Soft Skills, Hard Truths: Building, Leading, and Letting Go with Cameron Herold and Joe Polish

The Joe Polish Show

Cameron Herold shares how to find, hire, and empower a world-class second-in-command to scale your business. From Vivid Vision to the real reason meetings suck, Cameron reveals the systems and mindset shifts that create unstoppable operational teams.

Here’s a glance at what you’ll discover in this episode:

• How Cameron hired 800 franchisees—and trained them to recruit 8,000 people—in just 4 months, year after year. (Including the obscure system that made it possible.)
• The Hidden Hiring Mistake That Fools Even Seasoned Entrepreneurs: Why "knowing how" isn’t enough—and how one candidate ran for his car mid-interview when Cameron called his bluff.
• The ‘Detail-Oriented’ Test You’ve Never Heard Of: One question that reveals who actually lives what they preach.
• Why most HR departments are wired to reject your best sales candidates—and what to do instead if you want to build a high-performing team.
• Why vivid vision isn’t a ‘nice to have’—it’s the missing piece in every operational system on the planet. (And how it transformed 1-800-GOT-JUNK into a world-class culture machine.)
• The 12 soft skills every leader must master—and why almost none of them can be outsourced to AI.
• How to spot, coach, and scale your second-in-command...even if you're not ready to give up control. (PLUS: Cameron’s blueprint for the COO–CEO relationship that drives results.)
• What almost bankrupted 1-800-GOT-JUNK at $100M—and how ego, not economics, nearly tanked the company.
• Profit Sharing Gone Wrong: How Cameron’s team accidentally created entitlement—and why true performance alignment requires more than incentives.
• The Truth About Golden Handcuffs: Why the best retention strategy isn’t equity, perks, or bonuses—it’s understanding what each A-player truly wants.
• How to stop being a ‘Seagull CEO’—swooping in, crapping on the plan, and flying away. Here's Cameron’s elegant system to keep founders focused without killing momentum...
• The One Agreement Cameron Had With Brian Scudamore: How he gained decision-making power—without needing constant permission. (And how you can use it to scale leadership without losing control.)
• Why the best COOs will drive you crazy—and why that’s a feature, not a bug. (Plus: how to decide when it’s time to upgrade your #2.)
• The Tattoo That Reframes It All: “None of this sh*t matters.” Why Cameron believes your job, your company, and your to-do list aren’t what’s important—and how to build a business that honors life, not escapes it.

If you’d like to join world-renowned Entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network® Event – then apply today for your invitation to attend at https://geniusnetwork.com.