Meagan Murray: How Conquering Covid Shaped My 2020

In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Meagan Murray, Head of People at Anduril Industries. Meagan previously held leadership positions at well-known brands such as Riot Games, Facebook, Cruise Automation, and Karat.

Meagan reveals how she got Covid in March - and how terrifying it was back then when we knew even less about the virus. Meagan is also a Cancer survivor which she shares too. Meagan details how Covid has completely re-shaped the way she views here professional life, personal life - and overall well-being, including taking up running again and losing 45lbs!

Listen in as Meagan discusses how COVID-19 has shifted the focus of every organization onto the health and wellbeing of its people, the foundational role of culture in every business, adapting to the virtual workplace, and traits that make up a great recruiter. Marcus mentions his Leadership Doctrine - The Big IDEA (Inspire, Develop, Empower, Appreciate)

Leadership, Remote work challenges, engagement issues - Marcus and Meagan cover a lot of interesting territory in this fascinating conversation.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [1:12] How contracting COVID-19 shaped Meagan’s 2020

●      [8:43] Meagan’s thoughts on companies now focusing on wellbeing

●      [11:25] Anduril’s mission and Meagan’s role at the company

●      [13:53] Culture is the bedrock of any organization

●      [14:52] Anduril’s core values and how they contribute to their culture

●      [17:03] Leadership-related challenges in 2020

●      [19:07] Keeping people immersed in their work while being isolated

●      [21:17] Measuring productivity in a virtual workplace

●      [22:28] Why vulnerability makes better leaders

●      [24:55] Highlights from working at Facebook, Riot Games, Cruise, and Karat

●      [29:34] Working in a hypergrowth company

●      [32:38] What makes a great recruiter?

●      [35:21] The consulting aspect of recruiting

●      [39:07] Does Meagan believe in recruiting “up-and-comers”?

Key quotes:

●      “As HR professionals, we always tend to put the needs of others before ours, but we actually really need to take care of ourselves first if we want to be effective leaders in the long run.”

●      “The best leaders I’ve seen are able to be vulnerable when the situation calls for it.”

●      “Selling your company’s vision to a prospective hire is about finding out what is important to the candidate and linking that up to what we have in the company.”

●      “I can’t stand it when people say that recruiting is sales. In fact, it drives me nuts. We’re not in sales. The best recruiters are the ones that aren’t trying to sell the opportunity. They’re trying to support the candidate to make the right decision—they’re trying to see if the organization is the right match for them.”

●      “Curiosity is the number one thing that makes a TA specialist or recruiter awesome.”