We have a special guest on the show today: Lou Adler, Founder and CEO of the Adler Group. A fountain of knowledge, he is also the author of the Amazon bestsellers, Hire With Your Head as well as The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired. In this episode, Lou reflects on his 25-year advocacy of fixing a broken hiring system. He shares some perspectives on the art of generating referrals, thoughts on the sourcing process that have gotten him kicked out of sourcing conferences, and what he thinks is truly required in this day and age to find and make the best hires. Lou also draws some stories from his decades of experience about his use of boundaries and communication around the expectations placed on recruiters, important ways to guide a hiring manager to be prescriptive about the work needs, and some insight into the responsibility of a CEO in talent acquisition and prioritization.    Key Points From This Episode:   Introducing Lou and his 25-year mission to overhaul the hiring process.  How great new tools don't change the fact that the best people are still hired by referrals.  How sourcers need basic sourcing skills but also excellent phone, recruiting, and referral generation skills. How the best recruiters are network managers.  The concept that Lou would build a search firm or a sourcing career on.  Some examples of conversations where Lou extracts the real needs of the role to be filled.  Compromising on the skills required but never on the real-life work to be done.  That many hiring managers need help with clarifying expectations.  He shares the key reason why companies don't hire the best people. Hear what some studies had to say about what really drives peak job performances. Reflecting on how to set boundaries in being a strategic partner versus taking orders.  A couple of great offerings you can expect in his book Hire With Your Head. Lou discusses dealing with unreasonable expectations and communication around that. The fascinating story of how he got into recruitment. Where Lou would start if he was beginning his career in 2022!   Tweetables:   “Every year, new great tools come out but, if everyone has these great tools, nothing gets better. Everyone has average performance. What hasn’t changed is the best people still get hired via referrals.” — @LouA [0:04:30]   “It is about building a network. You’ve got to get on the phone and talk to people, meet people, go to conferences, speak at conferences, get in front of business groups, and become a subject matter expert in your field.” — @LouA [0:36:22]   Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:   Lou Adler on LinkedIn Lou Adler on Twitter Adler Group Hire With Your Head The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired Boolean Q12 The American Workforce Index Project Oxygen Talk Talent to Me Hired