Recruiting Game-Changers

As much as I detest pro-sports (with the exception of the “BroncoGators”) and particularly the whole LeBron hoopla, I could not pass up Dr. Sullivan’s article without commenting. If you’re a game-changing finance executive or CFO, the article is well worth the read. 

Here are a few of Sullivan’s comments, followed by my thoughts:

Google for example has estimated that a top-performer generates three hundred times more revenue than an average performer.”

The difference in salary between an average performer and a top performer can be quite large … but only if you are a visible, in-demand target with the ability to clearly communicate your value.

“… game-changers, innovators, and top performers truly are different and must be recruited in a unique manner.”

Sullivan has a list of characteristics that describe these talented executives … among them, they are not actively looking for a position, they dislike standard recruiting practices, and there is often a negative career-impacting event that moves them to begin thinking about probing potential opportunities. 

At the risk of beating a dead horse, as a senior-level executive – finance or otherwise – it is critical to proactively manage your career with the mindset that you are only ever between searches. Eventually you will move. Getting the game-changer positioning and staying on the radar screen of those people who need to know about you is a good career habit, and one that needs to begin while you are still happily employed and, in the eyes of the recruiter, the “most desirable” candidate.

“Shift to a “game-changing recruiting approach.”

Lesson #3, while written for the executive recruiter to recruit game-changers, could just as easily be a roadmap for a successful positioning / search strategy by game-changers.


If you want to play, you have to understand the rules. Game-changers hold immense power … once they understand how the game is played.