Don’t Fear The Weirdo
Most of the sourcing leaders I truly admire — the ones who deeply understand sourcing, who inspire and grow teams while delivering exceptional recruiting results — don’t necessarily fit the typical corporate standards.
They don’t always operate in boardroom-approved ways.
Sometimes they ask too many questions. Sometimes they flag too many issues.
Sometimes they challenge things no one else dares to touch.
Sometimes they bring up uncomfortable truths when everyone else just wants to move on.
Sometimes — yes, sometimes — they’re the pain in the ass. They’re the smartass. And yes, sometimes they’re just really hard to deal with.
But one thing is always true: great sourcing leaders bring something incredibly valuable to the table: authenticity, passion, expertise, and a deep connection to their craft.
They bring the solution to sourcing.
THE CHALLENGING JOB OF A SOURCING LEADER
Seasoned recruiting leaders often forget what sourcing is really here to do: sourcing steps in when everything else fails.
When your employer branding, recruitment marketing, and job ads don’t bring in the right talent, you bring in sourcing. When your recruiters can’t find the right people through traditional channels and databases, you bring in sourcing.
Sourcing is your Mission Impossible unit.
Your Tom Cruise moment.
And like any special forces team, they’re not here to blend in. They’re not here to process what’s already been tried. They’re here for breakthroughs.
Sourcing operates outside the usual lines — and outside-the-lines work demands outside-the-box thinking. It takes creativity, speed, countless trials and errors, and a relentless drive to solve the hard problems.
You ask them to deliver what others couldn’t — so expect them to look, think, or lead like others don’t.
That’s why sourcing leadership feels different. Because it is different.
And that’s exactly where most polished, politically correct leadership teams get uncomfortable: how do you collaborate with someone who’s just as essential as they are unconventional?
MY WEIRDO
My luck (or maybe my talent) is that I’ve learned to speak two important languages: the language of sourcing, and the language of leadership.
Over the past twenty years, I’ve helped hundreds of leaders understand what sourcing actually does, why it matters, and what business outcomes it’s meant to drive. That’s my bridge-building skill.
And that’s not my weirdo.
My weirdo is that I’m Hungarian.
Hungarians — like many people from Arabic, African, or Eastern European cultures – tend to be emotional. And direct.
That combination often feels completely out of place through a Western-European or American lens.
While most English, French, or American kids are taught to manage their emotions and hide their negative thoughts, people like me are used to jumping into a heated discussion.
We’re okay being seen as impulsive — or, if we believe we’re right, even angry.
- What sounds like a rant to some might actually be passion.
- What feels like conflict to one person might be a search for clarity to another.
In my fifteen years working in global sourcing leadership, I’ve had more than enough cultural clashes and communication disasters.
The Hungarian in me can sometimes come across as weird — or even a bit much. And that’s a shame. Most of the time, it’s just a simple cultural misunderstanding.
If we could recognize that these differences often come from how we were raised — you were taught to hold it back, I was encouraged to let it out — we could manage these situations so much better.
THE WEIRDO OF OTHERS
But culture isn’t the only kind of weird. I know brilliant sourcing leaders with ADHD who jump from idea to idea at lightning speed, and others on the spectrum who see patterns no one else can. Some are so introverted that they barely speak in meetings, while others are loud and full of energy. Some move slowly but catch every detail; others think so fast it’s hard to keep up.
Some can’t stand office politics. Some may be too soft as leaders. Some insist on complete honesty — even when it’s uncomfortable.
Great sourcing leaders can be raw, intense, overly passionate, or have a strange sense of humor. Some days, they’re like mad scientists. Other days, like dreamy artists.
They might meet the CEO in sneakers and totally mess up the basic polite protocols.
But give them your hard-to-fill roles, give them a team of sourcers — and they’ll solve it before the polished TA leader finishes the intake.
Being a weirdo might not be the worst thing in a corporate environment.
- Not getting results might be worse.
- Leading people without vision or care — that’s worse.
- Having no clue how to tackle a tough business problem? That’s much worse than needing to work with someone who’s a little different from the usual corporate type.
No — I’m not here to excuse bad behavior.
But I do want to help you see the bigger picture:
to get different results, you often need different people.
So don’t punish the one you brought in to think differently — just because they actually do.
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