Episode 1 – The War For Talent

By Michael Langhout

June 11, 2019

Executive Summary

Welcome to CEO Brain Food, a show that provides key insights, fresh perspectives, and proven tools that CEOs can apply to build enterprise value, generate higher profits and develop the talent needed to succeed in their businesses. In this episode, host Michael Langhout stresses the importance of hiring high-quality employees that align with sound company culture. Michael provides specific methodologies he utilizes for talent assessment as well as strategies to improve employee education. Finally, Michael provides three key resources for listeners to gain a deeper understanding of the ever-evolving war for talent.

Episode Highlights

00:51 – Introducing the host of CEO Brain Food, Michael Langhout

01:18 – The inspiration for this week’s topic, the War for Talent

03:00 – How unemployment has changed over the past few decades

04:02 – The importance of anticipating disruption

06:25 – How the demographic change has affected the ways in which companies hire

07:52 – Adapt or die

08:41 – Culture

10:06 – Companies Michael admires for their culture

11:57 – Talent Assessments

13:37 – The specific methodology Michael uses for talent assessment

16:12 – The biggest surprises companies encounter when Topgrading

20:11 – The importance of viewing workers as learners

22:14 – Harry introduces a new segment: Three Resources

22:44 – The Article Resource

23:42 – The Video Resource

26:04 – The Book Resource

28:30 – Michael leaves the audience with some food for thought

Tweetable Quotes

“The economy is robust. The economy is growing rapidly. And, in fact, to match the growth of the economy, if your company is going to be growing, you’re going to be needing to add a lot of people over the next twelve to eighteen months.” (03:24)

“You want your culture to be your brand. In other words, you’d want it to be like a magnet attracting talent from the marketplace for prospective employees.” (08:56)

“It’s the quality of the product that you’re dealing with here. And, you want the best, the very highest quality that you possibly can get for the money that you’re paying.” (19:41)

“Our target is to have one of these podcasts on a topic that is of interest at least a couple of times a month, if not more frequently. I look forward to talking about these topics. They’re exciting, they’re important and they’re very helpful to companies that are trying to grow.” (28:06)