Top 10 Pioneering CEOs to Follow
Nicole Martin is the CEO and founder of HRBoost, LLC, a Chicago, Illinois-based consulting company for HR shared services. Nicole has received awards from a number of organizations in recognition of her accomplishments in her profession and the community, including recognition as one of the 10 game-changing women in 2019 by the Mirror Review, a Business Excellence Award recipient by the Chicago Daily Herald, and a 2016 Enterprising Women of the Year Champion by Enterprising Women Magazine. She is a highly respected expert whose insights and counsel have been published in national publications and magazines.
In addition, Nicole is the host online of HR in the Fast Lane and a contributing writer for the Chicago Business Journal. Nicole has authored, International Literary Award and Amazon Best Seller, The Talent Emergency, the accompanying Talent Emergency Guidebook, The Human Side of Profitability, The Power of Joy & Purpose, and her newly released co-authored book No Fear Negotiation for Women.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Could you briefly share your life before beginning your journey as Culture Coach and an active speaker?
At the age of 18 Nicole was ready to start proving her mom right. She left Montana and moved in with her godmother in Libertyville, Illinois. Right out of high school, Nicole got a job as a receptionist at a pre-Y2K firm, where she found her passion quite by accident. “They were hiring all these computer experts from overseas, but when they arrived, the company just put them in the reception area because they didn’t know what to do with them,” recalled Nicole. “It was just inhumane.”
During the same time, Nicole was working on a training program for a college human resources class. “I wanted to help these guys out in the hallway, so I just marched into the director’s office and asked him if he wanted to see the training program I created for school.” When Nicole was finished with her presentation, the director created a human resources department for the site, hired a manager, and moved 18-year-old Nicole from reception to human resources.
Nicole has been building HR departments from the ground up ever since. Today, she is proudly a woman who has built a seven-figure business from scratch, and knowing only 2% of women owned businesses do this is alarming. Women remain an opportunity for business everywhere.
What are the primary offerings provided by HRBoost LLC?
Given that we are not your broker, your attorney, or a 1-800 number, we believe HR expertise is essential to any business as they grow their enterprise. Our Shared Services approach allows businesses to access strategic HR at their pace and budget, all while taking a holistic approach to integrating a culture plan that enables their strategic and/or operational plans as a business.
We deliver skilled talent to our clients. We also believe they need both strategic and tactical resources at the same time. One human is not ideal as there are various cognitive abilities to optimize HR strategically. We believe our middle-market shared services approach is the PEO Alternative. And yes, the middle market needs an alternative.
Define your approach to leading a team. What would you say about it?
I try to lead by example, and I also share for the benefit of all. One of our core values at HRBoost is to learn and share for the benefit of all! As a team, nothing happens without shared creation and true collaboration! I am not the be-all and end-all, and the company serves as my intellectual playground. Having such a solid team and trusting them to do what we love doing in our field allows me to pursue interests I am passionate about.
What obstacles did you face along the way that helped you learn important lessons for your career?
Investment in women. The fact that less than 2% of money invested in the United States goes to women-owned businesses is disturbing. Bottom line: women remain an opportunity and can develop teams that foster collaboration. If you do not have a positive work culture, talent will not tolerate it for long. Creating a culture of rigorous conversation where two-way exchange is fostered and upheld
I think the initial challenges of being a CEO are many. One needs human capital and financial capital to scale and grow. Many businesses will not grow because they are not investing in talent, and often it is the CEO’s job to bear debt. I made a calculated risk to invest in my talent and invest in my bench strength. In the early years, I was reacting to my business, and as a mother and wife, it can be a challenge to orchestrate work life integration. When I look back, I realize that when I laid out a process, hired capable talent, and disappeared to let them work, the process worked; and now we can do it again and again and again. You must trust the people you hire, and you must trust the process. When it is time to take a calculated risk, you invest and do what you can to increase the odds.
Give us some insights about your work as an HR expert.
I am honored to lead a high-performance team of HR leaders who partner with our business clients to meet them wherever they are on their journey to being the best place to work. We have experienced tremendous growth, and proudly, nearly every client has been sourced through word of mouth. Our appeal and success are due to our personal dedication to each and every business we partner with.
Which book on human resources or management is your favorite? Why?
I read quite a bit, but I have to admit to being a skimmer. Some of my favorites include David Ulrich’s The HR Value Proposition, Gary Chapman’s The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, and as a facilitator, I got a lot out of Michael Wilkinson’s book, The Secrets of Facilitation. I share these as I look back on them. I believe that favorites aren’t just books that inspire us, but books that influence your actions in the future, thus changing you! What humbles me is that we all need to be sharing what we know, but then engaging in conversations to really do something about what we are reading about! Between Boomers and Millennials, there are 30 million people missing in the USA. That leaves 48 million Gen Xers like myself. My book, The Talent Emergency, was written in 2015, and even now, people are reading it and still realizing that skilled talent is only one of many issues employers are facing, and this was a fact before the pandemic.
Tell us about your vision for HRBoost LLC and how you hope to affect change.
I think it is important to be vulnerable and authentic. Clearly, no one can be good at everything, but everyone can be good at something. Knowing oneself is important because if you don’t realize you need others to succeed, building a business will be difficult. People will always matter, and a good leader knows that.
At HRBoost®, we have practiced and indoctrinated virtue-based ethics into our business. From day one, our vision was to bring joy and purpose to people through their work.
HRBoost® puts its money where its mouth is but empowers the employees to see and recognize with an actual allowance each month that can be bestowed upon a coworker in a public peer feedback platform. Proudly, our team passed over 4000 points back and forth last year alone. These points cash out into paid time off, taking two teammates out for lunch or dinner, and more! Even for charitable donations. We really believe everyone should experience joy and affirmation of their God given graces at work.
What advice would you give to the next generation of HR leaders?
I am honored to lead a high-performance team of HR leaders who partner with our business clients to meet them wherever they are on their journey, to being the best place to work.
I feel it is imperative to get hands-on experience doing what you seek to learn. Make sure it brings you joy before investing time and energy in it and dedicating your life to it. Enjoy the journey, and be prepared to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Surround yourself with people who inspire and support you but also don’t patronize you. Remember, even if it gets harder or takes longer, stay diligent. Anything you love will be worth it. Overcoming fear and asking for help are keys to where I am today. I also feel everyone deserves a coach, as self-accountability is paramount to achieving your goals.
Website: www.hrboost.com
