On today’s show, we discuss how average employees are impacting your profitability.

Danielle Mulvey is a former flight attendant-turned-entrepreneur who has cracked the code on recruiting and retaining what she refers to as “5-Star Employees”: game-changing, dedicated, hardworking people who make big plays and get real, consistent results. Never one to settle for average, Danielle has scaled her several companies to over $50 million in annual revenue while spending less than 10 hours each week overseeing their operations. Danielle’s own team of trusted 5-Star Employees provides her with the freedom to spend the rest of her workweek guiding other entrepreneurs through podcasting, workshops, and community curating.

Key Takeaways:

• 5-star employees represent the top 15% of the available talent in the market

• Recruiting and hiring effectively is key to success in your company. Cast a wide net. You’ll need to review a lot of applicants. Create opportunities to test talent, similar to football training camp. One option is inviting the finalist candidates to do paid “shadow days.”

5-Star Employee Rating System

• Alignment with core values
  • This is the secret sauce to your organization. It’s almost like being able to clone yourself if you can have an entire team of people that share your core values.
• 11 universal qualities
  • Assessing potential and mindset/skillset to do the job
  • These are things such as ability to learn, ability to be limber, and ability to listen. Limberness and ability to listen are red flag qualities. They either have them or they don’t, and you don’t want them if they don’t. Some of the other qualities could be improved by opportunity or coaching.
• 3x return on payroll
  • Every employee should be bringing a 3x return on your investment in them. Often this is measured in how much they are taking off the plate of another employee/owner that has a higher billable rate.
• Success metrics for key responsibilities
  • Quantify what success means – the expectations should have a measurement attached for the employee’s 3-5 key responsibilities. Examples would be referrals, client feedback survey results, claims processed, etc
• Aptitudes and Skills
  •  Employees need to show they can do the job. Determine 9-13 aptitudes/skills that you can test candidates on.

How do the 1, 2, and 3-star employees impact profitability?

• Bloated payroll. A 5-star employee does the work of 2 or 3 lower star employees.
• Morale killer. 5-star employees love what they do. They treat the job as a craft, not a career. Anything less than that brings down the team.

What should you do if you find yourself with a 1,2,3-star employee?

Transition them to alumni status. If it’s not a good fit for them, they will likely be happier somewhere else. These employees will also begin to cause resentment in your 5-star employees if they stay and under-perform.

Top 3 Takeaways:

• Use a 5-star employee rating system
• Be objective with your hires
• Never settle for less than 5-star employees

To get the guide on how to hire 5-star employees:

Text NeverSettle to 411321

Connect with Danielle Mulvey:

Website: www.5staremployees.com/

LinkedIn: /in/danielle-mulvey-66a315/

Instagram: /danielle__mulvey/

On today’s show, we discuss how companies can prepare for IPO and ensure their employees benefit.

As an attorney, a CPA, and a CFP®, Aaron Rubin runs a wealth management practice that integrates tax, financial planning and investing. Aaron helps his client minimize

their tax liability and keep more of their equity compensation so they can support the people they love and the causes they care about most. Whether in Silicon Valley, Austin, or the Tech Triangle, he works with pre-IPO executives and early employees at late-state tech companies.

Aaron received his BA in Economics-Accounting-Spanish Literature from Claremont McKenna College, and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois. He formerly worked in Deloitte’s Private Client Advisory Department and spent three years in public accounting working on individuals, trusts, and estates before switching over to wealth management. He became a CPA in 2008, and a CFP® in 2010. In 2019, Aaron published his first book “Financial Adulting’’ as a guide to help young professionals navigate tax, investment, and estate planning.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, three daughters, two goldendoodles, and five chickens.

Key Takeaways:

Equity compensation is really important both to attract talent and to retain employees.

Recommendations for employers:

• Allow early exercise for employees.
• Use a 10b5-1 plan, which is a non-discretionary plan to sell your stock if you’re in a black-out window.
• Educate your employees about the potential benefits for them.
• Younger companies can move stock early into different trusts.
• Younger companies can do what’s called RSAs. Can do an 83b election, which is taxed early when lower priced.

Recommendations for employees:

• Seek a competent attorney to help negotiate your stock compensation package.
• Seek out great tax advice.
• Employees are advised to sell vested stock to be able to diversify.

Connect with Aaron Rubin

Website: wrpwealth.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stockoptionswhisperer

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/WRPWealth

Twitter: @WRPWEalth

Tiktok: ipographs

On today’s show, we discuss how to crack the code of a great culture and also how to make it scalable.

Darrin Jahnel is the founder and CEO of Jahnel Group, a 150-person software consulting company headquartered in Schenectady, NY. Darrin leads with energy and is maniacally focused on creating an amazing work environment for his team.

Darrin earned an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University at Albany and a Master’s Degree in Information Systems from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Prior to starting the company in 2012, Darrin worked as a Senior Software Engineer on Wall Street. Darrin has led numerous engineering teams on multi-million dollar projects and is a member of MENSA.

He is happily married and has 4 children (2 adopted children and 2 birth sons). Darrin’s oldest son, Gideon, is from Nigeria. Although Darrin and his wife refer to Gideon as their son, they were not able to officially adopt him. Gideon has parents and 5 siblings back in Nigeria. Last year, Gideon worked 60 hours a week, all summer long and earned enough money to buy his family a house back in Nigeria!

Outside of work, Darrin enjoys working out, coaching basketball, drinking beer, and woodworking.

Key Takeaways:

• Low turnover is a great gauge of whether or not you have a great culture.

• A great culture will be similar to the feeling you had as a child when on a great sports team.

• Recruiting and hiring must be prioritized. Hire people who match your company’s core values, have a servant’s mentality, and are easy to work with. You’ll need to interview many more people than you hire. Get them outside of work as well to see what kind of people they are, maybe out to dinner with their families.

• Intentionally mix introverts and extroverts in a healthy ratio for teams and business trips to create good energy.

• Deliver on the promises made in recruiting in order to have great retention. Find out what is important to each employee and tailor the projects, recognition, and rewards to be meaningful. Show employees that you are paying attention. Examples – involve their families, donate to their favorite charity, etc.

• If you have remote team members, create a few very intentional in-person experiences per year that are designed to create bonding opportunities. These should be offered like a buffet where employees can pick and choose what they want to participate in without any pressure.

• Reviews should be a conversation about an employee’s goals for their life and how the company can help them get there. Great to do annually during their month of hire in a relaxed setting, potentially outside of the office. Rather than having lots of forms to fill out, just have a few guided, open-ended questions to start the conversation.

Top Takeaway:

There are still superstars out there, even in this market. Step up your recruiting efforts.

Connect with Darrin Jahnel

Website: https://jahnelgroup.com/

On today’s show, we discuss how doing less is more in realizing project benefits.

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez – Author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook, the featured HBR article The Project Economy Has Arrived, and four other books, Antonio is the creator of concepts such as the Project Economy and the Project Manifesto. His research and global impact on modern management have been recognized by Thinkers50. Fellow and Former Chairman of the Project Management Institute, he is the founder of Projects&Co and the Strategy Implementation Institute. Born in Madrid, Spain, and educated in Germany, Mexico, Italy, and the United States, Antonio is fluent in five languages. He has an MBA from London Business School. He is a member of Marshall Goldsmith 100 coaches. You can follow Antonio through his LinkedIn Newsletter – Lead Projects Successfully, his popular online course Project Management Reinvented for Non-Project Managers and his website.

Key Takeaways:

What causes overburdening of projects in organizations?

• The work is going very fast. Companies are reacting to keep pace.
• Products or services are replicated very quickly with more competition.
• Automation and artificial intelligence robots causes companies to be more project-based.
• Companies launch more projects than they finish.

How do you decide which projects to focus on?

• The best projects have a full-time dedicated project manager and dedicated resources.
• Senior leadership needs to be aligned with and aware of the strategic initiatives.
• When you say no to a project now, you don’t say no to the idea. You can have a few people explore ideas while you focus on the main projects you’ve adopted.

What is the biggest downfall of a company taking on too many projects?

Unclear ROI. We do projects for benefits, and we want to measure this.

How do you define your project benefits?

• Benefits have traditionally meant financial return. Now we are beginning to focus also on culture, satisfaction, environment, social aspects, and sustainability.
• Traditionally, a small team of project managers will determine the benefits for the sales team, customers, logistics team, etc. We want to begin to consult with the different teams to determine benefits desired and means of measurement during the project planning.

How do you manage stakeholders so they get the outcome they expect even when things aren’t going well?

It’s important to focus change requests not only on the pain we want to avoid, but on the benefits we will gain by implementing the change.

How do you balance the benefits of having a sense of urgency with employee health?

Employees don’t mind working under pressure if it’s on just one project with an ambitious goal. It becomes unhealthy when it’s multiple projects and continuous pressure.

What is a good blueprint for moving forward?

• Senior leadership needs to be involved and aware, not only the project managers.
• Focus on a minimal number of projects with a rest period in between.
• Employees should be empowered to speak up about issues for the benefit of the company.

3 Top Takeaways:

• Invest in yourself.
• Talk about the benefits of the projects more often.
• Enjoy what you do. Find your place.

Connect with Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez:

Website: https://antonionietorodriguez.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonionietorodriguez/