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Bradley James Cole, Global Head of Business Development, Green Street<\/p><\/div>\n
We asked him what he looks for when building a team, the difference between managing and leading, and what he wishes someone had told him earlier in his career.<\/p>\n
When asked about the qualities he looks for in a candidate, Bradley pointed out the niche advantage offered by a sales interview:<\/p>\n
“Sales has an advantage with the interview process… how you sell yourself is probably going to be how you sell a product.”<\/em><\/p>\n Bradley looks beyond a candidate’s CV when interviewing them, placing importance on their demeanour and how they interact with people in the office, as he considers the way they carry themselves in an interview to reflect how they’ll interact with clients:<\/p>\n “There are loads of subtle things that you can see with a person. You can see how smiley they are, how they interact with people around the office and how they walk into the interview.”<\/em><\/p>\n When asked how he approaches the interview as a hiring manager, Bradley drew a distinction between his process and a more traditional way of interviewing:<\/p>\n “It’s part of the interviewer’s responsibility to allow them to show their best self. I always feel it’s quite archaic and a little backwards facing for an interviewer to go for the gotcha, catch-you-out approach.”<\/em><\/p>\n As part of this approach, and in an effort to avoid bias, Bradley set out the importance of a second opinion:<\/p>\n “I always like to have a second opinion where I’m not in the room… did I get them on a particularly bad day or good day? If we share the same perspective, that means we’ve had that kind of consistency. If not, then that’s an opportunity to dissect the discrepancy.”<\/em><\/p>\n Bradley’s approach to hiring reflects his approach to leadership as a whole, with his values placed not solely on skill and experience, but on personality and attitude.<\/p>\n When asked about the difference between being a good manager and a good leader, Bradley was careful to draw that distinction:<\/p>\n “Being a good leader makes management easier. But being a good manager doesn’t make leadership easier.”<\/em><\/p>\n Bradley traced this point back to the idea of leading by example:<\/p>\n “If I’m leading a call and my team can see I’ve done a good job, it makes leading them very easy down the line, because there’s credibility behind it. If the call goes badly, it’s more 50-50 whether my team trusts my judgement. Then you’re in the management zone, where you’re just the arbitrator of KPIs and keeping track of inputs and outputs.”<\/em><\/p>\n As explained by Bradley, credibility is built through action and evidence, which in turn makes coaching and trust easier to earn: “Being able to coach comes from your team trusting you, and that trust can only really come from that credibility that you create.”<\/em><\/p>\n That same credibility, Bradley suggested, starts with knowing your own value. When asked what advice he would give to himself at the start of his career, he offered a confronting piece of advice: “Know you’re worth a lot more.”<\/em><\/p>\n Bradley tied this advice to his first experience of salary negotiation:<\/p>\n “I remember feeling extremely grateful just to have a job. In my first salary negotiation, that fear of failure was still there. I was underwhelmed by their offer, but I took it anyway.”<\/em><\/p>\n Although Bradley admitted that his fear of failure is what kept him afloat at the beginning of his career, he was quick to highlight its unsustainability:<\/p>\n “Once that fear of failure goes, then you’re going to have to find what it means to pursue and create success.”<\/em><\/p>\n Fear of failure might keep you in a job, but what will continue to drive you forward is the desire for success.<\/p>\n Bradley made sure to strike a balance between believing in yourself and overestimating your ability:<\/p>\n “Don’t think that you know everything straight away either. Talking about things you have an idea of, but not a real understanding of, will more likely land you in the arrogant bucket than the confident one.”<\/em><\/p>\n This extends into his approach to leadership too, maintaining the belief that no matter how far he’s progressed in his career, he can still learn from those around him, particularly in the B2B events world:<\/p>\n “You’re working with equally educated people that probably have the same ability, and therefore you will do better to listen and observe rather than try and get your point across.”<\/em><\/p>\n Curiosity, however, is a separate trait entirely, and one of the qualities Bradley searches for within candidates, capable of making the difference between a yes and a no:<\/p>\n “If you get a producer that is curious, you are 80% of the way there. Everything else from that point can be taught. But curiosity is something which is a bit more innate and something which is just a personality trait.”<\/em><\/p>\n “I have failed consistently to make an uncurious person curious.”<\/em><\/p>\n A willingness to listen and continue learning is a theme that runs through everything Bradley looks for, in the people he hires, the way he leads, and the way he continues to approach his own career: stay curious and the rest tends to follow.<\/p>\n Visit Jackson Barnes Recruitment\u2019s website\u00a0www.jbrecruitment.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about how we connect top commercial talent with world-class media and events organisations.<\/p>\n About Jackson Barnes Recruitment<\/strong><\/p>\n Jackson Barnes Recruitment delivers international recruitment solutions within the events, media, and publishing sectors. Jackson Barnes recruits Graduate to MD level in the following positions:<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Researcher<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Conference producer<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Event Marketing<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Sales \u2013 delegate, sponsorship & Business Development<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Event Manager<\/a><\/p>\n