Interview with Mary Voss

Jul 9

JULY 8, 2024 | 00:42 | Episode 24

Mary Voss on the importance of having the right talent, a cohesive leadership team, and a strong company culture

In this conversation, Jothy Rosenberg interviews Mary Voss, an experienced HR professional, about the importance of human resources in startups. They discuss the factors that contribute to the success of early-stage companies, such as having the right talent, a cohesive leadership team, and a strong company culture. They also touch on the importance of behavioral interviewing and the value of experience in hiring decisions. Mary shares her philosophy of hiring no bozos and the significance of trust and efficiency in a small team. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the importance of dignity in the hiring and firing process.

ABOUT MY GUEST

Mary Voss

Mary Voss specializes in fostering and leading work environment through inclusion and diversity initiatives and practices. She is currently VP Human Resources and Talent Acquisition at Trivium Corporate Solutions. Mary’s practice is an unusual blend of hitting the bullseye target with the right talent at the right time, while strategically focusing on assessing for the human behavioral characteristics to improve a company’s culture.

Mary has placed senior level diversity talent in many leading companies, as well as emerging companies, including Google, Genentech, Netflix, Synopsys, Wells Fargo, Juniper Communications, Cisco, Intuit, Nvidia, Cadence, KLA-Tencor and 400+ others. Mary has a history of helping companies diversify their corporate Boards and their leadership teams.

Mary led the internal Global Talent Acquisitions function at EMC, for all West Coast divisions, delivering the talent needed to grow beyond the $6B annual revenue rate within three dynamic, varied business units. Mary led the internal Talent Acquisition function at Marketo, a SaaS company.

She was also a leader in developing and implementing integrated and strategic initiatives for inclusion and diversity at EMC, Marketo, and Uhana which dramatically changed the landscape, mindset and decision making practices. Mary has passionately developed and driven inclusion and diversity initiatives that were critical components of building thriving organizational cultures at EMC, Marketo and Uhana.

Mary has been an advisor to many leaders in the technology and fintech worlds, which naturally occurred as she built Foxhunt, a staffing firm that she built up to a $30M annual run rate within 5 years and continued to lead for 17 years.

Mary and Jothy met at MasPar in 1989 when both were just starting out on their startup adventures..

Summary

Takeaways

Early-stage companies need to focus on having the right talent, a cohesive leadership team, and a strong company culture to succeed.
Behavioral interviewing is an effective way to assess a candidate's values, motivations, and fit within the organization.
Experience is important in the early days of a startup as it allows individuals to make informed decisions and navigate the fast-paced environment.
Hiring no bozos and fostering trust within the team leads to efficiency and productivity.
Dignity is crucial in both the hiring and firing process, ensuring respect and a positive experience for all individuals involved.

Sound Bites

"Caring about the people that you're bringing into the organization and spending a whole lot of time on the cultural fit."

"You have to have fun, especially when you're working that hard."

"Looking at motivation and the ability to learn and just the softer skills and how they're going to fit in with the team."

Links

Mary’s company Trivium: https://www.trivium.com/

Please leave us a review: https://podchaser.com/DesigningSuccessfulStartups

Tech Startup Toolkit (book): https://www.manning.com/books/tech-startup-toolkit

Jothy’s website: https://jothyrosenberg.com

The Who Says I Can’t Foundation: https://whosaysicant.org

Jothy’s TEDx talk on disabilities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNtOawXAx5A

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