IAM1063- Founder Teaches Companies How to Hire Right the First Time

[00:00:18.50] - Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

[00:00:48.29] - Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Diana George of By George HR Solutions. Diana, it's great to have you on the show.

[00:00:57.89] - Diana George

Thank you so much, Gresham. Great to be here. I'm just so excited.

[00:01:01.89] - Gresham Harkless
Yes. I'm excited as well. You're doing so many phenomenal things. And, before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more so you can hear a little bit more about some of the awesome things that Diana's doing. As a founder and president of By George Solutions, Diana found a common thread with most of her clients, the ability to hire employees that fit their company culture. Diana has worked with global companies such as Bose and a luxury watch company, Omega.

Diana brings with her over three decades of experience and learned early on how to motivate and get the best out of people, which she now teaches organizations. A coauthor in Anatomy of Accomplishment, Diana shares seven strategies on how to have a winning company culture. She teaches companies how to attract, hire, and keep their top talent, and Diana is the number one person you go to when you want to hire right the first time. Diana, great to have you on the show again. Super excited. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[00:01:57.79] - Diana George

I am ready. Let's get this started.

[00:02:00.90] - Gresham Harkless

Let's do it then. So to kinda kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

[00:02:09.80] - Diana George

Sure. So my CEO story is I worked a lot for retail companies, and I had an opportunity to work for some amazing global companies, as you mentioned, Bose and Omega. And I had some great experiences. And I guess at some point, I realized that that wasn't the norm. Everyone didn't have those same types of experiences. But what I was able to do is take so many of the things that they gave me and use them throughout my career and build upon them. And at some point, their HR department was so instrumental in helping us as managers develop and get the best out of the people that we had.

And so I wanted to be able to do the same thing. So the last company that I worked for, I loved the company, excited to go to work every day, which was my norm in terms of my experience. And then we had a shift. We had a management change, and a lot of those things changed. And it was at that point that I realized that, you know, not only are your employees your greatest brand ambassadors and your greatest asset, they need to know that and you need to nurture that.

And so at some point, I decided to leave the company. It wasn't the company that I had originally started with and I know that things changed and it was at that point that I said, you know what? I really wanna get out there, and I wanna teach, you know, other entrepreneurs how to hire people, how to hire right the first time.

[00:03:33.19] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I appreciate your sharing, and sorry that you had to go through that experience. But I'm a big believer, I always say, in binary. So I almost feel like to know one side of the coin, you have to know the other. To know good, you have to experience bad. And I almost feel like and I don't know. I don't wanna put words into your mouth or anything, but I almost feel like because you had that experience especially too, it probably empowers you with even more insight into how to help these organizations, these leaders create that great culture and understand how important an asset their people are.

[00:04:03.59] - Diana George

You're right. And I thank you for that because it did. It was at that point that I realized that I had been doing a lot of successful actions over all those years. And so it was at that time that I said, hey. A light bulb went off. Now let me take those experiences. Let me take what I've learned and show other people how to not only hire right the first time but to nurture those individuals, and retain those individuals. So what I tell people that I do is that with great brand ambassadors.

[00:04:42.19] - Gresham Harkless

That's extremely, empowering. And I think so many times that you said, you know, so well too that I think a lot of times we don't recognize or we sometimes even appreciate our zone of genius experiences that we have and the skills that we have. So once we do understand that, it's so important that we try to spend as much time as possible. So that's why I love how it doesn't become just, I guess, hiring a person. It becomes an extension of the brand, an extension of the vision sometimes. And when we start to flip that switch and look at it differently, it becomes empowering and exciting as well too every time you get to to attract and bring on talent.

[00:05:18.19] - Diana George

Absolutely. Company culture is, every business needs to identify that and know what that is. And so when we take a look at our larger companies that we're familiar with, that we see on TV every day, They've established that, but I like to remind people that that's important for you also. They got to where they are because they established that earlier on what that company culture is and they hire based on that company culture so they have the right person in place. And so I thought this is an opportunity to make sure that businesses as they start up or as they're growing, they make sure and they know how to do the same thing because that's gonna help them to elevate and to continue growing.

[00:06:00.00] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. Taking those foundational steps to set yourself up for success. So I love that you help, you know, organizations and leaders do that. And so I know we touched on a little bit on on on what you do and how you do it. Could you take us through a little bit more of that and exactly how that looks and how that process goes? What do you even feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique AKA your secret sauce?

[00:06:21.69] - Diana George

Yeah. So my secret sauce and I share this with people because I think it's really important for everybody, is giving people the resources is the easy part. Staying with them through their transformation is a commitment. So anytime you have someone that comes into your company, that's a commitment. It's a commitment on your end. It's a commitment on the individual's end. And so when we realize that and we nurture that, then we're helping that person to not only grow within the organization but that we're helping that individual to grow, you know, personally.

And so I help individuals to understand really what the formula is for communication. So so often we think that we understand how to communicate, oh, I told that person that. So I can't believe they didn't get it. There's so much more to effective communication and what does that look like? And so when people understand what that looks like, they're more engaged with the individuals that they work with. They're more engaged with their staff. They see them from a wholly different viewpoint, and it's a more holistic viewpoint in the sense that they want everybody to do their best and they want everybody to grow.

So, having people understand that that's important and I think if nothing else twenty-twenty and the pandemic has, taught us and showed us how important relationships are and how important people are. And we need to invest in people more. And when you do that, that's that's the winning formula for success.

[00:07:45.39] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I appreciate you sharing that, and I think so many times I'll say, like, I think we forget about the human aspect of business. Of course, you know, numbers and analytics and all those things play, you know, a huge part. But I think so many times we can skip over that human piece. So that's why I love that you remind us of that, but also in everything that you do because I think it's something that once it's, I guess, properly cultivated, maybe the right word, or built and grown and strengthened, those relationships and that opportunity really can go, the sky's the limit, to say the least.

[00:08:19.60] - Diana George

Absolutely. And there's a saying out there that people normally don't leave companies, they leave the individuals. It goes back to relationships once again. And so normally we're in a company and as large as as large or small as the company is, it's still those personal relationships that keep people there. It's not always what we traditionally think it is. It's not always the most compensation because we've heard stories of people making astronomical amounts of money, but they're they're they're still miserable. They don't like what it is that they do. They don't like the people that they work with. So cultivating a company culture that speaks to your business and who you are and bringing on people that, are indicative of that company culture so that you now have a common goal, a common purpose, a common theme for why everybody is there every day, and they know that. That's the important thing. 

[00:09:11.50] - Gresham Harkless

I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient? 

[00:09:23.60] - Diana George

If you don't mind, I'm gonna give you two. One of them is called LastPass and, there might be some people out there that know it, but it is a way of keeping all your passwords. And so I have, you know, several different clients that I work with as well as people that work with me. And so I'm telling you, if I didn't have a LastPass, I would probably if I ever got a niche, I'd be in trouble because of all the passwords that I have. And right now, I'm close to up to three hundred passwords. So there's no way I can remember that, but this makes my life so easy. And especially being an entrepreneur, I do have people that do, social media for me and other things. And it allows me to share my passwords with them without them having to see my password.

And it makes it so efficient for me to do that as well as keep everything in one place and travel with it with me. So that is one of the things. So that would be number one. Number two, and I just stumbled upon this most recently and I love it because I do a lot of videos for social media lot of videos for social media and it's called Big View. It is a teleprompter that you can put on your phone as an app. And you can put a script in there, everything. And it is amazing when you pull this up and you have everything there. You don't have to remember, what do I need to say? You know, everything is right there for you. You're looking where you need to look. So that has been my newest hack that I love and have been sharing with everybody.

[00:10:48.10] - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:11:00.39] - Diana George

Yeah. Well, what I would tell my clients is to document your hiring strategy early on. You know, what people don't realize is that your HR department is an establishment and it's a fundamental department because it gives stability. And when you have employees that have stability, it allows you to grow exponentially and as fast as you want to grow. But without that in place, you're guessing at a lot of things.

And what happens a lot of times, is you have a lot of turnover of individuals or you don't aren't able to retain your top talent or the people that you want to retain. So really having that process documented early on, what does it look like so that you don't have to remember it, much later on when you're in the game? So I would say document your hiring strategy.

[00:11:47.10] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I love that. And I feel like it also allows you to kinda rep especially if you get, like, a great talented individual to be on the team, and you don't realize exactly how you did it or what it is that you do by documenting it. It allows you to if you replicate that success. But two, I think if it's not something that ends up being ideal or the person doesn't necessarily become ideal, you can go back and look at that documentation and start to tweak it in there instead of it being in somebody's head.

[00:12:14.39] - Diana George

Absolutely. 

[00:12:17.10] - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And so I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on their show. So, Diana, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:29.10] - Diana George

Being a CEO means to me freedom and responsibility, but most importantly, having the opportunity to impact and change lives. I get to do that every day through my interaction with people. And so I get to do that on a much bigger platform than I would have if I was just working a job or going to a nine-to-five. So that is the most important part for me is that I get to change and impact people's lives every day.

[00:12:57.89] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And that's huge just because I think that a lot of times when we look at our expertise or talents or gifts as a way to make an impact as you said so well, we really can see and and get excited about everything that we do. And I think that so many times, understanding that by creating, a great company culture as you do so well, it's where a lot of people spend their time and their energy. So as you can do that within organizations, it's creating such a strong impact in their lives. Organizationally, but I imagine in their personal lives, their relationships, it starts to kinda bleed into so many different aspects of their lives. So I love the work that you do because it creates, that necessary need, that all organizations can kinda take advantage of.

[00:13:42.89] - Diana George

Yeah. The ability to act impacts people's lives, not just professionally but personally as well that's where you have a reach because I always say to people you know how people are in their per a professional lives is the same way they are in their personal lives and vice versa. So if you can help somebody improve in their professional life, you're gonna help them improve in their personal life as well.

[00:14:04.50] - Gresham Harkless

That's extremely powerful. The way people do one thing is the way they do all things. So I think it's something that we should try to keep in mind. So, Diana truly appreciate that definition, and of course, I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic so to to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you, get a copy of the book, and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

[00:14:28.00] - Diana George

Sure. I would tell people the one additional, piece of information that I would give is hire not only hire the right people, invest in people, but then trust them to do the job that you put them there to do. That goes a long way. And so when you do that, you acknowledge people, you encourage people, and you will get the best out of people. So that's the one of last additional things that I would say. And then in terms of how to reach me, the platform I'm the most active on is LinkedIn. So you can reach me at Diana l George on LinkedIn. And I also do a hot seat coaching every Thursday at 8 PM. The next one will be May twentieth. If you're on LinkedIn, you can go to my page and you'll see the event. You can sign up for it. And then, of course, if you like to download the book, you can do that as well. And that is, by Georgehr.com/company culture, and you can download the book chapter.

[00:15:23.79] - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much again, Diana. And we will have the links and information as well in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But I love that last point as well too, because I think so many times you do all the work to get the right people in the right place and the right culture, and then you don't allow them to flourish. So I think stepping back, especially as leaders, and understanding that you have done all the work before to get the right person, now allow them to flourish and to shine and coach them up and support them to do that is huge. So I appreciate you so much again and for all the work you do, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

15:56 - Outro

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