S01E03 Alexis Pantazis on hiring for smarts, passion and optimism

In this episode of Rethink Culture podcast we talk to Alexis Pantazis, Exec Director and Co-Founder of HellasDirect, a 200-strong disruptive insurance company, built ona culture of shared vision and self-managing, diverse teams.

"You always think of a strong leader as a general in the army, as opposed to somebody that has emotions and is much more open. Having people that are constantly learning or willing to admit their mistakes, who listen more, that’s the leaders that I look up to and I aspire to be, and that's something we need to rethink"

Listen to this episode to learn:

• which culture best practices they stole from organisations such as Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and the special forces army unit
• why they encourage staff to rotate around the business
• why the CEOs are still involved in interviewing new hires at a 200 people company
• what HR gets wrong with recruitment
• why they started a People & Culture team after they hit 100 people
• why in-office work is important when people need to learn through osmosis
• why passion (about anything!) is important to look for in a new hire
• why they are proud of their 3-month next-generation leadership program

More about the guest

Alexis Pantazis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexispantazis/

Hellas Direct: www.hellasdirect.gr