Harnessing the right talent is an absolute for any organization to leave its mark in the fiercely competitive current market. Organizations around the world are in search of adept professionals who can comprehend the critical needs of the industry and empower organizations through their notable contributions. The jewel in the crown of LMC Group, its Founder and CEO Kristen Carroll, has enabled numerous organizations to achieve their visions by nurturing and providing business guidance. In an interview with Insights Success she shares her comprehensive approach towards the business and some instances that have shaped her rise.
Below are the highlights of the interview between Insights Success and Kristen.
Give a brief overview of your background and your role in LMC Group.
I never envisioned a traditional career for myself, reporting to the same office to do similar work each day, so entrepreneurship is a natural fit for me. However, while most entrepreneurs do not have the foundation of a traditional corporate background, I was fortunate to work in some large global organizations before breaking out on my My background is in talent acquisition and management, primarily in the healthcare industry. Early in my career I spent several years as the Director of Talent Management and Workforce Planning in a large healthcare system in Boston before launching my own human resources and business consulting firm. In 2014, I assembled a team of experts and founded The LMC Group to provide management services to organizations of all different sizes and scopes, helping to select and manage top-tier talent, developing and executing their strategic vision, and ensuring their financial and operational health.
In the initial phase of The LMC Group, I acted as our principal consultant, but as our team grew, I was quickly able to shift to the CEO role. I still provide some consulting services, but far more of my time is spent as our chief visionary and strategy officer. My goal from the beginning was to nurture and equip our talented team members to take over leadership in their areas. Essentially, by assimilating our great team, I was able to backfill myself.
How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your target audience?
Our solutions are predicated on the fact that every client has a unique set of goals, strengths, and challenges. I don’t believe in selling a generic set of pre-fab services to clients who differ in size, financial position, and market, among other differentiators. We intend to leave our clients far better off than we find them, and the only way to do this is to get to know their culture, priorities, and values before we make recommendations. We find that by starting with no preconceived notions we can tailor our approach precisely to ensure great outcomes with much higher levels of buy-in from our clients.
Describe some of the vital attributes that every CEO should possess.
Compassion, integrity, empathy, resilience, self-awareness, and efficiency.
What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey?
Early in my career, I had the absolute gift of working for Helen Drinan, now the president of Simmons College in Boston, MA. She had just left her position as the president of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and was serving as the CHRO for a large hospital system. Helen was the most charitable and affirming leader I have ever known: a brilliant altruist and mentor. She assembled the strongest team of senior HR leaders I have ever seen and orchestrated a collaborative, cross-training environment where we all left our respective roles with significantly more than we arrived with and offering significantly more to the organization we operated within. She embodied the core of the very best HR has to offer, in her flawless understanding of an organization’s business needs and her ability to leverage employees as the catalyst for an organization’s growth. I still strive to be a leader on par with Helen Drinan.
While large organizations may be successful and longstanding, that doesn’t mean they always know the best ways of doing things. That was a great realization for me to have early in my career, empowering me to challenge the norms and status quo as I worked with different clients and industries later on. Since I was able to save tens of millions of dollars for a billion-dollar organization early in my career, I knew I could help any company find better ways to do things through my consultancy work.
What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks that you faced during the initial phase of your journey?
As a non-traditional thinker, I go into each situation seeking the whys and hows of every decision and process. While this iconoclasm may have gotten me in a bit of trouble when I was starting out in my career, it has served me well in the ensuing 20 years as I find innovative solutions for our clients.
I’ve also grown in self-awareness throughout my career. I know my strengths, and I surround myself with a team whose talents and insights complement me and compensate for my shortcomings. I always recommend that CEOs hire employees who are smarter than they are!
Where does LMC Group see itself in the near future and what are its future goals.
We plan to broaden our approach as we provide high-level resources at multiple access points. We want to level the playing field for small- and medium-sized business to compete with the industry leaders. One access point we are implementing now is the automation of some of our resources. We will always take a customized approach, but through automation we can make our knowledge available to smaller companies that aren’t currently able to invest in a deeper engagement.
What is your advice for the emerging entrepreneurs?
Don’t spend too much time or money up front in the planning stage. Be as lean as you can and force your organization to pay for itself. Money is an object; don’t saddle yourself with grandiose plans and huge budgets. Leanness should be a core principle at all phases to remain financially healthy.
Don’t do anything that causes you to lose sleep at night. Financial decisions, ethical considerations, and the people you align yourself with are the most likely factors to rob you of your peace. Be sure you can live with the choices you make.
Source: The League of Extraordinary CEOs
Kristen Carroll
