This episode is a powerful reminder of what leadership should feel like. From boardrooms at Amazon, Microsoft, and Google to deeply human moments of reckoning about success, power, and purpose, Luis Carbo offers a rare, unfiltered perspective on human‑centric leadership. If you’re tired of transactional work cultures, performative leadership, and “corporate avatars,” this conversation will challenge how you define success, rethink how you lead, and reconnect you to the value of genuine human connection at work and beyond.
We don’t have to work 60–70 hours just to prove our worth and our value. Time is a finite resource. – Luis Carbo
Suzanne Hanifin: President at Acumen Executive Search. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannehanifin/
Tanis Morris: Director of Business Development at Acumen Executive Search. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanis-morris-75a113266/
Luis Carbo: Regional Director at ProVisors. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luiscarbo/
Acumen Executive Search Website: https://www.acumenexecutivesearch.com/
ProVisors Website: https://www.provisors.com/
Hiring for Good Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Hiring for Good podcast. I am Tanis Morris with Acumen Executive Search, and with me as usual is my fantastic co-host Suzanne Hanifin. Good morning, Suzanne.
Good morning, Tanis.
Good morning, and we are thrilled to have with us today, Luis Carbo. Luis, I’m going to give you a brief introduction, and we’ll get right into this.
Luis Carbo is the Regional Director for the Pacific Northwest of Provisors, and he is shaping their organizational approach to growth. Provisors is a national network of trusted and exceptional business advisers committed to collaboration and mutual success.
With over 16 years of experience in strategic business development, including leadership roles at The Creative Group and partnerships with companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Nike, Luis brings a unique blend of operational insight and people-first leadership.
Known for his advocacy of life-worth balance, Luis champions human-centric leadership and believes that meaningful connections are the foundation of professional growth.
Luis, welcome to Hiring for Good.
Thank you so much for having me, Tanis. It’s an honor.
Oh yeah. Well, we’re thrilled to have you here. I will not lie, I was on a call with Luis a couple of weeks ago, and the second that I heard him talk, I was like, he has to come on the pod. So, I’m really excited to have you here. I think I told Suzanne, I was like, we’re getting him. So, we’re very, very happy that you were able to make this appointment today.
We always kind of start our interviews by asking our guests to maybe tell us a little bit about their journey to where they are now. And a little bit might not cover it. So you go as long as you want because you have a really interesting story.
Oh wow. What a journey. So yeah, the journey started — I’m originally from Ecuador in South America. Born in a very political and powerful family. I tell everyone that my upbringing is… I saw my mom — my mom was one of the first women in Latin America to run a news organization. So I grew up watching my mom on TV constantly and surrounded by political figures.
I met presidents, prime ministers, and I was just at a young age trying to understand what this means, and at the same time, kind of like living that reality and then living the real world with friends and going to their homes and seeing how simple life was for them.
But for me, I was like getting to school with a driver and a bodyguard and surrounded… it was never like a simple lunch with mom or dinner. It was like, “Mom, you know, we’re going for dinner tonight.” It’s like, “Where do you want to go?” It wasn’t Applebee’s or Chili’s. It was like, “Oh, tonight we’re going to the embassy of Japan and we’re going to be having a 13-course dinner with the Prime Minister.” And I’m like, “Okay.”
So all of those things kind of started playing in my mind about like, is this the real world, right? And are these tools that I’ve been given, or like, what’s the purpose of this? But at that young age, I started really understanding: is this the place for me?
And my soul just started kind of looking for different venues and kind of like that liberation internally to be like, I want to live life just for me. I don’t want to be just the product of a last name, because I could just ask for anything and I would get it.
And that’s when actually I went to college. I went to Quito, the capital, and I spent like seven years there, but truly honing in on the things that I loved — studying religion and studying, you know, all these theories, right?
And I was super curious — like anthropology and geology and all of these things that started kind of igniting my passion. And then meeting so many diverse people because there were so many exchange students from so many places.
And then kind of just remembering those nights where we would just sit down and talk about the world, where we were idealists at the time, right? It was just — we can fix the world. And then you realize that life is more complicated than that.
But that opened up my mind to be like, I need to go and explore and see the world and see what I can make out of it. I always love to tell people that you’re one decision away from changing your life every day. Right?
So I was very intentional. It was okay, this is what I’m going to do, and I’m going to apply to this organization, and I’m just going to see what happens.
So I applied to — it’s a Swiss organization for political science and economic students, which that’s my background. So I got accepted and they offered me three options: you can go to New Delhi, India, or you can go to a little place in Slovakia, or you can go to this random place in Russia.
And I chose Russia because I love history and I’d been studying, you know, Cold War and everything. It was just fascinating to me. It was like — what a great opportunity. So I took a leap of faith and I just went there to a place called Naberezhnye Chelny, which is in one of the existing republics from the Soviet Union.
It’s the biggest truck factory in the world, right? And it was really strange to be in a land where it was minus 40. Feet of snow everywhere. Cold. But a place where it taught me to appreciate the things that I took for granted back home.
I couldn’t have a tomato. Right? Like simple things like those. No dishwasher. No washer and dryer. Just like really living in its simplest way. And getting to know people from a different culture and to peel the onion of what nowadays we call, you know, “Russians.”
It’s a completely different perspective when you live with them, and you have a drink with them, and you eat their food, and you start exchanging.
And the reason that I loved this place was because music is such a passion. And one of the most magical days was when I did a concert for the Russian organization that was there. And a Russian student actually played with me side by side.
And I was playing, you know, Latin American music, and they were playing folk Russian music. And it was just like an exchange, and it was so beautiful. Those experiences started opening my eyes.
And then I had the opportunity to live in Israel for a little while. Again, understanding, going to all of these incredible places, traveling, getting to know the world.
And it’s so crazy that at some point, I get a call from my good friend Randall Morgan. I still remember him because he gave me the opportunity to move to the U.S. He’s like, “You were recommended by the CEO of the Russian company,” because they used to work together and partner when the Berlin Wall fell.
And then companies like Ericsson and Coca-Cola started going to the newly formed Russian Federation. So they knew each other because they were translating and creating all of this marketing collateral in Russian for all these big companies.
So he’s like, “Just come to Washington, D.C., Arlington, Virginia, and we’ll meet.” And it was like — translation localization company. I was like, what is that? I was a project manager. I studied economics because I wanted to change the world, and I wanted to work in economic development.
My goal was to work with the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. But I was like, that’s why I’m going to Washington, D.C. It’s like — from Russia, from the Kremlin to the White House. What a beautiful journey.
Just like this is what a dream. So I go there, meet with Randall, and he offers me the job right there. So that changed and transformed everything to be like — okay, now I’m here.
And how am I going to start developing myself and learning from a new culture and doing business in the U.S.? We’re talking about the most powerful country in the world, and now I have the opportunity to develop myself as a professional here and bring all of these elements of my life.
So every journey and every step as I started developing myself, I started learning a lot about U.S. business and how companies operate, and what leadership means.
And I started forming my own concept of what’s missing and what is needed. And as I started advancing in my career, I kept creating this leadership model that was very different than what I was seeing.
It doesn’t focus on a lot of the things we focus on here. Sometimes it’s just like, “Productivity,” and “Work hard and you’ll achieve everything.”
I’m the product. I’m the American dream. When I talk to people about what the American dream means, I am that. I was able to move here, create a career for myself, create a name out of nothing, and have the opportunity to do all these amazing things.
And then a company recruited me to move here to Seattle back in 2006. So in a couple of months, it’s going to be 19 years since I moved to Seattle to work at the time with the largest localization company in the world.
To be part of the Microsoft team — to really start working with them on translating and localizing everything that you can imagine from the Windows operating system to — at that time, it was very specific .NET software.
It wasn’t anything like what we’re seeing now. That was pre-iPhone and pre-everything. And I started really understanding.
To me, going to the Microsoft campus — I started using Windows after graduating from high school, and suddenly, I am just two steps away from Bill Gates.
And someone that I admire. I was like, wow. This is a little surreal. And my family, my friends would ask me, “What are you doing over there?”
It’s like, “Well, I’m working with Microsoft on a lot of different projects.”
Even before that, I had the opportunity to work with Qualcomm in San Diego, and I was managing projects for the CIA. Doing crazy, crazy things that were so amazing.
And it was just this flame that kept going and going, and I just wanted to do more. And every organization that I joined, everybody will tell you that I would come there with a completely different mindset.
And I started understanding what my true purpose was. I love empowering people. When I see someone that is part of my team or someone in my life that thrives and finds whatever “pursuit of happiness” means to them, that is my greatest joy.
So I kept working. Then I worked with Microsoft. Then with Dell. Then with Google. And then I transitioned from localization, where I was a global program manager — just 24/7 — pretty much it was a “follow the sun” methodology.
It was crazy. When I had my daughter, it was like — I cannot live life this way because life will pass me by and I will miss, you know, the great things about human connection. So I deliberately said, this is the end of my journey. And since then, I’ve been super deliberate on what are the opportunities and the companies that I want to work for.
And I don’t know if it’s the reason or my brain is wired that way, but it was like always someone was guiding me — like, you need to get this skill, you need to do this, and it’s going to open doors. So I transitioned to talent acquisition.
That’s where I met our new CEO, Sharon Strauss, back in 2008. And now I get to work with her 16 years later. So that’s why I tell everyone, I’m the product of networking. I’ve been found by great leaders and I’ve learned from great leaders — not-so-good leaders — but it allows you to really understand who you are and what you want to achieve.
And every experience, you just receive it and welcome it, no matter how good, great, or ugly it can be. And we live all those journeys, or what I call the seasons of our lives. Sometimes they’re very short, sometimes they’re very long.
But I do believe that no matter what, you always go back to your core and to what you want to achieve. So after being in talent acquisition for 15 years — being an embedded partner, working with Amazon for 15 years, with Facebook (at the time), Meta, you know, Google, Disney, Nike, Starbucks, Expedia, you name it — I was working with the biggest brands in the world, and I didn’t even realize that.
Launching every product, working on marketing, content strategy, operations, and then I joined Amazon to lead global operations for devices and services. And I actually got to work — my VP was the creator of the brain behind Prime at Amazon, right? Charlie Ward.
And I would have the opportunity to work with someone who was already a multi-millionaire, multi-billionaire at 25, who was working alongside Jeff Bezos, right? And creating Prime, which was a make-or-break thing for Amazon. If you read the story, it’s fascinating.
And it’s this software engineer that was very young at Amazon deciding, like, “I don’t like this. We should be offering free delivery, and it should be fast.”
And for one voice — and a young professional — to be able to influence the CEO of a company that was exploding was pretty incredible. And I got the opportunity to sit with all of these leaders.
I always tell people, like one of those meetings — these are all multi-millionaires that have so much restricted stock units at Amazon — so a 30-minute meeting with them was probably worth $5 million.
Very expensive meeting. Very expensive.
So, how do you add value? And how do you position yourself with leaders like that when you know that someone just gave you $5 million for a meeting, and how do you make it productive? And how do you make them listen to you, when they are at that level and I’m here?
But I always believe that when it comes to leadership, there are no titles. We’re all at the same level. Great leaders understand that.
Great leaders understand that no matter if you’re a VP or if you are the janitor, when you’re part of a company, we’re all part of the same mission. So, egos need to disappear. Titles need to disappear.
That’s where humanity really starts getting the impact that we want, and the change that we want starts creating the magic.
And I’ve had to go through very tough chapters of pushing—
Okay, hang on. Hang on. I know there’s so much that you’re already getting into — all of our stuff. So let’s unpack it, and we’ll just break in. I’m going to reserve the right — because it’s so fun to listen to all of your ideas and thoughts — but I want to give our audience the full impact and value of the wisdom you’re going to be disseminating.
So go ahead, because I already know what you’re going to ask.
Well, and I was going to say, early on, you were talking about, again, coming to the United States and seeing a different leadership model. And I too find it very interesting — different places in the world do have different leadership methodologies and ideas, and we can learn from all of it.
So I kind of wanted to dive into — a little deeper — what that model is and how is that different?
Yeah. I call it — and I’ve been working on this for 10 or so years — human-centric leadership. And reading and researching and gathering data for years, when it comes to the way that we operate and the way that we tend to put so much pressure on people, right?
We tend to see people like a number, right?
And every company talks about all of these things—
Is this something you identified when you came to the United States? And then you kind of developed your own methodology in response to what you were witnessing?
Yes.
Okay.
It’s like the way that meetings would be handled, right? It’s just like — you know, we’ve all been in those environments — like meeting after meeting with zero accomplishment.
You know, it’s like everybody kind of going into their own realities and venting about the wasteful time, and then going back and then smiling, right? And doing it all over again.
And that’s when I started — for me, like the word “optimization,” it’s like time is a finite resource.
Yeah.
We don’t have to work 60–70 hours just to prove our worth and our value.
It’s the fact that at the end of the day, we waste so much — waste so much time, with useless meetings with zero purpose on what we’re doing.
Not a cohesive vision. And that starts with leadership.
Oh, absolutely.
And the leaders, right? I’ve always believed in change from the ground up, not from the top.
Oh interesting. That’s interesting.
Yeah, I think it’s multi-faceted. Personally, I think top-down is fundamentally important to the success of an organization.
But you’re right, because you have to have a leader that’s willing to observe what’s happening at the ground level and listen to the wisdom of the people there.
I think that our leaders — and something I’ve been telling, and I would have to have very tough discussions at Amazon about — is like, remember that you are no longer the shining star that was transforming the world.
And we all remember those days where people were afraid that Amazon was going to take over their business. They were so powerful. They kind of got the formula. And I got to experience and see all the philosophy and methodology about that.
But the reason that I mention Prime is because Amazon without Prime doesn’t exist.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Right. Which is something that I’m trying to bring to Provisors — the power of the membership.
Mhm.
Right? Is what truly ignites a vision. Because it has so much value that people are like, “This is the way that we need to figure things out.”
But to your point of leadership, I started seeing people not being genuine in their workplace.
Recently, someone asked me, based on the trends and the experience that you have with technology and all that, what would you recommend kids right now actually go to school for?
And I said, “An acting degree.”
Oh wow.
For corporate success.
Yeah.
An acting degree. Because what I’m seeing is avatars. Corporate avatars everywhere.
Wow.
Just not — you know, I always tell — during the toughest times at Amazon, when they were laying off people once after COVID started, the stock started tanking, I would have…
I’m an empath. So every time I would see someone down, my job was — I’m going to lift you up. I have to keep my energy tank so full to be able to be present for you and help you.
And I was drained by all the energy and the sadness and people being scared.
And I would be on a call five minutes prior to one of those useless meetings, right, when people were just bawling.
Yeah.
Crying. Totally like — they were crumbling inside. And then we would show up five minutes in the meeting, and they were all smiling. “Hi, everyone!”
And I was like, this is not okay. What’s going on here?
Have we lost our humanity? Have we lost our ability to actually lead with empathy, with care?
And that human capital, no matter what — technology, GenAI, whatever — it started with us.
We have to be human-centric because everything started with us.
So that sounds like a very formative experience, and I’m going to ask you if you can name maybe one other formative experience.
You mentioned also changing once you had a child. And — not to bring up that so much — but it’s amazing talking to business leaders how these formative things…
And for me, it was definitely having a child that changed my whole corporate trajectory.
And so going back, I wanted to add that one because I think that’s an interesting element too.
Well yeah. I mean, Suzanne was at Anderson and then she pivoted to having her own company after having, you know — well, there were years in between consulting.
Yeah. At the time, when they became part of Accenture and then Robert Half bought them, and it became Protiviti, which I pivoted out before that time.
So yeah, but that was like a catalyst for her to kind of shift her career trajectory.
And I mean, for me too. I was running a national sales and marketing campaign at the time — when you could do both — when I had my first child.
And, you know, I was like, “Oh, my first conference — the baby will be six weeks. That’s when people go back to work.”
I had no idea. I didn’t know anyone that had kids. I just had no idea what I was doing. So I was like, “I don’t think I can go, actually. This human needs me.”
So it was — anyways — it is a major shift, you know, for prioritization, I guess.
Yeah. And that’s what I always call the seasons of our lives. Right?
And we have to be super aware, because things change very quickly.
Right — a kid. I could have just totally avoided seeing that reality and put my “up” first, and I could not do that.
It was a rejection. And my mom always told me, “Follow what your heart desires. Never push back.”
Well let me ask you, because it sounds like your mom had a very prominent and successful career, and you were a witness to that as a child.
But it sounds like she included you in some of her endeavors — or at least you were—
I was being groomed.
You were being groomed.
Right? That’s how political families tend to operate, right? But yes, you know, when I met President Reagan, right? I remember going with my uncle to the International Monetary Fund and I was 10, wearing a suit, and my uncle was the Minister of Finance of Ecuador.
So I go with the entire, you know, group to the World Bank, right, where my uncle and they were really renegotiating the debt of my country.
Wow.
Right. And I am like in the presence of—
Did you listen to the negotiation?
And I listened to the negotiation.
Wow.
I listened and I was like there and there were like ministers of finance from multiple countries, right?
I feel like this is a totally different podcast. But now I’m all like—I mean how does that shape how you think about the world? To like listen to that level of negotiation as a small kid—
And you just question yourself like what is this, right? It’s always like why? It’s like what am I doing here?
Yeah.
First of all, I would feel guilt, right? It’s just like those are the things that I started realizing. It’s like why am I here? Like this is not normal. I shouldn’t even be here.
To me it was—it started like nepotism and those things. I started getting a reaction of like that’s not how I want to handle things.
And what it to me is fairness and inclusivity and social justice and all of those things that are core to the way I lead.
So let me ask you about that because that’s one of our questions—is what are your core values and how do you translate them in, or how do you operationalize them in your current role—or any role you wish to speak to?
But like, you knew your values even as a small kid. Now you’re a leader on all these different fronts. How do you operationalize those values? How do you extend them beyond yourself?
It always starts—and going back—because, you know, Amazon was really a challenge for me to change culture.
Yeah. I don’t assume you were very successful. No offense.
It was very tough. But what I learned is that what I was doing, people were absolutely loving.
Of course.
Right. So I always start like—you know, whether I’m your new leader and all that stuff—it’s just like, before we get into one-on-ones and talking about things, let me introduce my leadership principles.
Amazon is all about leadership principles. There are 16 of those.
Yeah. So what are yours?
Mine are so very simple, right? It’s just like: trust. We are adults. Let’s treat each other as adults, right?
Number one: when we trust each other, and when we show up for ourselves—all of us—and when we have a clear vision and we care about what we do, and we never compromise our personal life.
So phrases that I would always use with my team: you don’t need to ask me for permission to go somewhere. Your life is your life. We’re all adults.
And let’s start defining what success means to you. Like, I always talk about the power of words, right? And success. Happiness.
I would always tell people—if I have 100 people in one room for a focus group and I ask them: define happiness and define success—they’re going to give me so many different answers.
But somehow, when we talk about corporate success or the pursuit of happiness, it’s a very constructed way of like, “Yes, I know I have to get a job and I have to make money and I have to have a big title,” and that is success.
And then it’s like—that is not success. Because as a recruiter, I work with so many executives—again, millionaires—that were coming and sitting with me being like, “Please get me a new job.”
It’s like, you have a yacht. You have three homes. You should be fulfilled. But you’re miserable.
You’re empty, right?
Empty. So empty.
And I would ask them, are you willing to sacrifice that for happiness? For true happiness?
No.
The answer was never.
I was curious.
Yeah. Because you anchor yourself, right? It’s like—why do you need more? What is generational wealth? What does being rich mean outside of monetary value?
Is that your legacy?
Because at the end of the day, we all have an expiration date, right?
So what is—you know, I always—when people work so hard that they forget about life, it’s just like—you know that once we all expire, who’s going to remember any of that?
People. You know? And who’s going to be at your funeral? Remember that. Right?
Who’s going to be there? And can you picture yourself—lonely—with all of this money and power, or surrounded by the legacy that you created as a person?
So it’s interesting coming from very well-known brands, large organizations, to running this area’s Provisors groups.
How did you make that decision to take that leap? And what was, again, the motivation coming to Provisors?
Yeah. So my friends sometimes think that the way that I operate is very intentional. I always tell people—when you are shifting and you’re ready to make a change, don’t go from job to job.
Like, I would always be like, I know this is my chapter. This is my legacy. This is what I built. I feel great about it, but I’m ready for something new.
And then I would be like, here’s my resignation. And I would take one or two months and find the next opportunity—because I would assess what I wanted to do.
I understand that for people that’s really scary, but I’ve done it like seven times.
And you’re that intentional?
Intentional—because I would assess. I do what is called a work-backwards professional and personal journey that I recommend everyone to do when they’re ready to make a big change—whether it’s starting your own company or moving for a job.
Don’t just—like to me it’s crazy that people—everybody announces, “Oh, I’m leaving. Bye. See you. Great. Let’s stay in touch.”
Nobody stays in touch.
You know, “Here’s my email.”
Yeah, let’s be honest about how humans interact, right?
And then they start the next job in two weeks.
And I’m like—that is just so unhealthy.
Like, prioritize yourself. Put yourself first.
Even if you’re so excited about this job, allow yourself to process. To understand what are the things that you gained, that you learned from your past experience, and how that’s going to make you evolve into the professional and the goals that you want to achieve in your new company.
There’s a reason why you chose that—hopefully. That you didn’t just plan an exit strategy because you were so frustrated that now whatever job you got—
And a lot of people do that.
They see—
Yeah. We’re executive recruiters. We know exactly what you’re talking about. And that’s kind of our job.
Yeah.
To take someone from what they’re doing and to bring them over.
So it’s really interesting. But I think it needs to be recognized—you know, even changing positions and changing companies, the grass is never greener.
And recognizing that every organization has its challenges, and being very transparent on that.
But I think that like, you know, part of what we do—our approach is heavily weighted in understanding both the culture and mission of the organization, and then finding candidates who will align and uplift.
Right? And so I think the grass can definitely be greener.
Because if someone has come to the end of their journey at an organization, and they feel like they’re hitting that brick wall, and then they’re able to transition to a role in which their talents can really take the org to the next level—that’s a good feeling.
That is greener grass. Even though, of course, everybody has their challenges and everything like that.
That’s probably a great segue again—taking these methodologies and learnings from these large organizations, how have you pulled it down into helping and supporting small companies?
Because again, Provisors is primarily smaller organizations.
Exactly. Yeah.
So I think that when you have the privilege of working and seeing the future with these companies—because that’s what I’ve seen—like what we’re seeing with GenAI?
I was working with those groups, right, at Microsoft, primarily in the early models, and having fascinating conversations with the product managers and engineers actually working on that.
And they would tell me—just wait, what’s going to happen. And I knew, right? And I would be able to see some of the incredible innovations that were going to happen.
So if there’s something that I can tell a business owner—and I told that to the CEO of my previous company—you give me the data, and I’ll build an operational and sales-enabling model that will power your machinery to quadruple your revenue in two years.
The right combination of data insights, operational excellence, human-centric leadership, and optimization of process and people.
Allow your people to save time. The goal should be for them to work less—happier employees—because you care about them.
So I would build these models. Right?
So when—Tennis—we were showing kind of like just my little, you know, Excel predictive modeling—it is amazing.
That is like—I knew that in order for me to be effective, it needs to start with data.
Like data is the new gold. And how do you actually use it and make it actionable?
Because data tells you a beautiful story. And it allows you to really, you know, dive deeper into the root cause, what’s happening, and really start putting strategic and operational mechanisms that you are monitoring constantly and iterating.
That to me is effective. But always doing it with heart and with passion.
Because when people see the data and you tell a story, and everybody believes in that, then incredible change happens.
Right?
Yeah.
And so here you are—the 10-year-old—and I’m going to go back.
Yeah.
Witnessing this experience. What advice, looking back, would you have given not just that 10-year-old but that college student? What wisdom would you share with yourself?
I would—it’s just like: stop fighting the universe. Don’t fight it.
I truly believe in the divine architecture of our lives, and that everything is there for a reason.
So for me—the books like The Power of Now or The Four Agreements—those are my mantras. I live by it.
And there’s a phrase that I love, which is: Just do by being.
That’s our only job on this Earth.
And if we would just pay attention to the simplicity of life’s complexities—or the complexities of life’s simplicities—
Mhm.
Right. We would understand that we are fighting everything all the time. All the time. Right. And that life is passing us by. We’re not living. And unfortunately, when I see a lot of corporate America, I just see corporate avatars—that their life is just passing them by, right?
They’re making all this money, but they’re not enjoying anything of that. You know, they have these mansions that I’ve been to, and it’s like—when was the last time that you had friends here?
Never.
Never. Yeah. Right. So life becomes rich at that level, but empty at a human level.
And when I left—when Karen Painters, who’s our VP of Membership—you know, she would always… I worked with her in 2008, and we always kept in touch, but it was like every two or three years that Karen would send me a LinkedIn message—”Hey, I’m hiring. Who do you recommend?”
And I would always be like, “Oh, great to hear.” But then I realized like—wow, Karen is always thinking about me because she must respect my judgment.
So if I’m recommending someone, that’s the reason that she’s reaching out.
But I had to be really present to understand what was the meaning of that—and to be like: Karen, yes, I know someone. Me.
Me.
And I did the assessment of—like, which goes back to your question—why people ask me, why would you go from working with all of these companies and technology and all that stuff and go to a networking organization?
Because I was like—I study. You know, when I analyze things, I analyze them at 16 or 18 different levels. Like what’s happening with technology, how that’s going to impact human connection, labor conditions, economic indexes, right?
Conflict. We are living in one of the most conflictive times in the world. Technology is dividing us. We’re more polarized and divided than ever.
Wars are coming back. You know, we just had India and Pakistan start a new war. Nobody wants to talk about it.
The world is changing so fast and we’re just trying to stay afloat. And that’s what we’re all trying—just to remain there.
So for me, it was like—there’s nothing as amazing as human connection. Because I’m a product of it.
And the miracles that I live every day are because I live a life with purpose. And at my core, all I want to do is serve.
Mhm.
That’s what my mom taught me: service.
Right. So honestly, I want to book you in advance for three more sessions.
We have to end because we are unfortunately on a time limit, of course. And I cannot miss the opportunity to ask you what “Hiring for Good” means to you. And I’m so excited to hear your answer.
And we chose that title because it is iterative. You know, every guest we have has a different interpretation.
Hiring for good is everything, right? When you talk to leaders and organizations, right—and you probably experience this—you know, I was a recruiter too.
And it’s like, you know, we keep saying “human capital is the most important thing.” And then you ask a hiring manager: “How much time did you spend writing this job description?”
I know that HR gave you this template. And you do it all over again. So that’s how you want to attract the best talent?
It’s like, I’m a big proponent that at some point, right, we’re going to start assessing candidates at very different dimensions.
Because we are complex.
Yeah.
And we cannot be represented by a two-page PDF.
Right. But that’s how the—but hiring for good is that. It’s understanding what you want to achieve as a leader and as a company, and that you understand who is going to bring that to life.
And it’s not about—you know, that you went to an Ivy League school or that—it’s like, we are dealing with cross-generational—
It’s the first time in our history that we have four generations colliding in the workplace.
And post-pandemic, each one of these generations has different aspirations and goals.
So to me, the corporate model is kind of falling apart.
Yeah.
And these new generations are like, “I don’t have to do that. I can actually create my own experience and go and do…”
And it’s just like—you know that. You know.
And it’s like everybody keeps recruiting just going to LinkedIn.
You know that the vast majority of great people are not there because they do not believe in that kind of model. That’s for us.
You know, we were trained on that and we understand that.
But you don’t find, you know, the brilliant coders and designers on LinkedIn. You find them when they’re living their experiences.
You have to go there, right?
If you want to get the best gamers, you have to go to a gaming convention and recruit them. Or you have to look at the game and the credits, right?
That’s what I would teach.
Go to the credits and see: Producer. Game Designer. Environmental Designer. Look at all of those names. Go find them. Recruit them.
Oh my gosh, Luis, there’s so much. So, first of all, thank you.
We’re getting in the weeds a tiny bit, but let’s take it back to—I think like to sum up the big picture, because I hate to even have to close this, but we do.
So big picture, it sounds like—I mean, “Hiring for Good,” like you know—let’s remember our humanity. And the presence. That the construct of everything comes—starts with us and ends with us.
Right.
So that’s why I say: do by being.
When you’re a leader and all you do is be a genuine leader—not filling your mouth with corporate jargon.
But people love leaders that are real, that make mistakes and acknowledge them.
That even at times when—you know, your humanity—we’re flawed as well. That you make a mistake, you have the opportunity to be like, “Hey, I apologize about that. I didn’t show up today the way I should have.”
Because guess what? We’re walking every day into someone’s chapter without knowing whatsoever what’s going on.
Absolutely.
I know. I need to say thank you so much, Luis. This is very inspirational.
I’m so excited to share this conversation with our audience. And I think you have such dynamic energy and wisdom to share.
It’s just been a true pleasure to have you be our guest.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Thanks for joining us today at Hiring for Good. If you were inspired by our conversation, don’t forget to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
And if you want to learn more about our executive search services, check us out at www.hiringforgood.net or our company website, Acumen Executive Search.
Thanks so much, and don’t forget to join us next time for another in-depth conversation about transformational leadership.
Until then, have fun.