What if the real reason companies struggle to grow isn’t their product, their market, or even their strategy, but how they think about people? Too often, organizations chase revenue and results without stopping to ask a harder question: do we actually have the right talent, in the right roles, aligned with where we say we’re going?

In this debut episode of Heavy Hitters, Jay Lucas sits down with Wade Massey, VP of Dealer and Rental Accounts, for a conversation about leadership, talent, and organizational alignment. Wade shares how early life experiences, competitiveness, and repetition shape professional behavior, along with what it really feels like to move from being an individual contributor to becoming a leader.

Together, Jay and Wade explore why talent strategy and organizational strategy so often drift apart, and how that misalignment quietly shows up as frustration, turnover, and stalled performance. They dig into what leaders frequently get wrong about hiring, why core values matter as much as skills, and how development and performance management play a critical role long after someone is hired.

With real-world examples and honest insights, this episode challenges leaders to rethink how they invest in people and shows what it takes to build sustainable organizations where strategy, culture, and talent are truly aligned.

Key Takeaways

• How early life experiences and sports shape leadership and competitiveness

• The transition from being the best performer to leading others effectively

• Why most recruiting careers start “by accident” and what that reveals

• The hidden costs of misaligned talent and organizational strategy

• Core values hiring versus skill-only hiring

• Why performance management should be continuous, not annual

• The role of learning and development in retaining top talent

• Warning signs that a company’s talent strategy has drifted

• Whether strategy should drive talent or talent should drive strategy

• How investing in people creates long-term competitive advantage
  

In This Episode:

• [00:00] Introduction to Heavy Hitters

• [00:42] Wade’s background and early influences

• [03:10] Career surprises and becoming a “people person”

• [05:13] Falling into recruiting and discovering strengths

• [07:33] Faith, purpose, and making work meaningful

• [08:52] Childhood, sports, and professional competitiveness

• [13:07] The hardest truth leaders must accept

• [15:14] Professional inflection points and learning curves

• [18:00] Fulfillment, nonprofit work, and helping others

• [20:00] Respect vs. being liked as a leader

• [20:51] Advice for new managers and leaders

• [22:37] Personal growth, insecurity, and self-awareness

• [24:17] Organizational strategy vs. talent strategy

• [27:01] Core competencies, culture fit, and hiring mistakes

• [31:11] Why most companies get talent alignment wrong

• [33:31] Performance management that actually works

• [36:49] The real cost of misalignment

• [40:50] Does strategy drive talent or vice versa?

• [47:52] Warning signs of talent strategy drift

• [49:57] Closing remarks

Our Guest

Wade Massey is the VP of Dealer & Rental Accounts and a 14-year veteran of the executive search and talent industry. A natural "people person" from South Texas, Wade fell into recruiting after realizing his passion lay in building teams and helping others succeed. With experience conducting thousands of interviews, he specializes in aligning talent strategy with organizational vision, emphasizing core-values hiring and internal development. A former competitive soccer player and avid golfer, Wade brings a mindset of continuous improvement and teamwork to helping businesses build the cultures and teams they need to win.

Resources and Links:

Jay Lucas

• Website

• Linkedin

Wade Massey

• Website

• LinkedIn

Heavy Hitters is hosted by Jay Lucas, a 30-year executive recruiter and business owner with deep expertise in the heavy equipment sector. Each episode features candid conversations with top business leaders, unpacking the mindsets, traits, and strategies that lead to individual and organizational success. Jay’s unique blend of executive search experience and hands-on business ownership gives him a rare vantage point to help leaders level up.