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Strategic Communications Advisory For Visionary Founders
Actionable
Takeaways
Apply the "Hungry, Humble, Smart" Framework Beyond Technical Skills:
Karrie uses The Table Group's framework to identify candidates who combine intellectual capability with emotional intelligence and curiosity. As she puts it: "There's got to be a level of humbleness to you that you don't know everything. I look for people who are willing to say I don't know." This approach helps GTM leaders hire for long-term team dynamics rather than just domain expertise.
Transform Departures into Strategic Team Optimization:
When senior roles open, Karrie doesn't automatically backfill the same position. Instead, she evaluates team composition gaps: "It's a moment in time to think, do I need to make some changes to my organization? Is this the right role? Am I just going to routinely backfill it?" This strategic pause prevents GTM teams from perpetuating structural weaknesses.
Leverage Strength-Based Team Building from Day One:
Drawing from Coca-Cola's methodology, Karrie builds complementary leadership teams where diverse strengths prevent overlap conflicts. She explains: "You'd build these really sometimes quirky and unexpected teams, but they worked really well together because there wasn't a lot of overlap of what people were really good at." GTM leaders can apply this to avoid hiring multiple "maximizers" when they need "wonder and invention" thinkers.
Conduct Initial Screening Interviews to Calibrate Recruiters:
Unlike most executives who delegate early-stage interviews, Karrie personally screens candidates to ensure proper recruiter calibration. "I probably more than most will take some screening interviews because it helps me understand... is the recruiter that I'm working with calibrating correctly?" This hands-on approach prevents misaligned candidates from reaching final rounds.
Invest in Relationship-First Onboarding for Faster Long-Term Results:
Karrie prioritizes 2-3 weeks of relationship building before diving into deliverables. "That investment of a couple, two to three weeks... the rest of it will come much more quickly than if you jump in really quick. Like, here's all the decks on the plan and here's all the decks on the budget... it will seem faster but it's not." This approach accelerates performance despite appearing counterintuitive when roles have been vacant.
Conversation
Highlights
In this episode of How I Hire, Andy Mowat speaks with Karrie Sanderson, Marketing Strategy/Chief of Staff at LiveRamp, about her distinctive approach to building exceptional marketing teams. Drawing from her diverse experience at leading brands including Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Pfizer, Smartsheet, and Typeform, Karrie shares frameworks for identifying talent gaps, evaluating candidates beyond traditional metrics, and navigating today’s employer-friendly market. Her insights reveal how strength-based leadership can transform both hiring processes and team dynamics.
Topics discussed:
- How to leverage the strength-based team building approach from Coca-Cola when hiring, focusing on team composition rather than just individual excellence.
- The “hungry, humble, smart” framework from The Table Group that Karrie uses to identify ideal team players with both IQ and EQ intelligence.
- Why senior leadership vacancies should trigger organizational reflection rather than automatic backfilling of the same role.
- How to effectively recruit through 10-12 targeted Slack communities instead of broad LinkedIn postings that generate thousands of unqualified applicants.
- The importance of treating passive candidates differently—not penalizing them for less initial enthusiasm and focusing instead on whether they’re “running to” versus “running from” something.
- Why Karrie does more screening interviews herself than most senior leaders to ensure proper recruiter calibration and maintain high hiring standards.
- How replacing traditional case studies with group Q&A sessions reveals how candidates think on their feet and interact in team settings.
- The counterintuitive onboarding approach of prioritizing relationship-building for 2-3 weeks before diving into deliverables, which accelerates long-term performance.
ABOUT YOUR HOST:
Andy Mowat has built GTM engines for top companies throughout his career. He led Revenue Operations and Demand Gen at four unicorns, including scaling from $10M to $100M ARR at both Upwork and Culture Amp, and helping guide Box and Carta through IPO scale. With a passion for connecting people, Andy has advised executives on their careers for years and launched Whispered to make searching for executive roles less intimidating.
Learn more about about Whispered: www.whispered.com
Interact with AI Andy: www.whispered.com/whisper-search
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