Jane Elizabeth Reddin
3 min readMay 23, 2019

My motivation: why I co-founded The Talent Stack

“What am I teaching the world?” is a card that currently leans against my desk lamp. It may sound grand thinking in such a ‘worldly’ context, but it drives me on when building The Talent Stack feels daunting and overwhelming.

At the beginning of my career, I didn’t believe I had anything to teach the world. Turns out I was wrong. When you find something that ignites a fire of passion deep within you, the desire to share what you have learned and what you believe in is compelling. Especially to those you care about.

I want to teach my 11-year-old daughter how to believe in herself, how to try her best and how to take charge of her own destiny. I think about the working world she will face in 10 years’ time. I think about what tools she will need to thrive in it. It motivates me to distil everything I’ve learned in my work, to teach others. It drives me to come up with ways to empower young people and young businesses. It awakens a talent alchemist inside of me.

From Yorkshire bubble to dotcom bubble

It’s the question every child faces from an elderly relative (after being told ‘my, haven’t you grown’): ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ I don’t think (m)any 1970’s children from Yorkshire said “Talent Director for tech start-ups”. Neither did I, but in 1997 I put my hand up for a dotcom start-up when the concept of start-ups was itself starting-up. I didn’t have a clue what the internet was really about, but I was motivated to work hard and to learn.

In the 22 years since, I’ve had the privilege to closely observe hundreds of start-up cultures in all their raw hopefulness. I’ve asked thousands of people in start-ups what motivates them – why they do what they do and what they are great at. I’ve helped build new working cultures and introduce a new generation of talent practices. In particular, I’m proud of my role in this new era of ‘power to the people’ that we are beginning to see in the workplace and I want to continue the charge so my daughter’s generation will see it in its entirety.

My motivation: equipping my daughter’s generation to succeed in startups of the future

I never thought I’d care so much about something that I’d want to stick my head above the parapet, but helping start-ups ignites that fire in me.

On the one hand, I want to show start-ups how to get the best out of individuals. How to establish frameworks so each team member authentically pushes their own professional boundaries, whilst directly impacting company success. How to attract, retain and develop the right talent at the right time. In other words, how to grow a company in today’s world.

On the other hand, I want to show my daughter – and all start-up professionals – that they are in the driving seat of their careers. That they live in an era of less structured, less hierarchical and more individualised opportunities, where ‘people’ have the power to shape their own performance, progression and payback.

My message: believe you can do anything, but not everything (all at once)

Working out how to get the best out of ourselves is what the Talent Stack is all about. Showing both individuals and employers the benefits of a strong working alliance and how to co-create tools, systems and behaviours to maximise potential on both sides.

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter how old you are, anyone can do anything, but not everything all at once; as long as you believe, you try and you work out your why. Do something you really connect with, put in maximum effort and get what you want out of it because you’ve worked out that this is what’s most important to you right now. This comes from showing up, working hard, swimming down your own lane and at moments, surrendering to the energy of the universe.

The “what am I teaching the world?” card seems far less ‘grand thinking’ now we’re talking about the universe.

Jane Elizabeth Reddin
Jane Elizabeth Reddin

Written by Jane Elizabeth Reddin

I’m a talent alchemist, a startup hiring coach, a yogi and a conscientious mum. A systems thinker with a deep curiosity for understanding people and start-ups.

No responses yet