I first heard Dave Kline speak at E-commerce Fuel Live in New Orleans a few months ago. It was an awesome event, and Dave's talk was a highlight for me.

Dave is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience working with teams at Bridgewater and Moody's. Dave shares his candid take on how to level up our leadership skills, spot great talent, hire the right managers, and build a team that drives business growth and success.

Key topics and lessons discussed:

-The importance of simplifying processes and avoiding unnecessary hiring by focusing on the most critical problems in your business.

-How do you identify the right roles to hire for and avoid compromising on character when bringing in new talent?

-The benefits and challenges of promoting from within versus hiring external candidates for management positions.

-Strategies for maintaining a flat, collaborative culture while introducing a management structure to support business growth.

-The significance of setting clear incentives and codifying cultural values to encourage desired behaviors and decision-making processes.

-Creating rituals and intentional moments for feedback and idea-sharing to counteract the potential drawbacks of a hierarchical structure.

-Balancing the measurement of managers' performance based on team output and the sustainability of the team they lead.

-Embracing the concept that being a good manager now requires leadership skills, such as being kind, direct, developmental, and coaching team members to reach their full potential.

Here are a few insightful quotes from the podcast:

"Leading is just being kind and direct. Leading is being developmental and coaching. Leading is helping people be better than they, maybe themselves, even believe they can be."

"People will cut a lot of corners for short-term gains, and you end up eroding the long-term  sustainability of the team."