Doors Closing, Doors Opening

From July 1st 2017 Wahl & Case had a re-organisation and on a personal level I moved into a new position which I'm excited about. I will be leading global business development and marketing efforts, supporting both Japan and the US. I'll also be helping both our tech platforms Flow and Justa integrate into the group more effectively and transparently. It's been a rollercoaster past 5 years! 

Welcome to the Jungle

It was around July 2013 that I became officially responsible for the Wahl & Case Japan business and at the time I had little conscious understanding of what the challenges ahead were or a plan of how we were going to be successful. We were doing ok but not getting consistent results as we struggled to grow beyond the initial startup stage that brought a tonne of success in the first 2 years of the company. The founding team did a remarkable job getting us firmly on the map with some key customers, building our brand and entering the US market so quickly. The transition to the next stage was tough.

Having spent five years recruiting and managing teams in a very niche IT contract recruitment function within a large global organisation I was faced by many new challenges - Wahl & Case was a startup without consistent processes, sales culture, infrastructure or methodology; we were mainly exec search with some contingent but ran operations similar to an exec model (I'd never sold a retainer before); we were focused on a few niche sectors within consumer tech and ad tech, mainly startups. The lack of preparation and pain to follow was the best way to learn, maybe, although extremely stressful. 

Frankly I was lost at all levels. I had to reset and start almost from scratch despite having a "director" title. For instance, I remember not really understanding what a marketing function of an organization even did, or how advertising worked at the traditional level let alone digital. It’s amazing the vacuums of knowledge that form when you are focused or specialised in a narrow scope of a large company; and that’s what had been happening to me for years. I felt out of my depth and the founding team around me inspired me to grow quickly as they were amazing at what they did and between them had built incredible relationships and a base of business. 

The only way I was able to catch up was by working late nights, early mornings and watching a lot of YouTube videos! I recall a lot of time falling asleep and waking up in front of the Macbook air. Thankfully there is enough information online to learn about anything these days. My best tip for new recruiters in the tech sector - watch CEO interviews and presentations of your clients about their business models, as well as meet as many people as you can and network - through osmosis you can learn their language and, eventually, become close to an expert.

Change Management

One big regret or failure came from not being prepared or knowledgable enough about change management - not knowing how to successfully communicate a plan to the various teams that I inherited. They were all pretty smart and motivated in their own ways but I didn't have the experience to adapt to what motivated them and was one dimensional in my approach - a very old fashioned "hit your targets and make money" mentality which certainly will fail to connect with a younger generation. Frankly I knew no other or better approach. 

The best competency that I took forwards from my time in contract recruitment was speed, a strong sense of urgency and focus on results. However, I was green in all other aspects of management and my knowledge of the tech startup ecosystem was weak. The tech sector is fascinating and deep, from how finance and venture capital work to rapid growth via product, marketing, partnerships, sales and eventually looping back to exit and the pinnacle of financial reward. It takes a while to get your head around that from scratch. 

Back to change management - without communicating why things are changing and how, people generally resist (well, even if you do explain they resist actually) but this lead to mixed results, emotional outbursts and a wave of turnover that first hit around mid 2013. To any new leader or manager, an important tip - over-communicate why and never assume someone gets it or think they should because you naturally do. It might take longer than you want but it's what defines strong leadership in many ways. Always check in if your team member gets why you have given them a particular feedback and if they are actually bought into the idea, sometimes they say yes but don't really believe! It can waste a lot of time and energy otherwise.

I had the unrealistic expectation that everyone was motivated as I was (wish we had Flow back then...). We had hired a lot of people suited for a different business model, more like researchers or internal recruiters in my opinion. This lack of communication and experience in implementing change lead to a lot of stress which almost lead to absolute failure early on.

Shared Success

The key to turning things around centered on a few crucial hires - Graham Burt and Misha Yurchenko in particular helped drive the business and also someone that refused to quit, Bryan Cheng. He stayed through a lot of versions of the company and has grown a lot during this time. They have all become good friends too. From the struggles of 2013 we turned things around as a team. We were able to grow by 60% over a three-year period, forge solid relationships in our niche sub sectors and create a brand which is cemented at the top of the tech recruiting space. Some competitors are using us as a benchmark of success to follow in many ways. From a sales culture perspective we were able to build repeatable and consistent revenue process and become more sophisticated in our approach. 

The success we have had up until to now is ultimately shared, not possible without each other's contribution. As well as those individuals mentioned, everyone connected with the group over this time period also contributed in some way, perhaps in shorter time spans than we would have liked but nevertheless they contributed.

As well as internally, this idea of shared success expands to our customers - through our hard work we have supported hundreds of companies and individuals with a multiplier of millions of dollars of value poured into the Japan startup eco system. Their success is shared with ours. Our clients and candidates also represent an opportunity to expand not just our professional network. Some of the most inspirational and successful people that I've met in the last five years are our customers; they became friends too. Recruiters, make the most of our network and enjoy it. Otherwise you will miss opportunities!

The Haters 

It's important to reflect on your failures or shortcomings to help you grow. Most people don't because they aren't secure enough to do so, or worse have an incredible lack of self awareness. Enter the haters. One of the biggest weaknesses I've witnessed in my career, in life, is the lack of self awareness and honesty in people about their shortcomings. Faced by pressure and adversity it can bring out the worst in people and unfortunately, I have witnessed a lot of these situations. Granted, I personally could have been better at managing certain situations but some of the reactions, behaviors and emotional meltdowns were shocking. There have been a lot of lost souls that have drifted in and out of recruitment (and Japan for that matter) but leaders can be easy punching bag targets. Any early signs of haters- hit the ejector button! This especially goes for hiring. Cliche I know but we suffered extended periods of pain from poor hires, lawsuits and immature behavior during and after individuals left the firm.

The Winners

Congratulations to Chad Lafferty (promoted to Director after just 4 months - thanks for joining us!) and Bryan Cheng (promoted to senior manager) on starting their new roles within the Japan business, I think they will take us to the next level. Good luck to Misha Yurchenko with his fasting, writing and drone flying (I'm sure you will be successful with your new startup project Seranova), and all the best Graham Burt with the new baby (looking forward to seeing you back in a few months). Scott Tullis continues to lead the company as top biller globally and lead the US business turnaround - hopefully we are taking the US market to new levels soon, with some promising new hires. It's the start of another new era of growth and success, we couldn't have got here without you guys in particular. 

Thanks to Casey Wahl for giving us all the opportunity and support over the past 4-5 years and for laying the path ahead. Finally Miho Breen (Manager, Global Support), Maiko Nakamura (Team Leader, Community Management), Kristine Ayuzawa (Head of Talent) and Tomoyuki Ozawa (CFO) who have been supporting the business with dedication through a lot of challenging times, making the core of our business strong. 

The Future

I started a new role from July 1st which is super exciting. There are two main components of this role 1) strategic business development and marketing, and 2) technology enablement across all business units of the group (Flow, Justa, and the two recruitment markets in Tokyo and SF). We aim to drive the company in a new direction.

Like many of our clients (McDonalds, Nike and Discovery Channel, for instance) that are investing significantly in digital and technology transformation strategies, we have decided to try and take the same approach. The recruitment industry has still not really progressed in terms of technology enablement, whilst certain tools have changed elements of candidate and client acquisition the fundamentals remain firmly planted in old school methods. A number of firms still spend hours upon end cold calling and headhunting for instance.

Even simple marketing and business development concepts have not really progressed to a sophisticated level, and the use of data driven decision making is weak in most traditional recruitment firms. Having worked in a large scale global recruitment firm before Wahl & Case, I believe the potential for the bigger players to change may be challenging. Layers of bureaucracy and a tendency to hold onto control and old methods of success. Coupling that with the fact that most recruitment business leaders come only from the narrow scope of recruiting itself may be yet another bottleneck. It leads to a narrow strategic mindset. Price innovation is another concept that has not progressed for decades and the “post sales” or “customer success” aspect is a space that our analytics platform Flow can hopefully address, in terms of staff engagement. 

Some firms still operate around a 360 model of doing most parts of the sales & marketing funnel without optimization. They also operate local marketing strategies as almost an administrative function, which is a wasted opportunity. I believe there is a chance to disrupt the status quo from within, embrace tech with the right balance and deliver more value to our customers. And on that final note one of the biggest lessons that we have learnt over the past 5 years is that our tech clients approach their business decisions with data and the customer experience at the forefront. That's what we will try to emulate.