School's In: Are YOU Ready for a Fresh Start?

A last hug, a last kiss: just like that, the Summer was over, and my daughter was back to school.

I could walk down the stairs and start my computer. For me as well, it was School Start and my official first work day as a French weirdo in Canada!

But as I sat down at my desk, it got me thinking:

Am I a curse or a blessing as a new starter?

On the pros:

• New employees come with a wealth of energy and eagerness to prove themselves
• It's a chance to bring fresh eyes to old problems
• Their knowledge is very likely to be more up-to-date
• It's an opportunity to shake up the Team Spirit
• More hands on the job = growth perspectives!

On the cons:

• There's the inevitable learning curve that may slow things down at first
• It's not a given to "Get" culture right away
• A fresh face might also not last - what if they're just shopping around?
• Someone aiming to make a dent may step on too many toes
• They might not only slow themselves but slow others down as well

But let's zoom out of my belly button and look at the broader picture.

Indeed, if it's not your first time around here, you know that I'm regularly looking into the path of growth-stage companies.

And for these weird animals that need to amalgamate the right talent to feed their growth, onboarding is a key success metric!

What does the literature say?

To my surprise, there's an overall agreement on one truth:

New hires are a burden

Like, all the "pros" might be true in the long run, but to start with, the "cons" outweigh them by a mile!

Now, most studies also agree that new hires / new people in a given position are a blessing in the long run. So the question becomes:

What makes the transition between a burden and a blessing faster?

And there,?as well, studies point to?two clear directions, which are, by the way, not mutually exclusive.

First, training matters - as Bj?rn Otto recently recalled - and it influences the performance of new employees by about 65% , being the single largest contributor.

But hey, that was expected, right?

Maybe more surprisingly, the second factor is a new hire's entrepreneurial experience

Simply put: entrepreneurs (or intrapreneurs, by the way) have a much steeper learning curve and become much faster a "blessing" for their employers.

Their experience in building something for themselves makes them more of a self-starter, able to navigate the organization with higher autonomy.

So, if you can, hire entrepreneurs. ??

?? This week on the Podcast: GRUNDFOS

There are multiple ways to hire entrepreneurs. But the one Grundfos picked to get Phillip Tomlinson MBA on board is probably the straighter forward: they acquired Metasphere and he came in as the cherry on the cake!

(and if you wonder how long it takes for a new hire to turn from a "curse" to a "blessing," consider this: by the time?Laura Galindo ?sat down on my podcast microphone, she was just 9 months into her role at?GRUNDFOS . But hey, she's certainly all but average!)

So, what do we discuss in this packed conversation ?

• How a pump manufacturer morphs into a water solutions provider
• Grundfos' ambitious targets to enable 300 Million people to access water, while cutting their carbon footprint in half by 2030 and achieving net-zero by 2050
• Why the love for wastewater and sewers - you know, that shitty thing that overflows?

... and much more!

Check it out, with the magnificent backdrop of Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms, where we recorded during the 2024 BlueTech Forum ??

?? Snacking Content

?? A maybe underappreciated entrepreneurial skill is knowing when to step down and hire a CEO who will take the company to its next stage. Something we've seen with NX Filtration or Aquaporin A/S (have a look here if you need a reminder)

So I was amazed by the transparency and generous experience sharing of Nigel Sharp ???? , who's stepping down of his CEO role at Aquagga Inc.

As he shares:

"It’s tempting to devote a career to one company, but the world has a lot going on, and there are other companies and individuals I’d like to be supporting locally, nationally, and even globally."

Zero to One is an incredible skill, and I can't wait to see what the 3x founder will do in its 4th endeavor ??

?? If people invest in Green-Finance products, will they be less likely to support Government Climate Action?

Following Florian Heeb and Julian K?lbel 's research over the years since they came on the podcast to educate me is always fascinating. And so is their latest paper !

Well, you can rest assured:

The opportunity to invest in a climate-conscious fund does not crowd out individual climate policy support, even for explicitly costly efforts like campaign donations

?? Let's continue in that Sustainability direction, with this great interview (led by the brilliant Nina Pongracz with my equally brilliant boss Simone Beutel ) that presents GF Piping Systems ' sustainability framework.

The aim is to achieve 70% of sales with social or environmental benefits, and 100% of innovations in products and solutions that deliver sustainability improvements.

Look, I'm not one to brag that often about my employer's achievements, but I thought this deserved a shout out ??

That's it for this week - if any of this is of interest to you, make sure to subscribe! I'll return next Wednesday with some thoughts on... Cheerios! ?? (this time, for real)