*We had a chance to sit down with one of our founders here at Humans Doing, Joshua McAfee, and get to know him a little better. Josh McAfee is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Humans Doing. With 30 years of recruiting and team-building experience, Josh has worked with startups, SMBs, and large companies to determine hiring needs, develop recruiting strategies and processes, and connect top talent to fuel growth. In 2021, he became a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author with his book Measure Up which tackles the challenges career growth, especially through transitions..*
I’ve spent the past 30 years now helping people make great hiring and career decisions and I love that I get to help people for a living.
I’ve been blessed with some amazing mentors and friends along the way who I’ve learned a ton from. I have an awesome wife, Kerri, and an almost 3 year old daughter, Lana, that I am very thankful for. Both of them keep me on my toes and are my “why” to push hard to be successful and make them proud.
I’ve been called a squirrel more than once in my life. I have too many hobbies and things that I love to do. While most important thing to me is intentionally spending time with my very patient wife, Kerri, and my amazing almost 3-year-old daughter, Lana, I love spending time on the lake with friends wakeboarding and surfing, salsa dancing, offroading and spending time in the mountains. I also am passionate about investing in missions and humanitarian efforts both domestically and internationally, traveling, attempting to make pizza from scratch, karting, and restoring classic cars (I just started a project restoring an old OshKosh FireTruck). Oh, look a squirrel!!!!
Reflecting on the moments in life that have really had an impact on me, there are a couple that come to mind… The moment I learned there’s more joy in helping others achieve something than achieving something myself, reading Brennan Manning’s “The Ragamuffin Gospel,” and of course the day Kerri and I wed, and the birth of our daughter, Lana. It’s been a wild ride!!!
I try to be intentional about investing in others, making sure they know how important they are to me, and when I screw something up, miss something, or let someone down, I proactively apologize, make sure I listen, learn, and make amends when possible. I’m also learning to be better at forgiving myself for making mistakes and giving others and myself grace. I’ve learned that I often judge and measure myself based on my intentions and others based on their actions. I’m doing my best to switch that. How do my actions and words appear to others, and what are the intentions of others words and actions? I’ve found this helps me be more accountable and more grace-filled.
I can’t say there’s one thing that’s led me to where I am professionally, but asking lots of questions, thinking about where I want to go with my career and company, listening, applying, making mistakes, learning from them, and working hard on always being a better communicator, leader, and friend have served me well in my career.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is how to handle conflicts and difficult conversations with stakeholders; including employees, investors, and customers. Directly, compassionately, and by asking a lot of questions. There are always differing perspectives, goals, fears, and challenges that people see and experience. Bringing people together to see each other’s perspectives and solve problems together has immense value. My grandpa told me that nobody cares what you know until they know that you care.
I like asking questions about what things are frustrating our team, clients, and partners. Oftentimes we find that removing redundancy, wonkiness, or hemorrhoids that people experience in the business is more appreciated than taking someone out to lunch or telling them they are appreciated. I also find that when people see you intentionally trying to make their jobs easier, better, and more rewarding, they are more likely to bring things that are innovative and creative to the table. I also find that they go from being afraid to ask or share something that’s a problem to being excited about finding solutions to both small and large opportunities for improvement and growth.
