The Talent Initiative

Back in the day, when online interviewing was still a bit of a science project and Skype was in its infancy, I was already using it to interview interstate and overseas candidates. 

Not because I was trying to be futuristic. 

Because I had a young family, I didn’t love being away all the time, and the business still needed to grow. 

There was just one small problem. 

If you want two-way communication, you need a webcam. 

The moment (and the line I’ll never forget) 

Most of my career has been in IT consulting companies, so I did what you do. I wandered into the COO’s office. 

I asked for the OK (and the budget) to spend a couple of hundred dollars on a webcam. 

He asked why. 

I told him: for interviewing. 

His response still makes me laugh. 

The COO of a $100m IT services company looked at me and said: 

“They’re only for porn, aren’t they?” 

Why being early looks weird 

That moment is funny, but it’s also a perfect snapshot of what it’s like to be early. 

When you adopt something before it’s normal, you don’t get applause. You get: 

• Confusion 

• Side-eye 

• Jokes 

• And a bunch of “why would we do that?” 

The tech wasn’t the hard part. 

The hard part was that the person approving it didn’t have the same mental model I did. 

To him, a webcam wasn’t a work tool. It was something else. 

The real skill: selling the idea (not the gadget) 

If you’ve ever tried to introduce a new tool, process, or way of working, you’ll know this. 

You’re not pitching the thing. 

You’re pitching the outcome. 

And you’re pitching it to someone who is busy, risk-aware, and usually thinking: 

• “What’s this going to cost?” 

• “What’s the downside?” 

• “What breaks if it goes wrong?” 

• “Is this a distraction?” 

So over time I learned to stop asking for “a webcam” and start asking for a decision on a simple business case. 

A simple framework for getting buy-in (that still works today) 

Here’s the approach I wish I’d used more deliberately back then. It’s the same approach I use now when someone wants to introduce a new hiring tool, a new workflow, or the latest shiny thing. 

1) Start with the problem (in plain English) 

Not: “We need a webcam.” 

Instead: 

• We’re losing time and momentum travelling for interviews. 

• We’re limiting ourselves to local candidates. 

• We’re slowing down hiring decisions. 

2) Put a number on the cost of doing nothing 

Even a rough one. 

• Hours lost to travel 

• Delays to shortlist/interviews 

• Opportunity cost of missing good people 

When the “do nothing” cost is visible, the decision gets easier.