CareerXroads & Mark Smith: Live from The Shaker Vision Lab at UNLEASH America

[Music] Welcome everybody back recruiting community podcast. Uh we do weekly insights in the form of what we like to think is a pretty pleasant conversation. Uh where we connect with leaders, kind of talk about what’s top of mind for them, the work that they’re doing. Uh if you have not if you’re actually not on a treadmill and you’re actually watching us, uh you can see we’re not actually in the studio. We’re at the Unleash event uh here in Las Vegas. and uh our friends at Shaker have sort of sponsored the space for us uh to come in and have some chats with leaders as they go by. And I got to tell you, one of our favorite leaders uh who we’ve got some got some really interesting stuff that to talk about that has gone on in your life recently, some posts that you’ve made that that are getting a little bit of traction and some attention. Cool. Uh worthy of that. Uh so we’re excited. So if you want to you want to know what’s going on in space, cxr.works/mpodcast for past and uh future episodes. But let’s just jump right in. Sounds good. So Mark, why don’t you give um why don’t you give kind of a an escalator pitch of who is Mark Smith? Why should we be listening to what you have to say? A little bit about where you work because I don’t think a lot of people understand kind of the life-saving work that goes on in the organization that I think many they may know the the outcome and the work the product but they may not actually realize who Medronic is. They may have never heard that. Yeah. Thank you Chris. It was good to be here and thank you to Jacob. The decor this is going to be on video. It’s pretty home only. Yeah. Great mug. Uh so credit goes to team shaker for that. Uh so Mark Smith 23 years in TA now. So a long time. I feel like I’ve acquired the ability to to say I’ve got some wisdom. I’ve I’ve led internationally. I’m from England originally. I live in the States now. I’ve worked on both sides of the fence. We were talking earlier about this. Ranstad and the Deco the first years of my career. Uh so I I got to see what it is like to look after a client. So a very client focused lens. I was groomed by my leadership team to be client fixated and that was essentially the business business focus. How can we help drive this business? Obviously growl but they’re symbiotic I guess. Yeah. And then I went on the inside which was to Caterpillar my client. I became head of UK TA and then I grew up to be head of EMIA TA. So Europe, Middle East Africa and then I moved to the company Amazon, not the location. And then I had about 18 months at Amazon and forgive me Amazonians, but that’s about 5 years in like dog years. So it was a multiplier. 18 months. Yeah. Yeah. That’s when the gray commenced. And then I uh I had a call um from an old colleague at Caterpillar and um and then I joined SC Johnson as senior director global TA. That’s my uh movement out of automotive manufacturing into uh CPG. So great brands like Ziplock, Windex, etc. I don’t have to sell these anymore. Um but great brands. And then uh after a while I I needed something different. So I took a few calls and um Crab Hinds uh I moved to become the exact director of T. Uh some great brands again there. They’re easy to to think of. And uh after a couple years you know my wife and I didn’t particularly settle uh in Chicago. Yeah. And uh as a consequence that I you know she and I wanted to explore different places and then uh Minnesota came calling and a company called Medonic. Uh so Metronic are 100,000 people. Yeah. We have been around for 75 years. We should have a zoom in moment on this as well but 75 years. We’ve celebrated our 75 years right now. We’re actually approaching 76. Uh so we we’ve got a lot of uh uh experience and um uh technology uh within our organization. We’re actually fragmented into different groups but we’re well known for the first ever pacemaker but we also do a lot more in terms of diabetes uh meds surgical uh we do uh deep brain stimulation for which would help uh people that suffer from Parkinson’s. Uh so we cover an array of conditions and as you say I think a lot of people when they have an ailment or a condition it’s very personal it’s very private it’s very sensitive and with all due respect uh when we pick up you know a bottle of ketchup we may think of the brand when somebody wants to stay alive then they’re then thinking about the mechanics the the the pacemaker may cut not necessarily which manufacturer it is. So even when you have a consumer which is the patient, you got to forgive them for wanting to really focus on the the condition recovery. Yeah. So you know we we we’re also an organization that’s not jumping to start to sponsor the Super Bowl or the World Cup. That of course be great, but we rather put our research dollars uh you know into not into not so much into research talent but also re researching how we can save lives of patients. So it means that we have to operate differently uh in terms of how we uh entice people. I think once we get people’s attention with our missiondriven focus to alleviate pain, restore health, extend life and the cool stuff we do is hooked. People are hooked. But uh that’s me. Yeah. So I think people should listen to me. But yeah, we got Yeah. As a as a demand. Yeah. Yes. Well, I I absolutely agree. That’s why you’re here. I think um I think so what you say is really important because I think there are a lot of organizations that are kind of in the same boat. There are just brands that you you have never heard of but that just do phenomenal work. Uh and it’s the scale that you guys do the work at Metronic is just really really impressive. Yeah, it’s incredible. Yeah, it is. And I I’ve been spoiled because those brands like Caterpillar, they they you know they get this great brand because of the oh the boots. So it’s like no, but I’m glad you heard of us. But you know it’s the trucks and people know the yellow products. Amazon’s pervasive crap lines AC Johnson had these these house of brands. Yeah. Whereas Metronic it I I got lucky and and the the act the brand recognition according to my friends in corporate communications is a range of three to four out of 100. So it’s let’s say best case scenarios four out of the general public of a 100red would know who we are what we do. Oh wow. But I think a lot of that I would imagine maybe that they’ve just looked at the words medronic, electronics, medical. Uh so I I wonder I still would love to look at the data a little bit more but um I’ll say from my own studies when I told friends in the UK and Chicago I’ve got this job it was like one out of 10 who met Metronic were. So we’re not like Apple or Starbucks or Walmart and they’re in the like 99 out of 100. It’s kind of concerning who’s that one person that Yeah. So sheltered light. Yeah. Well, look, you’ve had uh you had a recent life event, right? Uh I’ I’d love to talk, however you’re comfortable talking about that a little bit because that seemed to have sparked a post that you made on LinkedIn that got quite a bit of traction. Yeah, it’s really really interesting read. Cool. Thank you. Yeah, so my tree cutting services uh days are now over just to be clear. Um I’m now exclusively TA. Uh I uh last August I was um with my wife in the yard helping out. This is all her fault clearly. Yeah, I’m joking. Um, but it’s not my I I offered to help and uh I was cutting branches and it was it was that the old um adage of uh you know the complacency kicks in the last 5 minutes of doing something whether you’re driving home and I was in the last 5 minutes of cutting trees and branches and uh I thought I’m going to go for this next one and I so I fully extended my ladders on the tree and uh my my foot was on the 9 foot marker and my I’m six foot so my head was 15t high off the ground and the ladders went right in slow motion for me. Oh man. And I I swung around to try and catch the tree or bear hug it or something crazy and I spun around and actually fell on the a rock. Uh so I I um I tore my ACL. I broke my arm. I had uh teeth fall out. I had a nasty gash on my head most I blacked out. I I was unconscious and uh like a boxer after being hit really really hard. Yeah, I was stumbling around like like my feet weren’t working. It was a real I’ve I’ve enjoyed uh bouts of judo jiu-jitsu boxing. I’ve never been hit as hard as that boulder. Yeah, I bet. In my head. And um as a as a consequence, I um uh I s trying to walk through our moment here as well. Sorry, we need bouncers to stop stop these uh people. Um yeah so I I had a concussion which is warning and I didn’t know I mean that’s there’s different types of concussion there’s more severe there’s more mild our class man is mild it’s a traumatic brain injury but as a consequence I where I hit my head is the area of the occipital lobe which is where one receives the data uh receives uh visual information u I’m sure like a neuroscientist is going to question me right now you’re wrong I don’t think there are any neuroscientists at unleash today but I could be But then in my network my like now now I’m in the medical sector but yeah the where it so the visual part was really tough so I couldn’t watch TV um I opted to read book reading books like the book you in front of us it’s a soft pages I it felt like on my eyes it was soft I could read um whereas uh neurologists were saying you may need to you need to measure it so I was doing like 30 minutes take an hour break doing 30 minutes but I couldn’t do a zoom I’d go dizzy, faint, nauseous, and I couldn’t multitask. So, as a consequence, I’ve had to uh hence the the idea of a book title. Yeah. I had to really focus on being present and I’ve had to change to our work. So, I read a vast array of productivity books from the compound effect to the the one we have in front of us, which is probably the best. Yeah. by Michael Hire at free to focus and just just to learn like you know help me as I navigate this situation where I have a um I get some of an impediment. Yeah. I I can’t take on vast arrays of meetings anymore. I can’t see as many people in a moment. Even a day like today, I’m probably gonna have to cut short because it it it aggregates it culminates and it gets very disorientating and dizzy and it results in nauseous, headache, sleepiness and it it all around just a feeling of pain uh in the head. So I’ve had to adapt how I work and it honestly it there’s a silver lining. It it it’s I mean I’ve read like recently in the last few years like from James Clear Atomic Habits to uh Jim Quick Limitless both of them actually had incidents involving their brain and where one one pit their head on a radiator Jim Quick when he was 9year-old and James Clear I think when he was young a youngster there was a baseball bat incident around his head um and they had to operate in different ways and I feel an empathy or a connection because I on my where I’m at and I’m who’s like them adapt and they had at a younger age and now they made wonderful books and careers probably I’m seeing u I’m seeing a little bit of maybe one day maybe one day I might you know I’m not looking for uh sly another career but um I’ I’ve took much uh comfort and learnings from from these great writers and uh so I I’ve learned a lot about really being smart u not this smart from IQ but being smart about what you do how you do it M I mean that’s got to be it’s got to go and I obviously it probably goes without saying and I I hate to oversimplify but I feel like this ripples into every every facet of your life. I’ I’ve adopted an approach where I use my time in a different way. Before, you know, prefall, I don’t want to say this, postall and prefall, prefall, I I would have numerous meetings like 12, 13, 14 a day. Sure. And I would just be multitasking. I recall, you know, respectfully to you, I apologize, but but being on the phone, sending a ping on Teams or a text and just being uh kind of omniresent. That’s most of us. Yeah, that’s most of us every day. Yeah. And I’ve learned that because I wasn’t too sure how this construct this construct being TBI, the traumatic brain injury is going to last. I I going to have to figure out ways. So I took to reading because I couldn’t watch like TV. Yeah. I wasn’t able to drive. I wasn’t really able to work. I had about 6 to 8 weeks off work full time. And shout out to my boss who stream Matt Walter. They were really supportive. and the lead and Jeff Marper as well, our our chairman and CEO, you know, all reached out and were very thoughtful and kind uh about about it and that was great time to work for a healthcare company that really cares about patients. I was a patient and um yeah, so I think how how I’ve had to do is is put limits um in in my schedule, you know. So I was I was just thinking as I was saying that it’s actually putting those limits to to create capacity and scope whereas before I didn’t have that uh give in my schedule whereas now I I I thank I I’m blessed to have support from Christy Hendrickson also another shout out and Christie has been extremely helpful as my um support to to schedule like I say generally no more than this number of meetings a day and um x number I’m not going to name it actually and uh we got to prioritize So I include her as almost like a mini chief of staff into what what’s priority? I’ve got to be selfish. So I’m much more selfish and I’m more focused on the prize. And if anything, it zoomed in uh as much as you hear me talking um very verbose, but so this is ironic, but uh cutting the waffle with the business and getting straight to how can we help the business be successful and not wasting our time uh moaning, bemoning, just get [ __ ] done. That’s another article I’ve got to just why are we here? We’re here for a company to change the shape of patience. And I think through this I say well I’m going to be leaner but we also need to have a leaner more focused attitude as a team in terms of these are these are our principles these are our pillars these are our priorities a lot of and we all we eat peas as well. Yeah. So yeah, he’s just just keeping focus and so this book in particular, Michael Hayatt, free to focus. It there’s some great tips in there around I should be on commission as well. I need to little something code at the bottom of the screen now. Uh I know like yeah some kind of donate to me uh page. But yeah, that there’s there’s some good tips there about like automate, what can you automate, what can you delegate, what can you eliminate. Uh some great tricks in that book in terms of with you know stopping the amount of notifications you get as well. And I I’m not I’m at the mercy to me not of all those that are in my world. Do you find um God I can’t believe I’m saying this. It’s a terrible joke, but you’ve now got sort of this touchstone, if you will, right? Where you’re you’re having to make really tough decisions about your time and be super guarded. And it’s great you’ve got the support all the way to the end, right? To be this guarded about your time. Are you finding that you go back to that touchstone and it and and it is it’s really driving your productivity or drive driving relationships increasing relationships with the teams as well. I would imagine this new approach that I’ve took it’s um I’m ahead I I’m much more diligent with to-do lists. Yeah, I’m I’m ahead of my my schedule. I’m I’m on top. So it’s it’s you know brevity the brevity of um moments and keeping focused on the agenda. Yeah. But I’m quite you see me now I’m talking I’m quite I hope authentic and me and real and all those things. I don’t want to I think my biggest challenge or fear was becoming less available. Um bit of a dick because it’s so important. Yeah. you know it it but I I have messages even coming to this event at unleash you know God bless all the sponsors and members I feel they got to determine an ROI of being here with with you know their models but I’ve had about 50 to 60 reach outs if you got 10 15 minutes but I said yes to all of them I wouldn’t be here sure I won’t be learning um and I’m having to be selfish now so I’m I’m that’s why I’m you know this is a priority I wanted to meet career crossroads allies of ours and and you and Jerry and Bob you know so I I wanted to make sure that I had some time with you guys. I’m speaking in a moment and I’m on a panel later. So I I want to be in moments that matter to me. So I think there’s a there’s an element of selfishness and also to your point about my life that no uh come Friday I have pride like I’m more fried than normal. I bet. Yeah. So my Friday meetings is less um because that that is actually a good time. It’s I’m not effective. I’m not as smart in meetings. So Fridays are like just me needs must meetings I would attend. But generally that’s my time to to catch up and to almost slow down ready for my weekend and my wife so that I can start to restore uh some mental capacity and capability. Yeah. There’s nothing as a younger leader I don’t think there’s anything inherently natural about if I have less meetings and if I spend less time with with this or with that I’ll be a better leader or I’ll I’ll know more. I’ll have more of an enriched viewpoint on these things. Like when we talk to folks who have gone through those things when we read books like like brevity or like uh free to focus or I mean I mean you’ve named quite a few in there like atomic habits and like really honing in on this is my mission statement. This is my my north star. Uh it does exactly that. It doesn’t seem like it should though. It seems like I should have 10 more meetings to be 10 times as productive. Doesn’t doesn’t seem to work that way. So true. Yeah, you’re right. Yeah. Well, I’m I’m not saying I do that. I’m I’m the guy who still has 15 meetings. I can help. That’s my Tuesday onetoone coaching on this. Yeah. I I feel if somewhere because of the the injury I felt thrust into it, but I feel also when some people say, “Oh, you know, like with worry and concern, is is this ever going to go away?” And honestly, you know, I’ve seen I’ve seen much worse injuries on much smaller heights. Yeah. And I’m absolutely grateful to be I in my head for 15 20 minutes I thought this is it. How embarrassing. This is how I die. It falls out of a tree. um so annoying like and I was saying it I was calling myself all sorts of British names which my friends would know um shaking my heads uh you know I was thinking this is how I die but that when when I come from that very dark mindset to um actually and I always think back to that that four in my head I wasn’t present I was thinking about hosting vendors like Paradox were with me the next day oh wow I had team members from Boston Australia with me I was thinking about them and it’s not their fault either. But it is me. I wasn’t present to the fact that I hadn’t secured the ladder. Yeah. It was my I own that, you know, and you know that tree and the branch is actually still hanging. Are you going to leave it? Yeah. The whole tree. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not. Yeah. A lot of my friends are really sadistic. They’re like, “When are we going to take that ever down? When’s that going to go down?” And I you know what it’s like it’s not it’s not like a territorial disc like the tree is not you know it was there’s no mad at the tree you know. Yeah. I’m not the tree you know I’m a I’m a hug the tree hugger. I tried to hug the tree but it was me. I was I was caught in the thing. I started the fight you know knock me out. I had thought of it like that. You did start picking the tree. I mean I kind of deserved the you know the blow. So yeah. No no no issue here. the tree. I walk to that tree most days just to be grateful. Actually, it’s become almost a So, I’m going to be sad in some ways when it falls off, but maybe there’ll be some other cathartic moment. It’s a spiritual blessing or something. But yeah, I I I I savor what happened in some ways. I know a lot of people say that, but it it was such a huge inconvenience. I mean, having a cast, having PT, I have to do PT every day and having dental work cuz, you know, uh it was painful. Uh the amount of work I I I failed on in terms I wasn’t catching up on time, but in hindsight, I’ve become a much more powerful leader. So, for Well, and Mark, I’m going to tell you like you’re going to talk about uh you know, you made me think you didn’t have a choice. You had to adjust. you had to make these changes. But I have to tell you like I think you had a choice and I think you could have fought this and I think you could have handled it different. I just think it speaks volumes to the type of leader and the type of person that you are that you’re embracing this and and doing what you can do with it and and having an outcome here that makes you more productive, more connected. Uh and I I applaud it and I applaud the fact that you’re so guarded with your time and I’m super grateful that you gave us some of it. Well, thank you. Thank you, sir. Yeah, it’s f absolutely fantastic. I appreciate that. Look, uh, we had other things to talk about, but what is David Letterman? David Letterman does that. It’s fine. I like that. It’s authentic. It’s authentic. Yeah. Let me ask you, I am gonna ask you this question. What is, if you were going to write a book, Yeah. If you’re going to write a book, uh, about, let’s just, we’re going to cheat about the state of the space, right? There’s the state of the industry, something TA leaders should be looking out for. What would the title do you think is sort of that book kind of what’s going on in the space? Before the title, I’ll say and I’ll probably lead towards the title. I’ll create a title, but I I’ve been in various meetings, even being here, and there’s been a lot of discussions around AI, AI in particular. Yep. And there’s a lot of sound bites that’s come along with this. And I think there’s a lot of BS as well with this as well. I I think that there’s there’s this point of discussions around taking the team with you. other leaders that h have a leadership leader uh have hackathons um this is normal that’s called collaborations whether it’s uh AI or a new regulation or uh a new workday new government it’s you collaborate you collaborate so you’re collaborating around something new and different is my view with this I think that the piece is missing and I think the same with RTO as well I hear a lot of topic discussion around RTO know uh hybrid or remote or flights all these things and it I think there’s a there’s the piece here around you’ve also got to work hard so if I had a book it would be around probably towards the employees the candidates is work [ __ ] hard to school but I don’t know if you might think that but work really hard I’ve worked really hard when I see the great talent they’ve worked really hard. They’re not moans. They’ve not been over focused on on the feelings, you know, they’ve been really focused on getting great work done. Uh so, so I think in in a lot of these like moments I’ve been involved with, hence why I walked out of a session earlier was it’s just a lot of uh pontification and and waste. We’re talking about something that either is not going to go away or we’re just codifying in new words what we already know. It’s let’s collaborate. But man, biggest advice to people right now is uh don’t expect life for free and you got to work really hard if you want to achieve something whatever that something is uh just work hard simple. I love it. I have to tell you my own as I kind of age in this space um and going on almost 30 years and I’m now in my 50s. Okay. I have become such a fan of people who master their craft. Yeah. Who lean all in on us. So this idea of influencers and freaking, you know, cool kids and all that, it’s just noise. Yep. Great. And I just want to talk to people like you who were just leaning in and just master the work and and have a passion for doing that work. Yeah. I would read your book. Thanks. Yeah. Thank you. All right. So the spin question at the end here. Do we do this also? Oh, cool. Present company excluded because that’s the cheat answer. Yeah. Who gets your first signed copy of the book? Pirates. Well done. Yeah. Well done. My parents. Yeah. They’re my first teachers, you know, my first managers, my first director, my first CEO, you know, they they they taught me uh so they they their their codes, their learnings, their their teachings helped me on the app, so it would make sense for them. Oh man, you’re a good man, Charlie Brown. I love it. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Look, uh you can catch uh past episodes and and the ones that are ahead at cxr.works/mpodcast. /mpodcast. Want to thank Shaker for giving us a space to sit down and have a chat. And we’ll see everybody next week.