Bill Fanning: CEO of TALK Talent on Authentic Leadership, Curiosity & Meaningful Relationships in Talent Acquisition — Be Yourself Podcast
Be Yourself Podcast

BillFanning

CEO of TALK Talent — on Authentic Leadership, the Power of Curiosity, Fostering Meaningful Relationships in Talent Acquisition, Finding Purpose, and Why Celebrating Your Wins Is Not Optional

56 minutes
Talent Acquisition · Leadership · Community · Career · Purpose
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About This Episode

How Bill Fanning Built a TA Community of 14,000 Members — and What He Learned About Authentic Leadership, Curiosity, and Loving What You Do

Bill Fanning spent 10 years in the military before building a career in sales, go-to-market strategy, and eventually the talent acquisition space. When a previous company stalled in a difficult post-COVID market, Bill did not panic — he got curious. He started asking himself what would engage 100% of him, what would make him excited every single day. That question led him to TALK Talent.

In this episode of the Be Yourself Podcast, Bill — CEO of one of the largest TA communities in North America — shares how curiosity navigates difficult times, why vendors should lead with their “why” instead of a product demo, what it really means to be a relationship builder, and the difference between liking your job and genuinely loving it. He also shares his birthday goal-setting ritual, his body-mind-family-profession-learning framework, and why celebrating wins — even small ones — is not optional.

The conversation covers authentic sales in the TA community, what happens after 40 when self-awareness meets ambition, the experiment-fail fast-learn model, and how the right community can change the trajectory of an entire career.

01
Why authentic content and community replaced cold outreach as the most effective sales channel in talent acquisition
Traditional email and phone-call cadences were delivering diminishing returns. Bill saw that vendors needed to reach their ICP in an authentic way — showing who they are and what they do. TALK Talent solved this by bringing vendors and TA professionals into one focused community where both sides learn and grow.
02
Why Bill asks every vendor to step back and talk about their “why” before anything else
Anyone can watch a product demo on LinkedIn. What builds connection is the story: why did you start this company, what problem were you solving, what was your hypothesis, and where has it delivered real results? When the “why” resonates, the demo follows naturally.
03
The core skill behind everything Bill does: relationship building
At TALK, Bill is building a matrix of relationships — peer-to-peer between TA professionals, mentor-mentee connections, vendor-to-member learning. His vision of success is simple: a member joins the community, hits a problem at work, and comes away with real answers from people who have been there.
04
The difference between liking your job and loving it — and why it shows up in your energy every single day
Bill dreams about work. He wakes up thinking about conferences, events, and ways to make the community better. That is not a sign of workaholism — it is the clearest signal he is on the right path. Loving your job is different from liking it in the same way loving someone is different from liking them.
05
Why figuring out what you hate is the fastest path to finding what you love
The percentage chance of stumbling on your passion early is very low. You have to try things, discover what you do not thrive in, and have the courage to leave and try something else. Self-awareness is not a destination — it is a practice, and it accelerates with age and experience.
06
The birthday goal-setting ritual: body, mind, family, profession, and learning — plus why celebrating wins comes last and matters most
Instead of New Year’s resolutions, Bill sets goals on his birthday and thinks about what this year of his life is for. He tracks progress across five areas and ends by celebrating — not just achieving. Being grateful for the ability to set goals and chase them is itself something worth stopping to honor.

About the Guest

Bill Fanning — CEO of TALK Talent & Proud Military Veteran

Bill Fanning is the CEO of TALK Talent, one of the largest talent acquisition communities in North America with over 14,000 members. He stepped into the role just under one year before this episode was recorded and has been building it with the energy of someone who found exactly where they are supposed to be.

A proud military veteran with 10 years of service, Bill came out of the military with a deep fascination for putting the right teams together — right people, right soft skills, right hard skills. That curiosity drove a career in sales and go-to-market strategy, a CEO role at a candidate experience platform, and ultimately the realization that talent acquisition was the space he wanted to serve.

At TALK, he has expanded the community’s mission to include vendors alongside TA practitioners, creating a two-sided ecosystem where both sides learn, connect, and grow. His superpower is relationship building — and his mission is to make every member feel that joining TALK was worth it.

What He Built
Military service (10 years) → Sales and go-to-market career → CEO of a candidate experience platform → CEO of TALK Talent (14,000+ members across North America).
His Core Skill
the way that I I try and think about it is a relationship Builder
On Dreaming About Work
I dream about work … I dream about conferences I dream about ways that we're doing events
His Philosophy
for me what I continually challenge myself is to experiment often fail fast and learn from those experiences

Key Quotes

"

for me what I continually challenge myself is to experiment often fail fast and learn from those experiences

Bill Fanning
"

I don't mind challenge I don't mind discomfort I don't mind being in tough spots but I want to be happy while I'm there

Bill Fanning
"

I go to bed every night thinking about what I could do better tomorrow and I get up every morning excited to go execute on whatever I thought about

Bill Fanning

Episode Chapters

0:00 Episode Teaser 0:45 TALK Talent Presentation 3:35 Experience Leading Up to TALK 5:34 Authentic Sales Process in TA Community 8:56 How Bill Navigated Difficult Times with Curiosity 12:10 Why Bringing Vendors into the TA Network is So Exciting 14:40 Importance Behind The “Why” Behind Vendors’ Businesses 18:13 Fostering Authentic Relationships as the CEO 20:30 Examples of Meaningful Connections during Meet-Ups 23:09 How to Find The Right Workplace 26:35 Pivotal Changes Bill Made to Be Happy 30:38 Liking your Job Vs. Loving your Job 33:33 Find What You Hate First 35:25 Understanding Cultural Aspects of Organizations 36:39 Reasons for People Leaving Their Jobs in 2025 38:43 Why We Should Celebrate Our Wins 40:21 Body, Mind, Family, Profession, Learning 41:10 Focusing on Being Grateful and Open-Minded 42:30 Challenging Yourself to Be Happy 43:43 Optimistic Goal-Setting and Year Conclusions Approach 46:59 Do You Have to Reduce Things From Your Life after 40 51:53 Importance of Experimentation in Life and Business 52:50 Last Message from Bill

Full Transcript

BTW: This episode of the Be Yourself Podcast is produced by Beverly Media. Also on the show:
Torin Ellis — DEI Advocate on Bold Communication, Amplifying Voices & Building Inclusive Leaders →
0:00 Episode Teaser
Bill for me what I continually challenge myself is to experiment often fail fast and learn from those experiences goal setting business personal um the difference today is the experimentation is much more focused on areas that I really enjoy what what do you think is at the core of um your professional Acumen the way that I I try and think about it is a relationship
Sergey fil hello everybody this is Serge with the be yourself podcast the podcast on expressing our true selves today we have
0:45 TALK Talent Presentation
Sergey Bill fenning who's the CEO of talk Talent one of the biggest ta communities in America Bill hello how how are you
Bill I am good I'm good I'm glad I'm here man
Sergey how many people right now are on talk the TA Community
Bill um we have today a little over 14,000 members across North America
Sergey this is this is big time and is it safe to say that it's the big the biggest community of a of ta professionals
Bill uh you know I believe so look at the market there's other ta communities and and which by the way I I love I think the more focus on it the better it is for the industry um but yeah I think as terms of members we have a we have a pretty large following if not the largest
Sergey cool and how long have you been the been the CEO here here
Bill so I I stepped into talk earlier this year so it's been about just coming up on one year
Sergey okay cool how are you liking it so far
Bill well I absolutely love it it's um it's it's just such a a fun experience to be able to focus on the the function of talent acquisition and being able to focus on the best practices the Technologies supports it the processes that people are devising to make sure we're doing things properly and uh advancing it so I really love it um ta to me was you know coming out of the military one of the things I walked away with was that you know we all have very specific jobs skill sets backgrounds and trainings which is great but it's it's putting the right team together that makes things work and that teaming focus when you have an effective team and the right people right soft skills right hard skills it's it's you know damn near Unstoppable sometimes and so it made me very fascinated with the concept and the process of putting those teams together both in the professional World teams for sports teams for military um so I love the focus of it it's something I've always been passionate about and so I'm really um I feel like I it's it's almost like a present that I get to sit there and watch and talk about something like this all the time
Sergey yes so you were saying it's almost like a present and you are at the great great spot now is that safe to say that you're loving what you're doing
Bill absolutely absolutely I think it's I think it's super fun yeah
3:35 Experience Leading Up to TALK
Sergey um bill so you just mentioned about military and I can read on your LinkedIn profile it says proud military veteran let's talk a little bit about the preceding experience if you can tell me what led up to becoming a CEO of talk and what experiences you take pride in as far as your career development and understanding people and business professionals how did it all start for you and how did you wind up being CEO of talk
Bill that's a great question um you know so recently I was fortunate enough to be CEO of another company that was focused on what's called candidate experience which is the experience you have as you're going through the application stages and applying and interviewing for a job um the product was awesome the person I work with was phenomenal but the timing in the market wasn't very well positioned and because it was during the co and the layoffs postco the layoff stuff like that so but what I learned in that process it was really fascinating to me was how much sales methodologies had changed right so I grew up as a salesperson go to market and went through a lot of different trainings and what I had realized is that things had changed um the execution by a ton of vendors across a ton of Industries kind of blew up a lot of what traditionally work you know email phone calls inails all of those things while effective I guess we're just having diminishing returns you know so the effort you put out over time is continually returning less and less leads or contacts or whatever you're focused on and and the focus is really on authentic content going out to people to show them what you do and how you do it and what I learned with and you know I'm a fan of LinkedIn so it's not negative but um it's hard to do that LinkedIn is a common vehicle so you see people doing podcasts
5:34 Authentic Sales Process in TA Community
Bill webinars um all this white papers all this great stuff in attempt of doing exactly exactly what you just said just to show your true self to educate to be I think I like in my mind I call it like an authentic sales process like I'm authentically showing you who we are and what we do and getting that into the the hands of the right people your ideal customer profile your ICP is challenging and so I said wow if I had this group of talent acquisition communities that you know on one side I've got this group of people that are being flooded with new technologies new Concepts new processes a changing landscape right so we have genz and Millennials making the majority of the workforce um or I think just that just recently happened where Millennials or Baby Boomers statistically dropped down um but we can bring content and process to these people we can educate around what's going on with the vendors in the marketplace and the vendors can connect with their ICP simply without having to go through this massive output of uh spend and marketing Budget on platforms like LinkedIn where you're never 100% sure who you're reaching with talk you're reaching Talent acquisition professionals Talent acquisition professionals are learning about the technologies that are out there but more importantly they're talking about the use cases of them and are they effective specifically what they do and if once you understand specifically what they do would they generate an Roi for me and you know would they work in my my technical environment would I be able to connect them to my ATS system for example and so it's really it's it's it just seemed like a much more logical way for um Talent acquisition vendors practitioners to each and in their respective area learn and grow and celebrate best practices understand what's not working anymore in improve their individual skill sets you know I'm a TA professional I can learn about AI I can learn about uh different assessment technologies that are coming on the marketplace I can discuss that with my peers and get better and I love that like I belong to communities myself for sales or marketing or things of that nature
Sergey communities is your thing it's not like you just discovered the power of it you always been a member or at some sort you have a connection right to community
Bill absolutely yeah
8:56 How Bill Navigated Difficult Times with Curiosity
Sergey quick one guys if you can help me to grow this channel by hitting the Subscribe button I would be really really really really thankful I want to grow this channel to become International podcast where I invite not only Ukrainian guests but guests from all around the world so you can benefit and in this way we all become better as human beings thank you very much for supporting me and enjoy the show further and so it just seemed like a very logical um Community to be part of and to and to Foster the the growth and the in the additional expansion of it so I yeah I love it it's it just seemed like a logical next step for me I can see the pose that you made a year ago I'm going to read it with your permission just a short snippet of it in the course of the last year I've been bestowed with the incredible opportunity to collaborate with exceptional individuals and crafting a needed candidate engagement platform this Voyage has been nothing short exhilarating yet I have to acknowledge that the markets evolving Nature has posed formidable challenges impeding the realization of the gross aspirations and then you talk about the fact that right now you are open to New Opportunities and this PO is dedicated to it's l you link to the Forbes article that says the power of navigating difficult times with curiosity and you said that in a way the this article it testifies or illustrates how you view the world how you so maybe you can take take us back to to this place when you were looking for the next uh company for the next so and how how like how did you approach it and the the power of curiosity and how did it actually Le lead you to the position with talk maybe you can elaborate on that a little bit
Bill yeah absolutely so when not so like I when that realization came about that and you know and it's like one of those things in life where I I guess things are just going to happen right and and sometimes they're out of our control or we don't have the the capability to influence them at the level we need right and and that was a great situation where the market was it just kind of was what it was um and so so what I started to think about is okay I became curious about what would what would really just engage 100% of me what would make me excited and what I realize from that experience and previous experiences how much um the the the the scope and the capabilities of talent acquisition were growing this the Technologies like the one I was bringing to Market are expanding and how much ta professionals are continually looking at doing things better and faster and you know for example right now a lot of ta teams have reduced budgets reduced team sizes but the number of jobs that they need to fill starting to accelerate so how do you do that that's a that's a fascinating question to me like what how do you optim how do you optimize your operations to meet that need if you have reduced resources that's a great question and so I started to think to myself well how could I Foster a way to help ta professionals be better uh help them learn about the market and create an opportunity for ta vendors to effectively speak to the members and the members to learn about the vendors and so I started thinking and looking and I just kind of fortuitously um was connected with talk
12:10 Why Bringing Vendors into the TA Network is So Exciting
Bill which fascinated me and it was part of another company um and it's its Mission at that point was just to focus on a network and connective capability of a a large group of ta professionals right the vendor side wasn't really part of it but what saw is that there was an amazing way to grow the capabilities to serve the members the TA professionals if vendors came in there was a revenue model it generated some profit The Profit reinvested back into the community in terms of classes learning capabilities networking opportunities and and it kind of self- sustained it it it grew based on its its its uh the two sides of the ecosystem collaborating and it just fascinated me like I have a can't see it but I have a big whiteboard on my wall and I used to sit there and like doodle out God this and and I couldn't stop thinking about it so uh it was funny I was sitting on the couch one night watching a TV show with my wife and we have an L-shaped couch and so uh I was sitting there and I was just she was like what are you what are you because I was scribbling and she was like what are you doing I'm like God I can't stop thinking about this and finally she just like kicked me from the other end of the couch and she go she's like would you just just go do it yeah and I was like I will and she's like good because I you're talking and I want to watch the show and it was kind of funny but it was that was the moment I went from I'm thinking about it too I'm gonna make this happen
Sergey yeah they're all there all this is the great indicator that uh you're 100% involved you know and it's something that will keep driving you uh when you're like even at your lure time you're you're thinking about it right so is it safe to say that before you joining talk or taking pretty much control of talk it was sort of just a networking um event or like group nothing um beyond that and you added vendors into the equation and now vendors can present their solutions to a wide audience of the T target audience of ta professionals while ta professionals benefit in a way they they learn about new stuff they learn about new Solutions and it's a win Vin for both parties
Bill yeah I think so um the only
14:40 Importance Behind The “Why” Behind Vendors’ Businesses
Bill thing that I that I've that I've tried not to do is get into demonstrating product I mean that's a great thing to do but you can go watch a video on LinkedIn or somewhere else on their website and see it but I try and ask the vendors to step back for a second and talk about their why interesting well because it is to me like it's great that you have this company but why did you start it what is it what is the problem that it solves why are you doing this what similar to the questions you're asking me I want the vendors to come in and talk about hey we I you know so I've talked to vendors like I'm a TA professional I've got 25 years experience I recognized this Challenge and I and I similar to me the way my brain work with talk I wanted to solve it so I went and star whatever the company is and talk up talk us through that process and then share with us where it's working give us the reasons why you're still excited give me the case studies the rois where is it really delivered meaningful results and by through that discussion process what's awesome is you you're you're talking about something to me in a way that I really love to hear is like hey I saw this problem I theorized A A solution I had this hypothesis I tried it I got great response I learned and then we developed this product and now we're bringing it to Market because I know that if I suffered from this issue or problem I can't be the only one and it's something I want to solve and there's a great number of Technology platforms that are out there where that story is just fascinating to me
Sergey stories is what create connection between people this is what I learned from um I think Disney or Pixar it's l got like e code ethical code on their on their website and and storytelling is crucial and sometimes we want to only talk about numbers or you know use buzzword but personal stories and it's so cool that you say that you ask entrepreneurs and like vendors why because we can connect on a human level we don't need to use big words explain why you created this what's your your maybe personal challenge some some story behind the rationale for creating this type of solution so that's very cool
Bill yeah I I love it to I'm fascinated by it like it's when I like what I try and do is like if I were walking around and I bumped into somebody and they said I do acts I I start thinking why are you doing that what what are you what and so by bringing that that type of discussion to a community I find that there's a great opportunity for other people to sit back and really learn about the Genesis of why this technology exists um or in some cases let's say II some of the creative ways people are solving problems with it and why are they doing that like it's you can you can always go see a demo like I'm not discrediting or devaluing that part but to me there's a there's a bunch you know like if you read an article people say hey 80% of your Discovery process is done online because people are searching for that why yeah and and so I like to talk about that and if the why resonates with you if you sit back and go holy crap that's me then you can go see a demo and you can go learn and that's awesome and we we want that to happen but want to have that initial higher level or deeper conversation first
18:13 Fostering Authentic Relationships as the CEO
Sergey what's is what is the nucle nuclear you know of what is the what is the core skill that you you will you you can make a case for the best skill that you've elaborated over the years is that a connector is that a salesperson is that what what do you think is at the core of um your professional Acumen
Bill um the way that I I try and think about it is a relationship Builder relationship Builder oh cool yeah because it's it's within talk we're building uh this this mer almost a matrix of relationships right we can have PTO peer connectivity between ta professionals we can have uh Mentor mentee relationships between ta professionals where people can coach and Mentor each other we can have learning capabilities where people can come and express you know I hear somebody who's done a phenomenal job solving a problem they can come share that with the rest of the community so it's building these relationships where people learning and getting you know worst case scenario having fun talking about something yeah you know and I love that and on the other side it's allowing a vendor to talk about something in a way that builds authentic relationships and and and as well as learning from there those connectivity the connectivity with the member population so it's it's just this uh it's a growth engine for individuals in their career it's a growth engine for individuals in an industry it's a growth engine for the vendors and what their problems are trying to solve to get real meaningful discussions and feedback um you know but I kind of vision I kind of Envision sometimes for me what success looks like like in at a at a member level like if a member you became part of the talk community and they had an issue at work and they got some interesting ideas of how to solve it awesome if a member became part of a talk community and they wanted to learn a skill set or best practice or discuss how to solve a problem and they got meaningful connectivity with people who are in that same area thinking the same way that's phenom phal like that's exactly what
20:30 Examples of Meaningful Connections during Meet-Ups
Sergey like that's success to me that's can you give some examples of what already happened some Sparks that were made and maybe some Partnerships that were born within talk
Bill yeah I mean we've had we've had a lot of members on our week we do a weekly discussion forum sometimes a vendor is part of it sometimes it's just a community speaking to each other but I love listening to what what I love is in the chat on the right hand side a member speaking about something and then I start seeing hey that's awesome Reach Out connect with me like I can see the networking happening
Sergey so there were yeah and and I'm like that's exactly why we're here you solve the problem you have the problem talk yes talk absolutely absolutely that's I mean yeah I I have the I had the privilege to um kind of see how the the webinars are conducted and you always facilitating discussion and I I it's really it's been fascinating to see how over time more people starting to you know engage if turn on their cameras and participate in in the chat box so it works so you know it's like a domino e effort some Domino first Domino have to fall and it's really great that um you're you're really creating this zone of comfort where everyone can feel safe you know there's no one going to take advantage of their knowledge or whatever we're all there to in a way show our vulnerability but be but because someone can help that's the primary uh primary reason um how yeah yeah any any comment and we will we will transition to more of our personal stories
Bill no I I think you've definitely fortunately seen some of the value of talk which is when people start uh having a conversation on a topic I don't really care what the topic is I'm more focused on the exchange of ideas and the discussion that's happening and um I actually feel guilty sometimes on the conversations because I have questions I'm like somebody says something I'm like oh tell me more about and you know and I'm like wait but but I love I get excited yeah it it it creates an energy in me when I see that happening that I love and uh you know so I feel extremely fortunate that I can get up every day and invest my time and energy that's something that just absolutely fills me with a an amazing sense of positiv like I love it
23:09 How to Find The Right Workplace
Sergey Bill the the the essence of my podcast is understanding how people found their calling I don't know if I can put it this way you should be like supposedly should be born with a calling but a lot of people discover their what they're passionate about and different age it happened to with me at 30 years old right Michael Jordan knew that he would want want want to play basketball at 12 right so it all happens at different age for us and it seems when when you're saying that you getting up every morning and you want to want to do the stuff that you're doing it really testifies to the fact that you are uh you are at the right place right and it's and it's amazingly inspiring ing to hear but was it always like that can you tell me can can you maybe give me uh some stories where you had to Pivot or you had to cut ties with people or organizations um you know some some not not that not that it was that something that was useful but not necessarily you know uh pretty were there ever moments in your life that you have to had a make a tough decision for the sake of uh you know uh finding the better path or the path that suited you better
Bill yeah I mean and maybe this can extend as an advice to a lot of youngsters a lot of people who are looking for their path because a lot of people are really really um lost in in our at our time you know it's it's funny we have so many opportunities but because we have so many opportunities maybe people are lost not understanding what what to grab I think that could be really challenging for people coming into our our commun our Workforce today or who are coming into the age where they're transitioning from their primary focus is learning I don't think that ever goes away by the way but I mean our society I think a primary focus of us as people should be always learning but I think there's a point when you get to here in the US you get to 18 or 19h if you're going out of high school and starting your career or if you're going through education College you know getting your MBA um there comes a point where that ends and it's time to focus and I think a lot of people may struggle like what is exciting yeah you know and they um like we just did this webinar we just did a session in New York City uh maybe about a month ago and it was really fascinating to me listening to these three heads of talent acquisition talk about what they had done prior to getting where they were we had somebody who was a professional dancer who is now the head of Chief people officer we had somebody who had a multi deade successful pastry chef background who is now the head of talent operations right so I was fascinated by that because it it goes back to that continuous learning but for me what it's always come down to is am I adding value am I happy and am I and am I right yeah and am I generating what I need from the position
26:35 Pivotal Changes Bill Made to Be Happy
Sergey what was what was the moment for you were you ever feeling that was you know not what was you wanted from your life or can you give some example maybe
Bill sure I can give a couple um there came a point in time where I didn't think that a active military service lifestyle was what I wanted to continue start starting a family and that was a point where I started to sit back and say okay this is not an this is I felt good that I had I had served my country for how many years 10 oh my really wow yeah but I felt very comfortable that it was time to go transition because I I wanted to have new experiences I wanted to and that's something for me that I've always been passionate about is I love new experiences love to grow I love to challenge myself um and it's manifested itself in me is that I I like to I like to do new things I like to continually evolve and focus on new tasks new projects and uh and and talk is great because I get to cover a dozen or more every day yeah um sometimes daunting but uh but yeah no I think that that that you know I I used to hire a lot of salespeople and I could tell in talking to people uh neatly that they were in a place where they were going to thrive or they were in a job that they just went into a job because they thought it was going to be a good fit for them and it's and and they're not they're not digging it sales is not for everybody every position out there is not for everybody my wife is in the medical field I absolutely could not go do that um my and and she laughs all the time at me because my my brain was wired a little bit from the military was like Hey does it hurt yes is it an injury or or or you just are you just you know are you hurt and uh can you do your job because if you can just shut up and go do it and uh and she's like no people hurt you know so it's just different our mindsets are different she's awesome at that and it took her a while to find that but now that she's there she's super happy so the process that I I I was fortunate to watch with that is that she I watched the growth towards that area where she's super happy um so so to get back to your original question because I know I was a l base there have been situations where I've been in a position where I just really had to step back in question I love what I do but it's I'm I'm I'm ready to do something else right um or I'm working for an organization that is I signed up because I thought it was going to be a and it turned out to be B um and so I need to go do something else and I've been in situations where the culture the the the just the day-to-day experience was not what I wanted it's just not like you know there's a and and this is true for every organization it's something the companies talk about right now their brand their culture what are they fostering within their employee community and sometimes it fits sometimes it's not and that's okay and so yeah there's been a lot of situations where I've just sat back and said I need I think for me as a person I need to be doing something else I need to challenge myself a different way or I need to be happier um and and unfortunately sometimes I hey I'm killing myself and I'm not getting the return for it I need to make more money
Sergey you know same here you know I think we're similar in a way that sometimes we can follow our passion to our detriment you know because sometimes it's not financially uh sound but you do what you love but hey man I think when you look do what you really love sooner rather than later Financial uh result will come so it's just a matter of time and you know the the the the interesting thought that I just had while you were telling the story is
30:38 Liking your Job Vs. Loving your Job
Sergey that definitely recruiters play a huge role in finding a person that would fit the organization but at the same time we as individuals we can't rely heavily only on the Shar Department we have to do our own sort of uh self-discovery we have to do our own thinking and take steps like you to take courageous steps of maybe Cutting Loose from from some some organization and understand that you're no longer thriving there and you just feel that you're drained every single day I always say that if you feel totally out of energy after a day at work it's a it's a huge indicator that something is wrong we can be we can be tired from the physical standpoint right but mentally it's okay when when we're doing what we what we like at least maybe not love but at least what we like you know how love loving you is totally different from you know you don't say I like my wife right if you say I I like my job it's not that when you love your job is something totally different
Bill well yeah and I think that's a great great observation that the difference between like and love and I think we see statistically there's articles coming out right now about the number of people who are going to be searching for a new role next year and and it's and it's and it's that self-discovery process or you know um they're not they've they've followed a path and it's not generated what they want so they're or they're working for a company they're in a position the earning capabilities their happiness um you know trying to dial all that in so you get up every day with a level of energy and excitement is hard and I mean for me right now I feel blessed because I get up every morning uh and I I mean is it perfect absolutely not could I do better a th% but the thing I love is that I go to bed every night thinking about what I could do better tomorrow and I get up every morning excited to go execute on whatever I thought about um for me one of the things that I know is is a sign that I'm on the right path is I dream about work wow that's big time you have dreams about work I dream about conferences I dream about ways that we're doing events like I yeah like I can like I just think about things like like like you know I won't go into the details of what they are but yeah I absolutely get up in the morning I'm like oh my God we could you know yeah so it's just cuz I'm always thinking about it I love it
33:33 Find What You Hate First
Sergey I have something that I have written down as part of preparation for this conversation I'm just going to throw it at you and you and you say what you think before you know what you like in love in Life or love for this matter you you have to first figure out what you dislike accurate
Bill I think that there are yeah I think we have to understand and where we where we Thrive and where we don't and and there's but because the things that we're going to love they're like it's it's they're so the percentage that you're going to stumble upon it in the early phase is really low and that's why you have to understand that if you suck at something if you don't like something that's totally fine but you have to have courage to say no and to leave and try something else yeah there are things that I've definitely gotone into professionally and personally that I thought were going to be amazing and you know I I learned from that that you know it's it's it's not something I thrive in or it's not something that I'm physically or cap gifted in doing um you know like I I definitely wake up every morning and know that I'm not the smartest person I'm not the um you know but but I'm fortunate for what I have and I'm going to use those skills to the maximum capability that I can but I'm going to be open-minded to grow but if I'm in a Sit if I'm in an environment that somehow is not supporting that type of internal if the insides don't match the out then yeah you're right there's some cultural environment said you just need to know I don't like this and that's exceptionally important
35:25 Understanding Cultural Aspects of Organizations
Bill I think in today's let's let's go back to Talent acquisition there's a lot of people that may not know that that are applying for a job we talk about cultural faith a lot and I think that comes down to there's cultures that um you may not like and here's a simple here's a simple uh challenge that I see you know let's talk about where you work this is fascinating to me remote hybrid or in the office right and and I talk to people all the time and they always have different thoughts around where they're gonna where they're gonna Thrive like some people love to work in an office some people want to be fully remote some people want a little bit of both so what's positive and what's negative and that comes into your and I know that's a silly example but it's the only one I could think of where you know what I don't like will influence what type of jobs I'm going to go look at if I want to work from home if it says hybrid or in office I'm not going to apply vice versa I want to go to an office every day I don't want to work from home I maybe I live in a small apartment I want to get out you know so it's um but yeah I think that that knowing what you don't like is a mission critical task um and it's a and it's also a process of discovery because sometimes you think you're going to like something until you're actually doing it
36:39 Reasons for People Leaving Their Jobs in 2025
Sergey do you think that the growing number of people in this com coming year who are about to change their workplace is this a result of of what what do you think are the primary reasons why so many people are willing to to make this change as opposed to maybe not being willing to make this change earlier
Bill when I when I think about it I I break it down into simple simple um simple things I think about availability or opportunity and safety so um if people are worried about the economy if there's not a lot of jobs out there they's probably going to stay safe in their environment they're in because they have a job they may not like it but the safety comple complex is is executing in them like okay you know I'm fortunate to have a job but I think we get to a place where opportunity accelerates there's more opportunity in the market and the economy maybe is doing a little bit better so it creates a sense of safety that I can change job I'm confident that I can do this and so I think people are viewing um some of those things aligning to move them towards changing jobs they feel they see more opportunity they feel a little bit safer pursuing that opportunity um and again there's probably a number of people that say they want to change jobs next year that never will but um I think for me that's how I look at it opportunity and comfort or safety and making change yeah because change is hard and there are so many examples around us we live in an era we we have have this this unprecedented access to seeing how people live and the new professions that were we're not even professions you know like a year ago so it's crazy how the mere observation can kind of expand uh our Outlook and just to make us smarter
38:43 Why We Should Celebrate Our Wins
Sergey um can you can you I would like I I um I think I I I read on one of your posts attributed to your birthday routine like you always you have a routine on your birthday and you set goals I'm going to set goals for New Year right and a lot I think Mo most of people do this on New Year so but you do it on your birthday so can you can you tell us a little bit about this routine you have and the last point of your routine that says celebrate I'm interested how important is that
Bill also I think it's really important because I think I mean I'll start on that last Point first I think that um we are in a culture where negativity and and uh a sense of needing to be better do better um is strong and I think we need to stop and celebrate what we've done or even in in even in a point of like for example I I went out for a run about six weeks ago and blew my knee out slipped on some ice going down some stairs couldn't see it um yeah it's been horrible but in in all of that I'm so thankful for the support I've received from people around me like to me that's something to celebrate like I am so grateful and so lucky so it's it's Al it borders with gratitude so your celebrate means be grateful in a way
Sergey yeah
Bill 100% 100% be grateful for what you have that you have the ability to set goals and go after them like to me that's something that I celebrate and so yeah I like to think
40:21 Body, Mind, Family, Profession, Learning
Bill about a couple key areas in my life I like to think about my my body my mind my family my profession and my desire to learn new things and I like to set goals in those areas and just have a have a bearing Rod a focus I I like to think about it as a compass right so it it get get up every morning and like challenge myself like I wanted to become better at whatever yeah and I'm again I want to become more fit I want to to go try a new race I want to go whatever and I think it's great I think you and if you want to do it on the year standpoint I like to think about it as I as I grow older what am I focused on for this year of my life so that's how I think about it rather than the New Year
Sergey interesting so every every year you have an emphasis on something on some area wow can you and what were some of the
41:10 Focusing on Being Grateful and Open-Minded
Sergey recent mons for last two years for example what you've been focused on the most
Bill um I've really worked on growing with an understanding of uh being happier being happier okay yeah because I think I think that that is something that's really important to me is as I've got to this stage of my life I I want to be grateful and I want to be happy and I so I really tried to focus on thinking about things positive like just being being more open-minded and being more open to celebrating and recognizing things that are good rather than continually challenging myself on the things that I I feel like I could have done better yeah and it'sing on yourself yeah yeah that's a really because it's it's it just seems like there's an awesome opportunity for people to get stuck in that I'm never good enough strange and I and I want to celebrate that hey I'm happy really Happ like are there absolutely things that I'm not good at I want to be better at definitely but one of the things I really wanted to focus on and I'm trying to impart on my family and most partly my kids is you know what be happy yeah you know because here's the thing never
42:30 Challenging Yourself to Be Happy
Bill in my life as I have I had a material everything materially around me that I've wanted that's going to generate the happiness it's got to come from within you and you got to be grateful for what you have and so that's a me that's something I've really worked and focused on um as an from an emotional standpoint um I like to do races so I've tried to focus on hey I'm going to this year I'm going to do these are my three aaces um I'm going to I'm going to and I'm going to set goals for you know train for them and same with work I want these things to happen this year and I'm gonna you know here's how I'm going to go at it but I just like to have those things on paper and then I look at them on a regular basis and say how am I doing and you know and then I'm and I'm compassionate with myself like hey you had this idea you were gonna you know you're going to join the NFL this year guess what never going to happen you know so isn't a silly example but sometimes you got to be soft on yourself like hey but you know I've while I haven't executed 100% on my goal I've gotten stronger I've gotten more compassionate I've made my tangibles not only tangibles
43:43 Optimistic Goal-Setting and Year Conclusions Approach
Sergey I think T Robins says that people one of the biggest biggest weakness not weaknesses but problems that we that we think that we're we're not enough you know and I think right now I'm asking people from my network about their new year uh like uh goals setting routine you know how do they set goals or or how they conclude the year because I think and what I discovered is that some people they compare compare what they accomplish with what they with what they set so if they accomplish the goal but this this approach in itself is a a little negative to me because when you set goals there they could be a like a bit arbitrary especially when it's Financial goal you don't know right unless you're making fixed fixed salary you don't know how much money you're going to make if we're both entrepreneurs so setting an arbitrary goal and not hitting it and then in the end of a year you you you sit there and you lament about the fact that you didn't have hit your goal it's kind of it's not the right approach how about just list all the good things that you made what you accomplished cting the overall amount of money that you made is going to put a smile on your face so so what do you think will how are you concluding the year in in terms similar to these what are some maybe um techniques that you that you use just to to bring a smile on your face and make yourself feel happier a little bit
Bill I I I like to I like to recognize wins recognize wi okay let's say let's say I set a goal for myself and I don't hit it I but I made progress you made and so yes I celebrate the fact that I made progress so let's say I want my business independent of what the business is I want to make a million dollars this okay and I didn't you did I made six I made 650,000 and I'm just making these numbers up but I made 650 what did I learn what can I apply next year to do better so I always think about learning lessons and I think about this a lot of times do you write things down when you when you writing is big part right of it yeah just to recognize success in in in the pursuit of whatever you're going after and I try and focus on that like you know cuz in that Delta between what you set as a goal and what you achieved is learning and you can get and and what do I need to do to get better or was it even a realistic goal and but I think that's an important aspect of thinking about achieve achievement in general um you know do it's absolutely natural to fill disappointment or frustration um but there's definitely good learning lessons to walk away where you can you can do better based on that experience
46:59 Do You Have to Reduce Things From Your Life after 40
Sergey I remember our mutual friend Joel Cheesman said once that he tries to remove things from his life he wants to make his life simpler rather than when I when I propose something he said that you know we have to think about it from this perspective like will it put a lot more um work you know what is your uh how how in you know because Sylvester stalon I think he said that until the age of 40 the life is uh like a surplus it's like adding things to your life and post 40 it's losing things so uh yeah it's kind of philosophical and and even and even painful uh acknowledgement but do you remove things from your life intentionally uh do is simple simpler better for you
Bill well so what I'm he what I'm hearing is that from from 0 to 40 is a time of exploration and experimentation oh this is how we can interpret yeah yeah and then and then in and using that analogy at 40 there's an acknowledgement of what I like what I don't like what I'm good at what I'm not good at self-awareness you you become self-aware and then from that self-awareness you can then focus on the things that truly bring you whatever whatever you value and so so the the reduction is happening for me because I'm aware hey I don't like that yeah you you don't have time to mess around anymore right it's just yeah it's just like well just the value of that it's you start to you start to I don't know look for an Roi of your time in your focus and so for me um maybe a while ago I would take a take a take a painting class where maybe today I'm like I'm not a good painter I'm okay with that I don't need to go paint anymore yeah so so if somebody said hey let's do this I'd be like you know well the learning curve is too too big well it's it's just the the output doesn't is not going to bring me any value um and I've tried it in the past or something like that so for so I understand that it's it's it's for me it's not doing less it's doing things that I've already know are going to that I've already found to be really value based activities for me you know so um yeah I I that's how that's what I heard
Sergey yeah but this is what you just said is promising from this perspective like a lot of people right now they want to be successful I don't know 25 30 the the social media it feeds the de satisfaction and frustration that I'm not a millionaire yet dude you're like 30 you're a baby you know this is what I learned from Gary ve he constantly says that you're all babies because he started his uh agency the biggest liter largest agency in the world it's like 45 or something you know so what you're saying is that at 40 you have a deep understanding of what you love what you're good at right and you can finally start looking for the activities with the highest possible Roi so I think there was some stat that the most successful entrepreneurs are actually not the Mark Zuckerberg's of the world and others that're actually in their 40s and going into 50s even so it's really really exciting to understand that I'm 35 that my best years are coming up and I'm not losing on anything at this point
Bill yeah I mean there's a wide spectrum of how people reach that point of I don't know Enlightenment or whatever it is Enlightenment you know and maybe some people are born with it I definitely see people out there that are outliers in their capabilities like you know there's people who are amazing athletes or amazing business people or amazing musicians and that's great but that's the minority of people like I think the majority of people are like I'm lost and I'm floating yeah and so I'm just gonna try a bunch of stuff and that can be personally it can be professionally um so I so then you really need to go back and and I think as we get older we get more experience under our belt so we can do this faster and start thinking about am I going to enjoy this yeah is this something I want to add to my activity level um and if it if you know I I I I I mean the thing for me is that I also try and keep an open mind to continually to try new things and not get routine based and stuck in patterns
51:53 Importance of Experimentation in Life and Business
Sergey as you said earlier you you actually are a novel to sicker but what from what you're saying it seems like the um like the the understanding that you're becoming better and you're enjoying it the new thing should come almost immediately otherwise why why why why waste your time right
Bill yeah if you I mean like I I I uh I definitely can appreciate Joel saying I'm trying to do less because he knows what he wants to do yeah um and I can appreciate Sylvester Salone saying hey uh after 40 I've identified what I like what I don't like so I'm doing less but I'm doing more of what I enjoy cool and that I don't know that's my personal opinion other people could probably have a have very wide points of view which is awesome and uh and I and I like that but you know that's how I'm that's what I'm hearing
52:50 Last Message from Bill
Sergey so as a where uh satisfying note you know to uh wrap up this conversation to understand that it's you know it's never never too late you should try things out maybe you can leave us with um the last message uh as we're getting into 2025 um from professional personal perspective uh the floor is yours
Bill yeah for me what I continually challenge myself is to experiment often fail fast and learn from those experiences um goal setting business personal um the difference today is the experimentation is much more focused on areas that I really enjoy and uh so that's that's what I continually try and think about is like you know what am I going to go do what do I want to learn what do I want to try at work what do I want to try you know for racist you know silly things but it it's like a little bit of a guiding rod for me and it helps and uh you know because at the end of the day I don't mind challenge I don't mind discomfort I don't mind being in tough spots but I want to be happy while I'm there uh and and at least have a mission and a goal and a vision of what I'm trying to reach so it it's not it's not always perfect but that's kind of where my head's always trying to be at
Sergey great conversation uh that was Bill fenning everybody and where can people find more information uh stuff like that some of the sources that people can find you or check out your stuff
Bill so on LinkedIn I'm easy to find there um and then if you go to talk.com all one word you can learn more about our community if you're a TA professional good news it's free I think it has value and uh you know if you're you know to go back to do doing less it's a central repository to get better at your career in Talent acquisition so if that's an area you're working it's pretty cool come check it out
Sergey cool thank you Bill thank you very much you're looking for a quality video production provider look no further my name is Sergey and I own Beverly production we are video production agency from Ukraine you know we helped entrepreneurs to create incredible online offline podcasts and clips that drive interest you know to promote your podcast as a podcaster myself I early realized that there are not that many podcasts that put an emphasis on quality and creativity you know just making your videos look really really cool that's why we mix our videos up with uh different visual aids sound effects flasher transitions we do Dynamic switching and other cool creative things that just set apart your podcast from your competition you can check our samples on the website and uh we also help people to post the videos so we take over YouTube management and we can also around Tik Tok and Linkedin for you so if you're interested in something of this kind don't hesitate to book a call with me uh the contexts are available on the website thanks a lot