Fitting In and Standing Out: What Happens When New Leaders Enter a Company, With Kayne Grau

WHY THIS TOPIC:

One of the hardest decisions and unique transitions a growing company must make is bringing in new leaders from the outside. When is the right time? How and where to recruit from? What will be the impact on culture? Hire someone with corporate experience or not?

This roundtable will explore these questions and more, from the shared experiences of someone who has been on both sides.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

– Shared experiences from a senior executive who has been the new external leader and has hired them as well
– The dynamics of having an older generation report to you when you’re the leader, and reporting to a younger generation when you’re not
– Managing the changes that come with having a new boss

YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS IF YOU ARE:

– A founder or executive curious about hiring leaders from the outside, especially for a small company
– A team member who has struggled with new external leaders and wants to get better
– In a company with a tight-knit culture that worries about how it will be affected by someone new

Kayne Grau is the President of Uptake and oversees all day-to-day operations, provides enterprise wide strategic direction, and leads product development for the organization. Prior to Uptake, Kayne was the CEO and founder of DRIVIN, which was sold to KAR Global in 2017. Upon the completion of the sale, he held various senior executive roles, including President of Data as a Service and SVP of Sales.

Kayne has more than 20 years of management experience across various sectors and held senior management roles with Music Dealers, Apartments.com, Cars.com, eToys.com, Allstate and Allianz Insurance. He lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and their three children. When not at Uptake, you can find him on a golf course across the Chicagoland area.