When Ed LaPerche first entered tech sales in the 1990s he witnessed the industry gradually evolve from old school mainframe computing to the client-server network model all the way through to cloud computing. Today, it’s all about artificial intelligence and agentic AI.

Transformation for a sales professional means never being satisfied with the status quo. Seeking out opportunities to learn and grow are important ways to keep tabs on the next big trends. Because one of the distinctive traits about the technology industry is that its pace of change is much more rapid than other sectors.

In this episode of “Unusual Attitudes,” LaPerche talks about the time he took three companies public, including Salesforce and Workday. Watching them grow from small startups to tech giants has been a rewarding part of his journey.

Greg Muccio naturally followed in the career footsteps of his dad and brothers as a sales rep before realizing it wasn’t for him. He didn’t enjoy the role and admittedly wasn’t good at it – not exactly a winning formula for long-term success.

Luckily he was working at a staffing company when the epiphany hit. A manager asked if he’d be interested in learning recruiting, and the rest, as they say, is history. Today he’s the head of talent acquisition at Southwest Airlines, overseeing a huge team of 300 recruiters.

In this episode of “Unusual Attitudes,” Muccio talks about why he encourages his team to be thinking two roles ahead in their careers. He thinks of career growth as a lattice instead of a ladder.

Most talent professionals will say they didn’t grow up actively wanting to be a recruiter. Not Hung Lee. He was fascinated by the qualities that make one candidate stand out from others with similar resumes. It just took some time for that deep interest to develop.

That’s because HR would have been an unthinkable path in his teens when he actively avoided anything corporate. “Hell on earth” was putting on a suit and going into an office. Then came the “a-ha” moment that as one gets older, the more responsibilities begin to pile up, which constrain choice. Pivoting to recruitment became a conscious decision, then, as age and wisdom made him realize his own obligations.

In this episode of “Unusual Attitudes,” Lee talks about the advice he would give to early career professionals (including his younger self).

Guest: Hung Lee, Editor, Recruiting Brainfood