From Talent Recruitment to Founder and CEO with Jennifer McClure

Jennifer McClure is no stranger to Centennial, the parent company of the Talent Magnet Institute. In fact, she’s been employee, friend, and mentor to Mike and his father. And on her own, Jennifer is a force to be reckoned with. Enjoy this delightful and impactful interview with Jennifer, Chief Excitement Officer of Disrupt HR.
Jennifer shares her corporate experience, but it’s not nearly as dry as it sounds. Interweaved within her story is the tale of a woman who was destined to step about and become a CEO of her own company. But she had plenty of impossible situations to face along the way.
One of the biggest blocks Jennifer faced when changing careers was her lack of networking skills. How do you become the type of speaker and CEO that she is now? You go on the remedial path. She shares her time with Mike’s father, Mike Sipple, Sr., and it’ll put a smile on your face… and spark some new ideas for your own networking and marketing needs!
Jennifer shares what it felt like being told she wasn’t ready to start her own business and how all her peers kept pointing her toward Centennial as a way to learn how. She reveals what she actually learned during her four years working with Mike and his father.
Who in their right mind would give away 10% of their time for free? Jennifer did, and she explains how she got more than her money’s worth out of it by listening and becoming someone others could trust. This led to the beginnings of her speaking career, amazingly enough, about how to network.
The breadth of experience Jennifer has had professionally is profound and she has so many lessons to share. She shares the funny story about applying for a job that, without her realizing at the time, would end up requiring Jennifer to work herself out of that same job. And how the only reason she went in for the interview in the first place was to find out who the company was.
You can’t overestimate the importance of having a vision as a leader, but also communicating that vision to your employees and taking impactful steps to make it happen. The job Jennifer took was one where a radical turnaround was needed, and she walks us through the steps she and the CEO took to rescue the company and sell it to the owners who continue to oversee it today. They helped turn around a legacy brand with a group of dedicated investors who were willing to invest in people if it made business sense. Jennifer and her leadership team were given five years to turn the business around. In just 2 1/2 years they successfully sold the company to a Fortune 100 Company.
Jennifer shares one of the most important things she learned about HR in an environment that, by necessity or preference, forced her to put profitability first. It could have been an impossible situation, but Jennifer found another way to rally for what the employees needed to create the kind of culture she envisioned.
After 20 professional years, Jennifer finally started her own business, Disrupt HR. It took meeting with a young entrepreneur who thought everything she said was brilliant for it to really take off. Their vision was to create an HR event that broke the trend and filled a need in the community that wasn’t currently being met. She shares how the first event played out and what the future of Disrupt HR will be.
Links from this episode:
Jennifer McClure
Impact Makers Podcast
Website
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
The World Needs More Balcony People: 
https://jennifermcclure.net/2013/12/04/the-world-needs-more-balcony-people/
Disrupt HR: The Rebellious Future of HR
https://disrupthr.co/about/
Disrupt HR Twitter 
https://twitter.com/disrupt_hr
Jennifer's speaking schedule
https://jennifermcclure.net/jennifer_mcclure_schedule/
Laurie Ruettimann
http://laurieruettimann.com/
Let’s Fix Work Podcast with Laurie Ruettimann