up and figure it out" is how you lose good people early. A real onboarding plan starts the moment they accept the offer and carries through their first day, week, and month. Below is what a strong plan covers, plus the templates to build yours fast. Get the Templates Onboarding Plan for New Team Member Template: start here for a cohesive first-day, first-week, and first-month experience. Checklists for Internship Host Companies: before, during, and after the internship. Start, During, and Close-of-Business Checklists for setting communication and

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24 Hiring Tips for Entrepreneurs

Hiring is the lever that decides whether scaling feels like momentum or chaos. These 24 tips come from a riff by Joe Polish, shared by the Genius Network Team, and they're some of the most quotable, practical hiring advice we've come across. We're keeping them in Joe's own words. Not sure whether to hire full-time or fractional? Our Fractional vs. Full-Time Decision Worksheet walks you through the call. The 24 Tips If you are an ADHD entrepreneur, make sure you have people around you who have a surplus of attention. Be clear about what you want and what you don't

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Who: The A Method for Hiring

The most expensive mistakes a CEO makes are hiring mistakes. As Geoff Smart and Randy Street argue in Who, your number-one problem isn't "what," it's "who." Their A Method is a simple, repeatable way to consistently hire "A Players": people with a 90%+ chance of achieving outcomes only the top 10% of candidates could. The Method in Brief It comes down to four steps. Scorecard: define the role precisely (its mission, 3-8 measurable outcomes, and the competencies, including your culture's) before you talk to anyone. Source: build a steady flow of A Players by relentlessly asking everyone, "Who are the

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How to Handle Crucial Conversations as a CEO

A crucial conversation is any discussion where the stakes are high, opinions differ, and emotions run strong, like letting someone go, confronting a co-CEO, pushing back on an investor, telling a key client no. The good news is that handling them well is a learnable skill, not a personality trait. Before you walk into one, our Coaching Conversation Question Card, gives you the questions you need to keep a hard talk calm and on track. How to have a crucial conversation The method (from the book Crucial Conversations) comes down to a few moves. Start with the heart: get clear

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