The people 'at the top'

The ‘people at the top’

I was watching Dragons Den recently and there was an inventor who explained that he’d not approached the biggest retailers as he wanted to start small.

This got me thinking about our perception of other businesses and in particular, other people.

When I first started in recruitment, I recruited for low skilled candidates. Many on minimum wage with little education.

As I progressed through my career, the seniority of the candidates I started working with increased too.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions in business is mistaking people 'at the top’ for not still being people. 

I even had ex-colleagues asking me if I ‘got scared’ speaking to senior level candidates or approaching multi-billion-pound business. But I don’t. One thing I’ve learned is that generally, the most successful people in business are the most humble, helpful and human.

To listen to this inventor on Dragons Den, sounding scared of approaching the biggest retailers about his invention had me really agonising. I wanted to pick up that phone for him myself!

So, I’d encourage anyone that if you’re selling something, looking for a job, launching a product or anything else where you might need to contact the ‘people at the top’. Just remember, they are just people.

Make the call.