Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of articles exploring how Noto Group works with industry leaders to provide top level talent, knowledge, and leadership development. Click here to read our first two articles.

For over four years, Noto Group CEO Roy Notowitz has produced a monthly podcast featuring discussions with respected industry leaders. The podcast, called “How I Hire,” highlights each executive’s unique career path as well as their hiring philosophy, methods, and approach to building top performing leadership teams.

“How I Hire” now has a library of more than 50 episodes to explore.

Q: Why did you start the podcast and how do you structure the conversations?

Roy Notowitz: “I was looking for this kind of content, and I couldn’t find it. Nobody was focused specifically on the topic of executive hiring or how to build top performing leadership teams.

“I have done a lot of writing and speaking in the past, but I really enjoy the podcast format. I’ve done a lot of interviewing in my line of work, so it’s a comfortable and efficient format.

“So, I started asking top leaders the following questions:

• How has your leadership journey shaped your approach to hiring and building teams?
• How do you define roles and incorporate input from key stakeholders in the process?
• How do you objectively assess leadership ability to determine which candidate will perform best in a given role?
• How do you develop hiring competency within your organization?
• What have you learned from hiring successes and failures?
• How do you link important hiring decisions to company values, culture, purpose and mission?

Q: Why is it especially difficult or complex when it comes to executive level hiring?

Roy Notowitz: “It’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t made at least one hiring mistake in the course of their career. Individuals are unique and bring different strengths, motivations, and approaches to their work. At the same time, organizations are dynamic and always evolving. It is difficult to fully mitigate bias or predict outcomes. This is why no one’s perfected hiring.

“I can talk to five different executives with the same title, and they’re going to approach the same role five different ways. It’s about how they lead, communicate, make decisions, influence, and connect with the opportunity.”

Q: Is the podcast all about hiring?

Roy Notowitz: “The podcast covers a broad range of related topics and includes special guests with expertise in leadership assessment, integration, development, and coaching. The podcast helps top leaders learn from one another through stories of their experiences that lead to interesting and useful insights.”

Q: Does the podcast generate business for the firm?

Roy Notowitz: “It’s hard to measure how the podcast serves to generate business for the firm, but we do get a lot of unsolicited positive feedback that keeps me motivated to stay consistent with it. It’s primarily a passion project that I enjoy. Executive search and selection has been the focus of my career. I have a lot of passion on the topic and interest in the insights that guests have to share. In my opinion, content needs to be useful and entertaining, otherwise what’s the point of creating it?”

Q: How has your audience grown over the last 4 years?

Roy Notowitz: The show ranks in the top 20% – 25% of all podcasts based on number of downloads per episode. We have earned a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts with a significant amount of positive reviews. We see listeners consume one episode, and then they binge listen to five or six more.”

Some popular episodes include:

• Seth Ellison: Seth has built world-class teams at Quiksilver, Nike, Hurley, & Levi’s.
• Andy Ruben: Andy was the first Chief Sustainability Officer at Walmart before starting Trove, an industry leading re-commerce platform.
• Gloria Hwang: As Founder & CEO of Thousand Helmets, Gloria shares insights from her entrepreneurial journey as well as from her time at Toms.
• Dr. Stacey Philpot: Stacey discusses a data driven approach to hiring and how top leaders use leadership development to accelerate growth and gain a competitive edge.
• Trip Randall: Trip shares insights on hiring and shaping team culture from his time leading innovative teams at Nike.
• Noto Group Team: In this episode, the Noto team digs into talent market dynamics, leadership needs, compensation trends and more.

You can find the full lineup on the Noto Group’s podcast page or listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or Google.

For almost 15 years, Noto Group has helped find exceptional leaders for the world’s most notable brands in the active, outdoor, and healthy living consumer sectors. Noto Group works with client companies that have a positive culture, leadership vision, and a commitment to the growth and support of executives who work for them.

To learn more, Click Here or contact us at 503-953-8000 or [email protected]

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