%20(1).png)
Team Performance
Relational Capital: Why Your Network Is Your New Competitive Edge
Within the next 3 years, there will be so much AI, in particular AI video, people won’t know if what they see or hear is real. Which will lead to an explosion of f2f engagement, events and jobs.
Interim Talent
The Three Things Every Leader Wants From a Team Offsite (And How One Leader Actually Got Them)
Most well-designed team offsites feel incredible…in the moment. The biggest challenge is what happens next. Where does the energy go?
%20(1).png)
Executive Search
Team Performance
What Would Change If Everyone Could See Everything?
When I was learning to drive, my older brother gave me a lot of advice (I’ll spare you most)…but one nugget stayed with me. He said: imagine your name and phone number are printed on your license plate.
%20(1).png)
Executive Search
Team Performance
How Founders Are Rethinking Team Building in the AI Era
In our recent work with growth-stage leaders, we’re seeing a fundamental shift in how they approach hiring, development, and team structur…
Team Performance
Employee Experience in 2025—A Competitive Advantage, Not a Cost
Imagine beginning your January executive team meeting with a question from your colleagues to justify an investment in the company’s employee experience (for example, one investment we are hoping to see more of is examining work patterns to evolve the mix between synchronous and asynchronous work).
Team Performance
If Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast, Does Your P&L Reflect The Opposite?
Every joyride has its naysayers. In the last 20 years, tech giants like Amazon and UBER have raked in billions on the backs of tech-fueled innovations and efficiency.
%20(1).png)
Executive Search
AI Isn’t the Problem. How We’re Leading Through It Is
Here’s a warning signal we can’t ignore: the employees getting the biggest productivity gains from AI are also twice as likely to quit.
Executive Search
Strategic Hiring in a Shifting Market
Here’s what we’re seeing with growth-stage companies: The ones who hire well aren’t just moving fast — they’re clear about what they need.
Interim Talent
Thought Leadership
IPO on the Horizon? How Strong People and Financial Systems Make or Break Readiness
As we support leadership teams through their IPO journey, we’re seeing a clear pattern: the companies that succeed treat going public as an operational evolution, not just a financial milestone.
Team Performance
Leadership blind spot: Who’s getting side-eyed?
Have you met Chad? Popularized on TikTok and other social platforms, creators refer to Chad as a brash, overly self-confident caricature whose unquestioning belief in his abilities is the key to his success. As we know, humor only lands when there is that internal “yessss” of truth.
Team Performance
The Real AI “Jobs” Problem Few Are Talking About
Our friend, Morra Aarons-Mele, HBR author and consultant, called out CEOs last month for “deliberately anxiety provoking” their teams about AI job losses. She’s right, dangling the threat of obsolescence isn’t leadership, it’s counter-productive.
Interim Talent
Fractional Hiring: It’s Different
You just had your fifth (but who’s counting?) coffee date with that friend who’s been on the dating apps for months, with results so bad they are seriously considering hiring a matchmaker. They are tired of mushing about in a muck of misleading profiles the algo keeps serving up because it doesn’t know any better.
Executive Search
Finance Leadership: The Wind in Your Sails During Uncertainty
When the economic weather forecast is stormy with a side of WTAF, companies need a firm hand at the financial helm. Whether your company phase is a startup scull, a mid-size speedboat, or an enterprise-sized ocean liner, unpredictable conditions call for calm, wise navigation.
Team Performance
Does Power Deserve a Second Look?
Today’s polarizing headlines agree on one point: Power is inescapable. If we aren’t mastering it effectively, it’s likely that someone else’s agenda is taking priority. And not only in the political arena. Power in the workplace shapes hiring decisions, team dynamics, and leadership effectiveness.
Thought Leadership
Communicating Trust to Employees: Building Ambassadors, Not Activists
In late January, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, sent a memo complaining that his communications in meetings were constantly being leaked. What happened next?…
Executive Search
Hiring Mistakes Suck. Here’s What to Do Next.
Sonos, a leader in premium audio products, launched a much-anticipated app update in May of last year. The result? Chaos. User outrage, device failures, a layoff, and a public apology tour from the CEO who then stepped down this month with an approximate $500m cost overall.
Executive Search
Interim Talent
Team Performance
Truth Telling - Pruning Teams is Messy
Do you like to garden, or do you like when someone else helps you with your garden? Or… do you like to smell the flowers and call *that* gardening? (We see many hands raised.) Our CEO Sally appeared on Luvvie Ajayi Jones’ recent podcast, and Luvvie called it “Pulling the Weeds.”
Interim Talent
Community vs Culture (a subpart of Compensation)
Last month we took a tour of some nuanced strategies to optimize employees’ total reward package. This month we’re addressing what might be called the long (or middle?)
Interim Talent
What Deserves Your Attention in Compensation? Compensation Trends for July 2024
While RIFs are a CFO’s best friend (bell curve – we know some outliers), layoffs have other costs…
Interim Talent
How Can GenAI Facilitate Team Collaboration?
Promises, promises. Are all the emails and headlines about new AI tools giving your inbox odd vibes where you want to swipe left? Yes, AI
Interim Talent
Grow In Ways You Can Control: Reskilling in a Tech Downturn
We’re either growing or declining. We can tell you which one we prefer 🙂 The winds of economic change are shifty. Shifting too, but also
Team Performance
Adapting is Basic. Try This Instead.
Adapting is Basic. Try This Instead. If there were an over-used word in the teamwork/HR landscape in the last couple of years, it would probably
Interim Talent
The Future of HR/People Ops is more than human.
The level of complexity (and, dare we say it…’strategic’ issues) in the lap of the Chief People Officer is real. And while GenAI will play
Team Performance
Return to Office Power Struggles- What’s Below the Surface
RTO is surfacing old and new power struggles between employers and employees. And the power base continues to shift. Employers who champion RTO cite productivity
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
Your Energetic Throughline
Where are you going while doing all the things? If remote work is the post-pandemic holy grail, why are people still so tired?
Team Performance
The Company You Keep - Energizing or Exhausting?
The answer matters. A lot. Here’s why, plus some helpful tips. Have you reflected recently on which communities really charge you up? We’ve been thinking
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
PeopleOps / HR - From Early Stage, to Growth, to Iconic Company… What is needed?
No matter what size company you’re in right now, these challenging economic conditions can feel like “uncertain waters.” Startups can feel like scull boats crewed
Team Performance
After Layoffs: What to Do When the Smoke Clears
How to increase flow and reduce friction for remaining teams. While layoffs may achieve some short-term corporate objectives, they can wreak havoc with existing PeopleOps
Team Performance
Recession or not? It’s getting hot out there.
Time to call in the smokejumpers. Throughout 2022, the financial press kept us on the edge of our seats, predicting a recession that has yet
Interim Talent
How Learning Saves You Time
Are you a learning machine? And how do you view learning – as a separate act, integrated into your job, or both? For many leaders,
Inclusion & Diversity
Thought Leadership
What’s Essential For High Team Performance?
A couple of years ago the term “special snowflake” was making the rounds on the interwebs as a bit of a swipe at the millennial
Team Performance
Successful Teams - Clarity Provided by Oracles from Omaha, Harvard, and Tibet
Teams (well, good teams) are the key to worker wellness and retention When you add quiet quitting to the Great Resignation , employees are clearly
Thought Leadership
Inclusion & Diversity
Recruiting
Rough Seas Ahead
Do you need an HR or Marketing Octopus or Shark for Year End? Fewer resources. Less stress. Those two variables don’t usually go together. The
Team Performance
Hybrid + Economic Uncertainty is Hard. Recent Science Has Some Answers…
Even though remote and hybrid work may feel like a frustrating puzzle that keeps changing, the truth is knowledge workers have been edging closer to
.png)
Interim Talent
The Cure for Quiet Quitting
First, there was the Great Resignation. Which led to the difficult job market. And now there’s something new (because of course). It’s called “quiet quitting”
Interim Talent
Everyone’s Creative. CEOs to CPAs. Unlock Your Innovative Spirit (AND Your Team’s)
Ideas can come from anyone. Case in point: White Out was invented by a typist. It’s not limited to design or artistic roles. Your creative
Interim Talent
Make Your Team Magical: How-to Leverage An Intergenerational Workforce
Real quick. It’s hard for companies (especially with this whole remote vs. hybrid vs. onsite cyclone storm still spinning) to retain “up and comer” talent.
Interim Talent
4 Essentials in The Future of Teams
Here’s what we’re seeing across our clients. A colossal level of exhaustion. A tight labor market. Nervousness about returning “just the right amount” back to
Team Performance
The Future of Skills: What is Your Skills Journey to 2025?
Half of us (just not you or me, right?) will need to reskill or upskill in the next five years, according to this article in
Interim Talent
The Future of Teamwork: Hybrid & Evolving
The future of teamwork for organizations is: kind of messy. It's more complicated than where we work...it's about how we team, and how we manage
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
Avoiding How Bonus Season Can Also Be Exit Interview Season
We typically see a lot of movement into and out of companies this time of year, and it’s no coincidence that as bonuses come out…
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
Inclusion & Diversity
What to Bring into 2022
Big breaths... at the start of 2020, we were filled with optimism for a new world. We had a vaccine and hope that some things…
Recruiting
Sourcing alone does not equal success
Sourcing is important. So is sourcing “through the yes.” How do you build long-term relationships to ensure that both the company and the candidate are…
Interim Talent
Recruiting
The Antidote To The Great Resignation
It’s not easy, and also, it’s not that hard. What it is: putting someone (or a small team depending on your company size) focused on…
Recruiting
How to change the odds in recruiting well with executive search
Like how being famous, rich and powerful must also mean you’re exhausted, have no time for your family and are quite likely just an unpleasant person to be around.
Thought Leadership
*Clink* Cheers to 10 years of learning and GSD...
Wow. A decade. Forshay is a 10-year-old, and to toast to our anniversary, we wanted to celebrate with you (cue your favorite dance tracks --…
Thought Leadership
Intention: The Secret Ingredient to The Future of Work
In the beforetimes, most of us operated under a set of default beliefs about the “ideal worker.” The person who showed up every day, worked…
Recruiting
Top 3 Tips to Hire in a Tight Labor Market
We know it’s not news that the hiring landscape is challenging right now. (In case you want more details, though, here’s a link to our…
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
So much work. Too few people. How to solve it.
Not sure if you’ve heard the news (j/k we totally know you have), but hiring is not much fun right now. The whiplash from early…
Inclusion & Diversity
Recruiting
Performance is not predicted by experience
Counter intuitive ah-hahs are so intriguing, aren’t they? Well this is a big one. Who was hired at your company (or your prior company) and…
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
Health. Pie. And Feelings. Ingredients to Beat Burnout.
When you think of health, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it taking care of yourself with images of yoga, or maybe…
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
The Trick to Negotiating That Raise? Science.
Salary negotiations can be tough at any level, from associate to C-suite. Compensation packages are made up of a lot of moving parts, and people’s…
Inclusion & Diversity
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
Worried about losing key employees? How to keep talent today...and tomorrow
The number one question we get asked this time of year is how to slow down turnover as people look at the year ahead and…
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
True or False: Interviews are Awesome
Trick question. They’re equal parts awesome and terrible. But they don’t have to be. Here are some ways to make them better all the way around.
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
The science behind a healthy work-life blend
The science behind a healthy work-life blend What’s the perfect recipe for the most delicious work-life smoothie? There isn’t just one, but here’s ours. Add…
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
Hiring? Consider the Individual vs Team Sport Approach
Sometimes, we all need a hero. But other times, we need the entire Justice League. We (the royal “we”) used to think of hiring talent as an individual sport.
Thought Leadership
Want to Give Feedback that is Heard and Acted On? Look to Science.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. You’ve told the same employee the same feedback approximately 5 million times (give or take). And yet…
Interim Talent
Pros and Cons of Interim Hiring
What are the three advantages to hiring interim professionals and what might be a drawback (and how do you mitigate that)? Get the insider info…
Interim Talent
Typical Interim Project length
Discover the typical length of time our clients hire interim marketing and HR roles in this quick hit video from Sally Thornton.
Recruiting
What’s awesome and what’s not-so-much.
What is your number one rule in hiring? Sally Thornton, CEO and Founder of Forshay shares what’s worked best for her team + clients.
Inclusion & Diversity
Thought Leadership
Recruiting
Weirdos Wanted: Discover The Power of Outsiders
Let’s be real. Fitting in can be overrated. After all, the people who make history aren’t conventional. Being an outsider may feel like a bad…
Inclusion & Diversity
What’s New in the Science on Mindsets
You may have heard of two different kinds of mindsets. Growth and Fixed. Fixed mindsets believe there’s a right way and a wrong way, that…
Thought Leadership
Why Every [Excellent] Leader Is a Behavioral Scientist
Often, leaders come to us looking for the answer in their continual quest to improve inclusion and diversity. Yet, my experience in the inclusion and…
Thought Leadership
Making Parental Leave Work
Babies = Improved Teamwork (Wait, What?) Bad news headlines get clicks. I get it. Well thank you for being a rebel, as this is a…
Thought Leadership
The Science of Having it ALL
Control. We love it. We need it. And not just the so-called Type A people — we all need it. Especially when there is more…
Thought Leadership
When Your Family Life (Completely, Absolutely, Utterly) Changes Your Work Direction.
When we drive cars we think we’re in control. We don’t take stock of our lives, our impact, and what we want to say to our families if we’re about to die.
Recruiting
Navigating Your Career (Lessons from Reid Hoffman & The Office)
When you think of Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn, you probably think he’s reasonably qualified to give advice on careers. I happen to think he’s…
Recruiting
Inclusion & Diversity
Double-edged Sword of Referrals
Referrals are great for getting more info and determining culture fit. But what is the shadow side (hint: diversity), and how can you mitigate it?…
Recruiting
How to Hire Fast?
Imagine you need to hire someone quickly. Perhaps your company’s hockey-stick growth isn’t exactly aligning with how many people you need to deliver or maybe your key marketing leader is moving to London?
Thought Leadership
Social Scientists say #EmbraceTheAwkward to Save Lives From Coronavirus
#EmbraceTheAwkward is a social science-based movement to save lives from coronavirus. According to the World Health Organization, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has already…
Recruiting
Building Your Career - What Matters?
We hear it so often: Follow your passions. Do what you love and the money will follow. But then we keep listening for more specific…
Inclusion & Diversity
How to Build More Inclusive Team Dialogue
How to Build More Inclusive Team Dialogue At least until automation fully takes over, we all want to have a tangible impact on our work…
Recruiting
How to (professionally) woo + deliver in hiring
Build better teams. Learn the two key steps in energizing (and retaining) that key hire you just onboarded. Get pro tips from founder and CEO…
Inclusion & Diversity
Brené Brown on Privilege & What's Required in Diversity and Inclusion
Meeting celebrities does not change your life. 99% of the time. I haven’t seen any actual science backing this, but with social media flooding us…
Recruiting
Thought Leadership
Be Your Own Futurist
Here’s the fantastic thing about being a futurist — who knows if you’re wrong until much later? As much as I enjoy researching and exploring…
Thought Leadership
Not Just the Future of Work... the Future of Life
Imagine living past 100...say, to 122. Now imagine doing it with your favorite drink in your hand, laughing with your friends, and making profitable business…
Thought Leadership
The Trick with Culture...
Would you say “yes” to an invite from a venture capitalist firm to join some of the smartest people and learn about building an engaging…
Inclusion & Diversity
Linking Your Head and Your Heart in Inclusion and Diversity
I felt as if I was approaching my career in inclusion and diversity all wrong. Just like the practice of Inclusion and diversity, my career…
Inclusion & Diversity
Insights From the Field Part 4 — The 4 Leading Edge Actions Organizations are Taking Now to Drive Inclusion For Black Employees
Over the last month, we have hosted four peer learning dialogues that convened leaders, practitioners, scientists, and thinkers to share challenges and insights on the…
Inclusion & Diversity
Insights From the Field Part 3 — Companies Use Juneteenth to Reflect & Strategize on Anti-racism
This week the social justice movement ignited by the police killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and too many others, has shifted. Calls…
Inclusion & Diversity
Insights From the Field Part 2 — How Companies Are Taking Action on Anti-racism
This week we honored George Floyd’s life in memoriam, we watched the world rise up with us in solidarity against racism, and we heard vehement…
We're on your team. Drop us a line to tell us how we can help.
