223: What should I be paying people to attract top talent? Artwork

Managing Made Simple

Managing Made Simple is a weekly leadership and management podcast for people managers, business owners, and founders who want to lead high-performing teams without falling back into the work themselves.

Each week, host Lia Garvin- 3x bestselling author and former team operations leader at Google, Apple, and Microsoft- breaks down the real, everyday challenges of leading teams, giving feedback, delegating, creating team accountability, high performing culture, retention, and more with performance with practical strategies you can implement immediately. Lia’s work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune.

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Managing Made Simple

223: What should I be paying people to attract top talent?

March 03, 2026 • Lia Garvin • Episode 223

0:00 | 14:55

You find the perfect senior hire. They have the résumé. The experience. The track record.
But the salary makes your stomach drop.

Do you stretch and hope it pays off? Or walk away and risk staying stuck?

In this episode, we unpack the real tension leaders face when hiring senior talent in a small business and how to think about compensation without blowing up your risk tolerance.

We talk about:

Why overextending on a big hire can create pressure that sabotages onboarding
How to think beyond base salary and use ownership, scope, equity, and incentives strategically
What to consider when deciding your true risk tolerance as a leader
Why no hiring process can guarantee success and how to de-risk smartly instead

If you are wrestling with whether you can afford that senior hire or afraid you cannot grow without them, this episode will help you make the decision from clarity instead of fear.

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