Hiring for the innovation economy: Three Steps to Improve Performance and Diversity, By Nicole Rufuku

The digital economy demands that high­ performing and highly adaptive teams work creatively and collaboratively to identify and seize new opportunities quickly. Managers who are serious about innovation have to abandon old and broken hiring practices in order to identify and hire the right people to build the future.

This book will help team leaders understand why they often fail to hire dynamic and agile team members who can challenge the status quo and scale with a fast ­paced and high ­growth business, while enriching the team’s culture and perspective.

Starting at Microsoft, Nicole Rufuku has spent her career in strategy and product, helping entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies build digital products. As a Principal at Neo Innovation (acquired by Pivotal Labs), she led engagements from ideation to scale. Nicole has built startup teams from the ground up, both as a founder and as a consultant. She developed an interest in hiring and diversity from her own experience hiring talent to power agile teams for rapid innovation. Nicole now applies her product expertise through her New York-based consultancy called Bonsai, where she helps growth-stage companies improve their hiring success.