As a part of our talent acquisition engagements, we ask our clients how they define “top talent” and how they would assess those traits in the interview process. Reflecting on the insightful comments we hear every day, we thought there would be great value in a new blog in which senior executives/thought leaders share their “Take on Talent.”
This is the fourth in a series of blogs/interviews with senior executives who are thought leaders in the areas of Talent Acquisition, Career Development and Leadership who will share their perspectives on this ever present question.
Jay Ackerman is the Chief Revenue Officer for Guidance Software. He is responsible for leading all customer-facing teams including sales, professional services, and technical support.
Before joining Guidance Software, Ackerman was the head of worldwide sales and customer success for ServiceSource where he was a key member of the team that increased revenues from $25 million to $285 million. He helped the company achieve a compounded growth of 35 percent while transitioning from a pure labor-based solution to one providing a proprietary cloud and managed-services offering. Prior to Service Source, Ackerman was president and CEO for WNS North America, where he launched the company’s North American sales team and sales approach. He negotiated the largest WNS contract with a leading online travel company—a seven-year relationship valued at over $225 million. Ackerman was also a client accounts and sales executive at Exult, progressing through several customer-facing roles of increasing responsibility, including vice president of accounts, where he was responsible for over $80 million in revenue.
Please share with us the top five characteristics (in priority order, first to fifth) of the most talented people you have encountered during your career, and your definition of each.
- Competitiveness – unrelenting desire to win.
- Self-Awareness – ability to step back and see yourself as others see you.
- Curiosity – desire to learn and understand.
- Creativity – ability to find solutions to customer problems
- Business Acumen – understanding of the financial implications of business decisions and actions.
How do you communicate these characteristics to your HR and senior management team?
I sit with my HR recruiting partner to communicate / discuss the following:
- What qualities do successful reps at Guidance have in common
- What do we see as similar traits in unsuccessful people have we previously hired. It’s quite instructive to go through each individual and try and assess what did we miss or can we learn about that failed hire.
- What am I about / what do I think we should represent in the marketplace. They need to understand the non-negotiables.
Example: No matter how compelling a person looks on paper, I will not hire someone who has repeatedly worked at poor performing / unsuccessful companies
- How should we vet / explore these candidates. Who will be on the interview slate? What is their specific role and areas to explore?
- I spend a lot of time interviewing at multiple levels – reviewing resumes and screening candidates to ensure that my expectations are understood and are shaping hiring decisions.
Within the Senior Management team, I have shared with them my assessment of the business, strategy for success, and the essence of the team I am trying to build and have engaged them in building it.
How do you handle challenges to the existing culture by talent you have brought in?
I am working to develop a highly accountable sales force that has a strong voice not just with customers but internally. In the past, our reps, took what they got and did the best they could. We are standing up, communicating what customers want; make sure the org knows what it means to compete in this competitive marketplace.
So how do I try and manage this.
- Be very transparent with my actions if not people will misinterpret.
- Keep asking what problem are we trying to solve for our customer. I probably say this 20+ times a day. Whenever we are in a discussion about a deal, I asked to start with that.
- Established a set of clear operating principles. I review them every quarter with my management team and look for them to model and reinforce with their team.
- When in the field, I am there to support our team and make it very clear that I am there as a resource. I don’t own the meeting. I can be directed. We will finish and huddle for a debrief – what worked / what didn’t / did I support them well / etc.
- Exit people who can’t / won’t work in this model