Last week, Pollen founder, Lars Leafblad made a big announcement, he is cofounding a new executive search firm, Ballinger

| Leafblad. Starting your own

business is a risky endeavor, but Lars Leafblad and Marcia Ballinger dont feel brave.
Their partnership gives them strength. Ballinger and Leafblad believe in each other
even more than they believe in themselves. Together, they have co-created a
shared vision to shake up the field of executive search. The civic sector needs a new
approach, and Marcia and Lars see a path to reimagining the search process for
placing leaders within organizations that do good.

Marcia and Lars are leaders in their own right. They are extraordinary individuals,
but they insist they are their best selves when working together. And so Pollen has
investigated the shape of their individual career tracks, to better understand the
fascinating team dynamics of this partnership.

And so how did they get there?

marcia-path_02xz_01

Marcia set out to study the self perception the effect of executive coaching had on
individuals identified as both high potential and low potential corporate workers.
She did not find a difference between high potential and low potential individuals,
but she did find that women perceived coaching different than men: When I cut
the data by gender, I found huge differences in the way people perceived coaching.
Women felt far less supported in the coaching process.
marcia-path_02_02
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And so how did they get there?

Marcia set out to study the self perception the effect of executive coaching had on
individuals identified as both high potential and low potential corporate workers.
She did not find a difference between high potential and low potential individuals,
but she did find that women perceived coaching different than men: When I cut
the data by gender, I found huge differences in the way people perceived coaching.
Women felt far less supported in the coaching process.

marcia-path_02_02

Lars met for his annual review with Bush Foundation president Jennifer Ford Reedy,
and was invited to have a courageous conversation. He told Jennifer that his dream
was to start something. And Jen elected to respond in a way that you can only hope.
It was visionary. She saw a win-win. She said, Thats awesome. Lets keep talking.
The Bush Foundation motto, think bigger, think differently, applies to staff as well.

BL_spacerBL_Group2xo_09BL_Group2xxc_13At the same time that Lars was

thinking about relaunching his search career, Marcia was also having thoughts about
what was next. They started talking about their shared passion for co-creation and
the civic space. And something better and different for how the future of search
could look.
BL_Group2xxc_10
BL_Group2xxc_14

Lars met for his annual review with Bush Foundation president Jennifer
Ford Reedy, and was invited to have a courageous conversation. He
told Jennifer that his dream was to start something. And Jen elected
to respond in a way that you can only hope. It was visionary. She saw
a win-win. She said, Thats awesome. Lets keep talking. The Bush
Foundation motto, think bigger, think differently,
applies to staff as well.

While starting something new, might feel like a risk, these

two are adamant there is no risk here. With each others
partnership, and shared vision, the move only
presented opportunity.

"We wanted to go on this

adventure in partnership
together. To share values and
trust with one another. We are
both used to collaboratively and
iteratively making decisions.
We will practice duality, you get
Marcia and you get Lars. We
think in ways that compliment.
We ideate together."

"We wanted to go on this

adventure in partnership
together. To share values and
trust with one another. We are
both used to collaboratively and
iteratively making decisions.
We will practice duality, you get
Marcia and you get Lars. We
think in ways that compliment.
We ideate together."

What is one piece of advice for career planning?

Marcia Ballinger: Each of us is constantly surrounded by a wealth of career
planning advice. Everyone you know has career guidance for you that you would
want to know. How did you get into your line of work? Whats cool about it? What
makes you proud? How might that relate to what Im passionate about? Ask,
listen, learn, connect.
Lars Leadblad: Dont stop being curious. Asking great questions is a hallmark
of great leadership so practice the behavior frequently. Ask questions and then
actively listen the counsel, feedback or ideas shared. When you seek out feedback,
counsel or advice, youll find that career serendipity accelerates exponentially. New
opportunities will surface by the very pursuit of knowledge, insights and growth.
What is one piece of advice you can give candidates up for a new position?
Marcia Ballinger: Approach the job interview with joy. Try not to think about it as a
competition against others; that thinking triggers behaviors that dont serve you
well. Think about the process of job exploration itself. What are you excited about
at this time? What are you learning about yourself? How can your experience
connect with the needs of the position? At the end of the day, people dont hire
resumes, they hire people.
Lars Leafblad: The strongest candidates for a job inevitably ask the best questions
yet most candidates focus solely on preparing their answers to the questions
they anticipate being asked by the hiring manager(s) or search committee. The
questions you pose, or lack thereof, when interviewing are often a key differentiator
in the assessment of your candidacy vis-a-vis other candidates.