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The Right to Disconnect: Why It Matters for Employees and Employers
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally reshaped the way we work, pushing remote and hybrid work models into the mainstream. While this shift provided flexibility, it also blurred the boundaries between work and personal life, making it difficult for employees, especially...
Business Unusual: Rethinking DEI and the Global Backlash
Diversity isn’t just about what you see — it’s about diversity of thought, which gives companies a true competitive advantage. - Advaita Naidoo If there is one conversation worth listening to this week, we recommend the recent discussion aired on 702's The Money Show,...
‘The Living Room Leader’ is my account of the shift that I and many of my peers (leaders in corporations and entrepreneurs running a range of differently sized organisations) have had to make in record time, in order to lead, hire and engage our people, during what is undoubtedly the most challenging work-life experience that any of us have ever encountered.
– Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, CEO of Jack Hammer
How to Manage a Downsize in Your Workforce
Facing the Aftermath of Workforce Downsizing? Downsizing isn’t just about reducing numbers; it’s about supporting the people - both those who leave and those who stay. In a recent radio interview, Stephen Grootes from The Money Show and Debbie Goodman, CEO of Jack...
Building winning teams relies on spotting future stars
How to harness top talent without compromising company culture is key to scaling your business. Building your team is one of the most important things founders will do as they establish and grow their business. “When you see an exceptional talent, you need to make...
Don’t Screw Up Your Interview
Being a brilliant leader, doesn't mean you'll ACE your job interview. It's a whole different game! Over the last 2 decades, we've interviewed AT LEAST 10,000 candidates... ...so you BET we've seen the good, the bad, and the and the utterly cringe-worthy mistakes...
How to negotiate a better salary for 2025
Requesting a salary increase is a daunting challenge, with anxiety often causing employees to delay or avoid the conversation for way too long – sometimes years, even forever. However, Advaita Naidoo, Africa Managing Director (AD) at Africa’s largest executive search...
Shrinking teams: Company support crucial as fewer employees carry greater burden
As companies across the world face RIF – reduction in force – whether through hiring freezes or retrenchments, it is important to focus not only on the impact to those who are made redundant. Equally important is to consider those who are left behind: the so-called...
The impact of stigmatisation of menopause in the workplace
The "M" word ... Not purely a "woman's issue" and not limited to "older" colleagues. Menopause in the workplace is NOT just about hot flashes. If you’re at all concerned about: ✅ Employee wellbeing ✅ Productivity and performance ✅ Team dynamics and culture …then you...
ADHD in the workplace: from stigma to strength
In an evening session of Psychological Matters on Radio 702, Debbie Goodman spoke with Aubrey Masango about ADHD in the workplace: from stigma to strength. Despite an increasing awareness globally of the impact of ADHD in the workplace, the challenges and...
Boreout? Chronic boredom at work is insidious
When we’re thinking about goals and New Year’s resolutions, we should be seeking new opportunities, learning new skills, taking on more responsibility to counter ‘bore out’ – Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at Jack Hammer. SIMON BROWN: I’m chatting now with Advaita Naidoo,...
Excellent vs. Average – How to Hire a Great CMO
In this past week, several leaders in my network expressed disappointment in their recent CMO hires. Now, whilst there's always a measure of risk in any new hire at any level, I've observed that when critical elements of the interview and screening process are...
Superhero women leaders in our network: Shameela Soobramoney
During Women's month, the Jack Hammer team has been waving the “Women in Leadership” flags enthusiastically, with intentional focus on: 🏔️ advocating for the equitable advancement of women leaders 🪜 creating career-elevating opportunities 🔥 igniting brave dialogs to...
The Hidden Cost of Meaningless Meetings
Meetings have been a part of the business landscape and company calendar for as long as anyone can remember, and indeed have played a valuable role as a forum to communicate, collaborate and innovate. However, many, perhaps even most meetings today no longer serve a...
Busting the 5 behaviours keeping you stuck in a rut
Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at Jack Hammer, joins Gugulethu Mfuphi on Kaya Biz to help listeners understand how to avoid being stuck in a rut, adapt behaviours, and equip themselves to change gears and propel them into cruise control with their careers. Advaita says it’...
Africa Impact Summit – A week of inspiration and connection
July was a special month for me, highlighted with week of inspiration and connection which I was grateful for. The key event was the inaugural Africa Impact Summit, here in Cape Town, with me as a delegate sharing perspectives with leaders from across the continent;...
Performance reviews are dying. It’s about time
The world of work has changed dramatically over the past few years, even before the pandemic and the rise in remote work cemented new ways of working. But while many historic business processes and practices have long since fallen along the wayside in favour of more...
Fighting fire with fire: How to identify and deal with gaslighting at work
Gaslighting is a popular game played by bullies and narcissists in the workplace, and has a devastating impact on both the individual victim, as well as the culture and performance of teams and businesses, writes Debbie Goodman. In recent years, the term gaslighting...
Narcissism in the workplace – resources to help navigate toxic behaviour at work
In a recent poll during the Webinar: Narcissism in the Workplace, 73% of attendees stated that they have experienced toxicity in the workplace. One factor that contributes to the duress and misery levels of employees is the existence of corporate bullies and...
A Wakeup Call for ‘Quiet Quitters’
Quiet quitting became a trend after lockdown, but it is time for this trend to stop and rather change to trying to be the best at your job. Workplace trends in recent years have been dominated by phrases like quiet quitting and ‘acting your wage’, which involves doing...
How to successfully negotiate a salary increase in 2023
Debbie Goodman, CEO at Jack Hammer Global, was recently featured as a host speaker on Channel Africa Radio, to discuss how to successfully negotiate salary increases in 2023. Debbie discusses why negotiating a salary package is prickly and awkward (particularly for...
Showing up: Tips for managing a successful hybrid career in 2023
Next year will be the true test of companies’ work-from-home (WFH) and hybrid workforce strategies, as the novelty of having some staff in office, some out of office, and some dipping in and out wears off and new routines become entrenched. But WFH and hybrid workers...
The Great Breakup: SA women ditching inflexible workplaces
Clement Manyathela spoke to Advaita Naidoo, Africa Managing Director at Jack Hammer Global on the employment trends of South Africa’s population of working women. A recent study shows, only 1 in 10 women want to work full time in the office. The McKinsey & Company...
Getting back to business travel
Travelling for business – locally and globally – is starting to pick up rapidly again in the wake of the pandemic, as companies once more start dispatching employees to the in-person conferences, events and meetings that were the normal order of business pre-2020....
Disruption in the workplace: gaining employee buy-in for in-office time
Bringing coherence and a new kind of clarity to the workplace will be the key to ensuring successful teams in a post-pandemic future, and should be one of the major considerations for company leadership in coming months as 2023 comes into focus – particularly because...
Your boss should let you work from home in South Africa – but here’s why it isn’t always a good idea
Bringing coherence and a new kind of clarity to the workplace will be the key to ensuring successful teams in a post-pandemic future, and should be one of the major considerations for company leadership as 2023 comes into focus – particularly because of continued...
Proximity bias threatens gender transformation in the workplace
Proximity bias is a new threat to gender transformation in the workplace. That's according to Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at Jack Hammer. Speaking to 702's Refiloe Mpakanyane, she warned that companies must be careful not to reverse transformation gains, as they grapple...
Employee Activism Seeks Education And Opportunities To Thrive In Global Economy
Talent expert, Debbie Goodman, has been in the corporate trenches supporting the pursuits of executives and the companies they call home into better suitable placements that match intention and vibe. She is Group CEO of Jack Hammer, a global group of executive search,...
Working Well
Debbie Goodman Of Jack Hammer Global On How Companies Are Creating Cultures That Support & Sustain Mental, Emotional, Social, Physical & Financial Wellness The pandemic pause brought us to a moment of collective reckoning about what it means to live well and...
Return-to-office ultimatums in a post-pandemic world
Our MD: Africa, Advaita Naidoo, was interviewed by Nhlanhla Sehume on Newzroom Afrika's business segment about return-to-work ultimatums.
5 ways founders and CEOs can diversify their leadership teams – Business Insider
Companies with a rich tapestry of diversity are more likely to out-perform, as well as create thriving, highly engaged cultures. In this Business Insider article, Debbie Goodman – Jack Hammer’s Group CEO – shares advice on how to drive real change within your...
Top 10 inspiring women driving industry impact
Earlier this month, Jack Hammer’s Group CEO, Debbie Goodman, was included on the list of the Top 10 Inspiring Women Driving Industry Impact! For more than 20 years, Debbie and the Jack Hammer team have been shaking up the male-dominated world of executive search....
5 Ways That Businesses Can Help Promote The Mental Wellness Of Their Employees
Normalize and Educate. If your team doesn’t know what burnout looks and feels like, they will not be able to know that is what they are experiencing in the first place, let alone take the proper steps to heal. I’d almost compare it to being in an abusive relationship....
Defuse the ticking mental health timebomb
Workplaces across the globe are facing a mental health crisis of unprecedented scope, as the effects of almost two years of anxiety, uncertainty and fear will transition into another period of flux as we enter 2022, a leadership expert says. Debbie Goodman, group CEO...
Preparing for the future of work: Debbie Goodman of Jack Hammer on the top five trends to watch in the future of work
Social impact is a critical differentiator for attracting top talent. The way in which high-quality candidates make decisions about their future has changed. Emerging as one of the key differentiators in the talent attraction process is the value, purpose and meaning...
Preparing For The Future Of Work
Debbie Goodman of Jack Hammer On The Top Five Trends To Watch In The Future Of Work Social impact is a critical differentiator for attracting top talent. The way in which high-quality candidates make decisions about their future has changed. Emerging as one of the key...
How blockchain companies are building great leadership teams
As an advisor to one of the A-list blockchain venture capital funds in the US, I am privileged to enjoy a unique vantage point in the sector as a result of helping both early-stage and established blockchain and crypto companies with their hiring. For those of them...
Slowly but surely, SA women make inroads to top leadership spot
Each year as we approach Women’s Month in South Africa, I eagerly await the news reports about women in the boardroom or C-suite, and the interviews with great female leaders. At Jack Hammer, our data centre conducts periodic updates on the make-up of JSE top 40...
Winning strategies for blockchain & crypto hiring
I’ve called it a hiring ‘frenzy’. I’ve even resorted to the cliché ‘war for talent’ when describing the fierceness of the competition for skilled blockchain and crypto professionals. And that’s because the reality of what’s taking place in this incredibly hot market...
Keeping clear of hiring chaos in hot emerging industries
After more than two decades as an executive recruiter and business leader in frontier and emerging markets, I have lived and worked through numerous waves of hiring splurges as new niches, in new industry sectors and new markets, started to spike. The tech boom in the...
The Office-Hybrid headache – You can’t please all the people all the time
Although it’s clear that most companies are far from ready to communicate a comprehensive masterplan about the future of work logistics (according to a recent McKinsey and Company survey, less than one third of companies have a plan that they have communicated to...
Want to make leadership impact? Appoint women (at least two) to the C-suite!
An abundance of research now exists to show, beyond a shadow of doubt, that appointing women to the C-suite is not only the right thing to do from an ethical and moral perspective, but also the savvy business strategy. In fact, all high quality, commercially-oriented...
Measure twice, cut once: How to ensure your search is a success
Taken as a general sentiment from a cross-section of testimonials, it appears our clients genuinely appreciate how much time and energy we apply to getting to understand their business. We apply a rigour to the briefing and pre-research process that is usually...
Book review: Radical Candor
Towards the end of last year, I read No Rules Rules, the story behind the culture at Netflix and all the personal work that goes into making the company one of the most sought-after workplaces in the world. In it, the authors talk about Radical Candor which, at first...
The future face of the office
COVID-19 has changed the way we work, not only through global hard lockdowns, but also with a hard reset in the world of work. The traditional sense of the workplace has met its demise and it’s time to think of the post-pandemic office in creative, new ways. Remote...
Video interview 101 in the year 2021 – Execs take note!
I thought I was a pretty skilled video interviewer. I mean, I’ve been doing this for more than a year now, day in and day out, and I can’t recall any particular disasters to date. I certainly believed that my video interview chops were right up there, no doubts about...
Mental health’s impact on company health – What leaders need to DO (Part 2)
It's just the beginning of March, and already I’m hearing cries from all corners of the business world - from corporate executives to start-up entrepreneurs - about the grind that they’re starting to feel as we fully immerse into 2021. I won’t repeat the sentiments in...
Executive hiring: How to know if they’re good
I took an outdoor walk with a friend recently. Masked, of course. Physically distanced, naturally. But within conversational range. My friend knows that I’m ‘in recruitment’, but she’s unfamiliar with the specifics of executive search, and how this field is distinct...
Mental health’s impact on company health: What leaders need to know
Emerging as one of the key issues in the workplace that is likely to have a significant impact on a company’s performance, growth and productivity, is the mental and emotional well-being of the people who work there. And it’s up to the leaders to figure out ways to...
Jack’s growing…Globally and in Africa
Thankfully, 2020 was a year of significant growth for Jack Hammer. With our US office in Los Angeles, and the extension of our on-the-ground presence to all the main markets in Africa, we were the fortunate (and delighted) recipients of a substantial increase in...
Three key leadership trends to note in 2021
1. Making a call on the office/WFH/hybrid strategy During 2020, it was all about logistics – how to get everyone working from home as quickly, efficiently and productively as possible. Sending office furniture and computers to those who needed them, addressing all...
A Proud Day for Leadership
Yesterday was a great day for Americans. It was a great day for anyone living in America (like me). It was a great day for democracy. It was a great day for unity. It was a great day for anyone who looks to America as an example of freedom, humanity and justice....
Executive search pitfalls: Steering clear of the three fatal flaws
Let’s assume that you’ve made the (really wise) decision to partner with an executive search firm to fill a critical leadership role. You probably did this because you really (really) need to find the best talent, but can’t/don’t want to do it yourself for one or more...
Jack Hammer’s annual bonus and business sentiment survey
At this point in the year, we would typically survey executives from dozens of companies on whether they expect to receive a bonus this year, whether they’re expecting increases next year, what their overall business outlook is and whether they’d consider job...
Book Review: No Rules Rules
The book that should be on every leader’s holiday reading list is No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. Once you start reading, it won’t even stay closed long enough for you to claim it’s “on your bedside table”. The prose is digestible and...
C-Level vacancy meets internal candidate – Match made in heaven or not?
Many more times than one would expect, executive headhunters are mandated to search on roles that are not entirely vacant. Indeed, in many situations where a leader is departing, an organised, intentional and deliberate succession plan is under way, and there is...
Invitation to AI World Summit – Leadership DNA of Top Women Leaders
Jack Hammer CEO, Debbie Goodman, will be participating in the upcoming AI World Summit, which will take from the 30th of November to the 4th of December. The summit aims to explore how AI’s transformational potential can be best used to create a better future. It will...
Why boardroom diversity matters
For any company to succeed, its board is crucial. Recruiting suitable, diverse candidates can be difficult. Whether the need is driven by investors, required by law or simply a matter of good business practise, a strategic approach to board diversity is increasingly...
Podcast – Debbie Goodman on EO Wonder
In honour of Women's Entrepreneurship Day, listen to Jack Hammer CEO, Debbie Goodman, giving a glimpse into transitioning from a contemporary dancer to law student to the powerhouse behind three s successful businesses.
How Covid performance can provide unexpected insights into (current and future) leaders
Let’s agree that almost all leadership (C-Suite and executive level) appointments usually have a measure of risk attached to them. Even if you’ve done all the due diligence, i.e. you’ve done tremendous amounts of research, interviewed at length using reputable...
Don’t squander this unique moment – you still have time to achieve the extraordinary
As I re-read McKinsey’s quarterly report The CEO Moment: Leadership for a new era (July 2020), I found myself inspired once more by the stories of CEOs who managed to leverage opportunities presented by Covid to achieve extraordinary shifts, changes, goals, and...
Board Diversity – Talent Pipelining to Shift the Needle
If you speak to leaders and board directors on a daily (hourly) basis like I do, you’ll start to hear a common theme when it comes to their biggest challenges. And no, it’s not about Covid, or work-from-home issues and productivity (although this remains an ongoing...
To go (back to the office) or not to go – that is the question!
A few months (which feels like years) ago, almost the entire global workforce was dispatched lock stock and barrel to their homes, relatively overnight, as Covid-19 lockdowns kicked in. Technology infrastructure was sorted out pretty swiftly across the board, so that...