When a capability gap appears in your organization, you have three levers to pull: Build the talent internally, Buy it through external hiring, or Borrow it through fractional or contract work. In Episode 17, hosts Morgan Ashworth (MSIOP, MLS) and Dr. Elizabeth Fleming (PsyD) take you inside the Build, Buy, and Borrow levers — what they are, when to use them, and what quietly goes wrong when organizations rely on instinct instead of strategy.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why hiring for "the role today" instead of the role in 18 months is one of the most expensive talent mistakes organizations make

• How structured interviews, open-ended questions, and value-based scorecards reduce bias and improve hiring decisions

• Why gut instinct — while valuable — is actually one of the weakest predictors of job performance (and what the research says to use instead)

• The real hidden costs of a bad external hire: cultural friction, disrupted internal candidates, extended ramp-up time, and downstream turnover

• When the Borrow lever (fractional, contract, temp) is the most strategic financial and operational choice — and what legal landmines to avoid

• The 3 diagnostic questions every leader, HR professional, and business owner should ask before making any talent decision

• Why workforce planning is not just an HR responsibility — it's a leadership imperative

• The Build, Buy, Borrow talent framework

• External hiring strategy and forecasting

• Pay transparency compliance by state

• Structured vs. unstructured interviews

• Person-job fit vs. person-organization fit

• Cognitive, personality, and motivational assessments as predictors of job performance

• Value-based interview structures and scorecards

• 90-day introductory period best practices

• The fractional and contract workforce economy

• Temp agencies and temp-to-hire models

• Seasonal workforce planning and demand forecasting

• Contractor misclassification risk (W2 vs. 1099)

• Succession planning and time horizon thinking

• Operational maturity applied to people strategy

In this episode of Organizational Sherlocks, Dr. Elizabeth Fleming and Morgan Ashworth unpack imposter syndrome—why it shows up, why transitions amplify it, and how to work through it without waiting for confidence to magically appear. We focus especially on moments like graduation, career changes, and new roles, where expectations are high and feedback can be unclear. You’ll learn how to use self-leadership to interrupt imposter thoughts, and how organizations can create the kind of structure that helps people succeed—through clearer onboarding, better feedback loops, and “small win” momentum.

Whether you’re a new grad trying to find your footing, a manager supporting a high performer, or HR designing onboarding and development programs—this episode is a practical playbook you can apply immediately.

Key topics

• What imposter syndrome is (and where it comes from)
• Why transitions trigger it (graduation, new roles, career pivots)
• Who it affects most—and why high performers aren’t immune
• Organizational strategies: onboarding, structure, clarity, support
• Individual strategies: feedback, self-efficacy, tracking small wins
• Normalizing imposter syndrome as a common experience (not a personal flaw)

S3, Ep.15 - Your Sales System Is Broken: Behavioral Science Explains Why | with Dr. Deepak Bhootra

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Morgan Ashworth sits down with Dr. Deepak Bhootra, B2B sales practitioner and organizational researcher, to explore why sales environments are one of the most revealing windows into how organizations actually function. What does performance under pressure really look like? And why do so many well-designed systems still produce burnout, disengagement, and inconsistency?

If you've ever wondered why your sales team knows what to do and still underperforms, or why investing in process doesn't seem to move the needle, this conversation reframes sales as a behavioral system rather than a revenue function. Dr. Bhootra draws on hands-on B2B experience and academic research in organizational commitment and job satisfaction to unpack what organizations are actually measuring (and missing), how system design shapes motivation and commitment, and why AI will amplify a broken system, not fix it.

Whether you manage salespeople, build organizational systems, lead culture change, or advise businesses on performance, this episode gives you a new lens for diagnosing what's really driving results and what a sustainable, human-centered sales system can look like.

Topics we cover:

• Sales as a behavioral system — not just a revenue function
• Sales longevity vs. career longevity
• The measurement problem: what organizations track vs. what actually drives performance
• How system design shapes motivation, commitment, and disengagement
• The role of scripts and role play in sales training
• Coaching the person, not just the numbers
• The sales manager's evolving role in a post-COVID world
• Emotional intelligence and the difference between managing and leading
• Followership - and what it reveals about effective leadership
• Self-awareness as a daily growth practice
• Celebrating small wins as a behavioral strategy
• AI, autonomy, and the risks of optimizing systems without understanding human behavior

Sound bites:

• "Sales longevity is about surviving stress."
• "Self-awareness is a daily ritual."
• "Celebrate small wins loudly."
• "AI won't fix a broken system - it will amplify it."
• "You're not coaching numbers. You're coaching a person."

Keywords:

Sales, Organizational Psychology, Behavioral Systems, Sales Performance, Sales Longevity, Career Development, Self-Awareness, Leadership, Followership, Emotional Intelligence, Sales Training, Role Play in Sales, Motivation, Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, System Design, People Management, Coaching, AI in Sales, Future of Work, Sales Management, High Performance, I/O Psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Business Psychology, Organizational Sherlocks, Dr. Deepak Bhootra

Resources Mentioned:

• ICF Coaching Certification
• Sandler System Methodology
• AI in Sales: Strategies and Tools
• Organizational Psychology Books
• Dr. Deepak Bhootra on LinkedIn