"[My] biggest lesson learned… when you put a team together, it’s like training for the Olympics… if you want to run fast, if you want to grow big, you have to hire the A-team NOW. Other companies have the luxury to train up and use those years to get the right person in the right role, but that prohibited growth for us."

On today’s episode of Build Your A-Team, Freddie talks with Marlie Andersch, CEO & Founder at rockITdata – an IT firm that provides AWS and Salesforce development to both their commercial and government clients. Marlie is an Air Force Veteran with a sharp eye for company culture and team morale; in this session, we break down her guiding principles of leadership and hiring, explore what it looks like to build trust in your team, and discuss actionable tips on how to start energizing your team today.

Prior to her start-up, Marlie worked in the IT world with numerous companies to learn and understand how to serve customers. She, however, saw that she could do it better and faster her own way and started rockITdata five years ago and developed a $100M backlog in sales!

Some topics we discuss:

• COVID forced them to go remote, which changed everything they did in the business. They had to elevate as a team who understands different approaches to remote work. It was a huge challenge for “rockITdata” but they passed their first big test and elevated their company to better performance.
• “Be Good by Doing Good '' is just one of their 10 Guiding Principles they settled at the beginning that guided them. Those values helped them to achieve company goals, and also to better understand her team’s and individual goals.
• Having a very specific 5/50/55 goal shifted rockITdata to achieve amazing results in just five years. It also shifted their orientation toward people, company culture, customers and service.
• Importance of hiring A-Team, enabled them to scale. Quickly. Marlie and her team hires people who will fit their values and culture. This includes finding the right people to partner with and mentor you along the way!

Connect with Marlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandersch/

Find rockITdata at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rockitdata/

Subscribe to Build Your A Team at: www.milspectalent.com

Connect with Freddie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddie-kim/