102: "Is Building Leaders Better Than Hiring Them?" (lessons from Jeremy Brady)
🧠 Erik’s Take
Coming out of this conversation, Erik was struck by one thing: this company actually walks the walk. From creative hiring filters to deep leadership development, G Adventures isn’t just saying the right words—they’re building the infrastructure that backs them up.
Jeremy Brady didn’t just describe innovative leadership. He embodied it. In this reflection, Erik explores how much the company’s values-based systems reshaped his own thinking on hiring, culture fit, and generational leadership. It’s a genuine "whoa" moment that reshuffled some of Erik’s assumptions and opened up new angles on what great leadership can look like in 2025.
🎯 Top Insights from the Interview
- Hire to Disqualify: G Adventures intentionally builds a process that helps candidates opt out if their values don’t align—with respect, clarity, and honesty.
- Culture Fit Isn't Fluff: Their hiring filters are rooted in systems (like the “Backstage Pass” or values exercises) that detect misalignment early, without relying on gut feel.
- Millennials and Gen Z Aren’t Hard to Lead—They’re Different to Lead: Erik reframes the narrative around this “difficult generation” and explores how Jeremy’s team taps into their deeper drivers.
- Leadership Is a Team Sport: Even hiring decisions are democratized. If 2 out of 3 employees red-flag a candidate, that person doesn’t get hired—period.
- “If We Look the Same in 5 Years, We F*ed Up”**: A simple quote from G Adventures’ CEO that captures the bold embrace of change embedded into their culture.
🧩 The Personal Layer
Erik reflects on his own evolution as a leader—particularly how his past approach to interviewing, team development, and performance conversations might have looked different if he’d had systems like this in place. He names the emotional experience of witnessing a company that takes “people-first” seriously in a way that’s not lip service, and how that makes him feel surprisingly optimistic about corporate culture.
He also shares his admiration for how G Adventures invests in developing future leaders through a real leadership pipeline—not just high-level development but week-long immersive C-suite mentorships. It reminded him that we often undervalue how much people want to contribute, and that real leaders are the ones who build pathways for that contribution to happen.
🧰 From Insight to Action
Want to apply what you heard in this interview + review? Here’s where Erik would start:
- Audit your interview process: Are you hiring based on skills... or alignment?
- Let your team help you hire: Create opportunities for non-leaders to weigh in on candidates.
- Stop over-indexing on closers: Look for process-oriented thinkers, disruptors, and “silent leaders.”
- Challenge your own assumptions: Is your culture attracting only one type of person?
- Build (or rebuild) your leadership development pipeline: Who are your next leaders—and how are you investing in them?
🗣️ Notable Quotes
“If we look the same in five years, we f***ed up.”
—Jeremy Brady quoting G Adventures' CEO
“So often when someone doesn’t get the job, they feel like they weren’t good enough. But maybe they’re just not what we need—and maybe that’s a good thing for both of us.”
—Erik Berglund
“You might be a rock star wide receiver, but we need someone who can hit home runs.”
—Paraphrased insight from Jeremy Brady
“Millennials and Gen Z aren’t harder to lead. They’re just different. And that difference is an advantage—if you’re paying attention.”
—Erik Berglund
🔗 Links & Resources
