kburns

About kburns

Kent Burns is President of Simply Driven Executive Search, whose mission is improving the lives of both the clients and candidates they represent. A search industry veteran since 1999, Burns is a CPA with prior experience at PwC and KPMG. He also served as a Corporate Controller and Chief Financial Officer in both public and private companies.
14 08, 2018

Too Good to Hire

By |2018-08-16T13:19:27-05:00August 14th, 2018|

Occasionally, I run into the scenario where a company does not hire my candidate because they are “too good.”  It just happened to me last week.  A client I have done business with in the past referred me to one of their sister companies.  The sister company needed a [...]

7 08, 2018

What You Said May Not Be What They Heard

By |2018-08-15T15:17:06-05:00August 7th, 2018|

Communication is such a funny thing.  When executed poorly, two people can walk away from a conversation with very different perceptions of what just happened.  I just experienced it today. My Firm was negotiating an offer between client and candidate.  We had all the terms buttoned up and were [...]

31 07, 2018

Is Working Remotely a Good Idea?

By |2018-08-15T15:17:20-05:00July 31st, 2018|

Candidates ask multiple times weekly about the option of working from home.  There are many approaches, from the reasonable “Would I be able to work from home if the roads are bad?” to the overt, “How much will I be expected to be in the office with this job?” [...]

23 07, 2018

Out of Office Replies and Voicemails

By |2018-08-15T15:17:29-05:00July 23rd, 2018|

I have a personal bias against out of office email replies and out of office voicemails.  There.  I’ve said it.  It’s out there.  During the Summer months especially, I hear/read over and over again: “This is Tim, I’ll be out of the office from July 15 – 23 with [...]

20 07, 2018

Indy CFO Spotlight-Andrew Krop

By |2024-10-16T11:15:35-05:00July 20th, 2018|

Andrew Krop is having fun. He’s a key executive at Spot Freight, which is an Indianapolis success story. Only in existence since 2009, they are a perennial honoree as one of the IBJ’s Fast 25. We’re having breakfast at Patachou downtown, surrounded by GenCon attendees in full dress. KB: [...]

10 07, 2018

Talent Comes with a Price Tag

By |2018-08-15T15:17:50-05:00July 10th, 2018|

Earlier this year I partnered with a key client to recruit a very high-performing individual.  It was a fun process, complete with a few twists and turns and some fairly intense negotiations.  Recruiting top performers is a challenge in any employment market; however, in 2018, the competition is brutal.  [...]

3 07, 2018

Approaching Holidays

By |2018-08-15T15:17:59-05:00July 3rd, 2018|

Holidays are an interesting phenomenon in American business.  They’re also an interesting study in human behavior.  This year, the 4th of July obviously falls on a Wednesday.  When I became aware of that a few weeks ago, I warned my Team, “Most people will use this as an excuse [...]

26 06, 2018

No Secrets

By |2018-08-15T15:18:09-05:00June 26th, 2018|

I recently watched a video clip of Ray Allen talking about “The Last Shot”. Ray is an NBA Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist who is destined for the Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s famous for his ability to hit jump shots under pressure in game-winning situations. A couple of [...]

26 06, 2018

Indy CFO Spotlight–Melanie King

By |2024-10-16T11:15:36-05:00June 26th, 2018|

KB: Melanie, great to see you. MK: Traffic was terrible… KB: It’s all good. I’ve got lots of time. Tell me about you…where are you from, how’d you grow up…all that stuff. MK: Well, here’s a little-known fact: I spent my early years in Hicksville, Ohio, which is just [...]

19 06, 2018

Excuses Don’t Matter

By |2018-08-15T15:18:30-05:00June 19th, 2018|

My family and I went to a local restaurant on Father’s Day. It’s a place I really like that has great food. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good experience. Our server greeted us cheerfully and took our drink orders. She delivered the drinks, sans straws, but assured us she’d be [...]

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