The Owner's Room: When the Perfect Hire Looks Great on Paper (But Not in Practice)

Culture Focused Practice

In this episode of the Culture Focused Practice podcast, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper gets real about the gut-wrenching moment when a hire you thought was perfect turns out to be a total mismatch. Through a candid, question-based reflection, she walks through two hiring situations — one tangled up in attachment wounds and the other tanked by her absence from the process.

Dr. Tara explores five key questions, offering up lessons learned, personal accountability, and a brutally honest look at what happens when the paper-perfect candidate doesn’t pan out in real life. From team impact to hiring process flaws, this is a behind-the-scenes look at what leadership actually looks like when things get messy.

She also tackles a scenario: what do you do when someone starts missing deadlines and causing team tension within two weeks of being hired? (Spoiler: document everything, move fast, and trust your process.)

This is an Owner’s Room episode, which means it’s raw, unscripted, and fully grounded in real-time leadership tension.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to The Owner's Room
00:32 The Perfect Hire Gone Wrong
01:30 Question 1: What Made Them Seem Perfect?
05:56 Question 2: Ignoring Gut Feelings
07:53 Question 3: Post-Onboarding Changes
13:58 Question 4: Team Impact
16:10 Question 5: Lessons Learned
19:05 Scenario: Stellar Resume, Poor Performance
24:46 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

👉 Got a real-life hiring or leadership scenario you want Dr. Tara to unpack? Submit it via the contact form at www.taravossenkemper.com — it might just be featured in an upcoming episode.