Who You Hire is Who You Become: In startup mode, it’s easy to recruit from a reactive place, where the focus is on putting out fires rather than building the culture that will help you reach your business goals. Often, early stage hiring starts with the founder’s immediate circle, such as college classmates or even relatives. But as a business scales, early hires may not level up. Conflicts can arise and resentments burrow into the firm’s culture. Think of hiring as ground zero for building a company culture. If you get it wrong culture, you will stunt your business’ growth.
As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tracy Lawrence.
Tracy L. Lawrence is the Founder and CEO of The Lawrence Advisory. The Lawrence Advisory is known for hiring, coaching and building high-performing teams with an emphasis on innovation and performance. Lawrence was recently named the first Executive-in-Residence at USC’s Marshall School of Business.
Prior to launching The Lawrence Advisory, Tracy Lawrence led the Los Angeles based Consumer and Entertainment practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the world’s largest recruiting and assessment firms. Previously, Lawrence served as General Manager of Fox Family Channel, leading the cable network until its sale to The Walt Disney Company for more than five billion dollars, the largest price ever paid for a cable network.
Lawrence uses her real-world expertise to advise Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, asset management companies, media and technology companies, and non-profits in creating teams that drive growth and performance. She has held leadership roles at Viacom, Kraft, Nestle, and PWC.
Lawrence frequently speaks about her “hire//build//lead” model of organizational development, which focuses on incorporating strategic goals into the hiring process for long term sustainability. Stanford University, Harvard Business School, the Aspen Institute and University of Southern California are among the places where Lawrence has lectured and shared her experience and knowledge.
Lawrence earned her BA in Economics from Stanford University and her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I spent the first half of my career as a marketing executive in the television industry. I loved the work, but I am the kind of person who needs to keep moving forward. After over 15 years in this business, I was ready to move on, and was looking for something more entrepreneurial. When a major executive search and assessment firm approached me to lead their entertainment practice, I decided to give it a try. I soon realized two things. First, my passion for understanding how people think and what motivates them is what drew me to marketing in the first place. Second, leadership and recruiting work aligns with that passion. After only two years with the recruiting firm, I started my own leadership consulting firm. Building up and running my firm has been both meaningful and creative work; it has also given me the freedom and the chance to make deeper connections with my clients.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
The hardest part about starting my firm was overcoming my own fears. I was raised to value the security and prestige that comes with a big corporate job. But, despite the advantages and the many lessons I learned from working for some of the world’s most recognized brands in entertainment, I knew the day would come when I would swap corporate life with the life of an entrepreneur. As soon as I moved past my fear, I was off to a fast start.
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
When I know I am on the right path, I stay focused, listen to my intuition, and work hard. A relentless optimist, I invest my time and energies on the opportunities rather than the dead ends.
So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?
I am incredibly proud of where The Lawrence Advisory is right now. We’ve tripled in size over the past few years and have continued to grow despite the pandemic. Much of this growth stems from our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practice’s rapid expansion. This is work we have always done, but it’s been exciting to see that companies are prioritizing it at higher levels in light of the social justice movement.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I began talking to prospective clients, I was so focused on convincing people to hire me that I hadn’t thought through what to do when someone actually did. For the first few months, I didn’t have a business name, I didn’t know how to write an invoice, and I didn’t have a company bank account. I was flying a plane while putting it together! With so many balls in the air, I worried I would drop one. Fortunately, none of the few I dropped were deal breakers.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
We work more closely with clients than other firms in the business do. This gives us several advantages. We’re able to keep track of their evolving issues and anticipate solutions they’ll need. Because we’re able to stay relevant, not to mention provide a higher level of service, we can build longer-term relationships with our clients. Just as important, we are leadership experts first. Combining our approach and expertise has given us a unique perspective and depth of understanding of our clients’ firm culture and who will not only fit in but succeed. Take our Diversity Equity, and Inclusion practice as an example. As leadership experts, we don’t simply deliver bias training — we help clients operationalize their DEI goals to deliver real results.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Boundaries are crucial to business owners. They’ll help you focus on what’s important and let go of what’s not. Adopting practices for wellness and renewal is also important. I meditate daily and try to spend as much time as possible in nature. My best ideas emerge from these practices.
Also, as a mother of two, I carve out time and space to be fully present with my children.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
My father was my inspiration. He pursued a career in electrical engineering at a time when few Black men did. He was a smart, fierce individualist, who encouraged me to stake my own path rather than live according to the values and priorities of others. Even when I tried and failed, I could count on him to be in my corner and cheer me on.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I love mentoring young students and professionals of color. For the past two years, The Lawrence Advisory has partnered with the Emma Bowen Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports college students of color interested in the entertainment and media industry. We manage the Launch career activation program, focused primarily on college seniors, offering workshops, matching them with mentors from the industry, and providing on-going support to prepare them to begin their careers. It’s incredibly rewarding to be able to provide advice and support to these incredible young people.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
Never lose sight of your vision: Founding a new business is creating something where nothing existed before. The ideation is the fun part, but tactical execution makes it come to fruition. It’s hard work, and it becomes easy to lose sight of your long-term vision. What’s more, I find that as we reach each milestone, our long-term goals may shift as new information emerges. It’s vitally important to keep an eye on the big picture while executing on details.
Who You Hire is Who You Become: In startup mode, it’s easy to recruit from a reactive place, where the focus is on putting out fires rather than building the culture that will help you reach your business goals. Often, early stage hiring starts with the founder’s immediate circle, such as college classmates or even relatives. But as a business scales, early hires may not level up. Conflicts can arise and resentments burrow into the firm’s culture. Think of hiring as ground zero for building a company culture. If you get it wrong culture, you will stunt your business’ growth.
Stay in Your Zone of Genius: The best use of my time is focusing on those tasks that only I can do. In my case, it’s working directly with senior leadership for certain clients, developing business, and setting strategy. My philosophy is, “If someone else can do it 80% as well as you can, delegate it!”
Build a Container for Growth: I spend time each week thinking about where I want to be, and whether I have systems in place that will allow me to get there. From accounting to legal policies to hiring practices, my business will not scale if I have not created the appropriate infrastructure to do so.
Under Promise, Over Deliver: My firm has had great success maintaining long-term relationships with clients because we understand their needs and frequently deliver above and beyond expectations.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My movement would be about developing empathy across cultures, on a global scale. I believe that when people truly see each other in all of their humanity, they are able to act from a place of love and compassion. From there, good things follow!
How can our readers follow you on social media?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyllawrence/
Tracy Lawrence of The Lawrence Advisory: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.