EP 51 - Unlocking Performance Psychology in Recruitment w/Alex Elliott
In this episode of The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast, I’m joined by Alex Elliott — ex-founder, investor, and advisor to recruitment businesses and RecTech startups. We dive deep into the psychology of performance, motivation, leadership, and what really drives long-term success in recruitment — beyond just KPIs, scripts, or surface-level training. This is a masterclass in understanding people — whether you’re hiring, leading, or trying to get the best out of yourself. We cover: ✅ Why performance psychology matters more than recruitment training ✅ Hiring for will, not skill — and why most agencies get it backwards ✅ Intrinsic motivation: how to uncover what really drives your team ✅ The danger of managing people like you’d manage yourself ✅ How to hold high standards without creating a toxic culture ✅ B players, A players, and what leadership psychology teaches us ✅ Why values aren’t posters — and how to make them actually matter ✅ Generational shifts, work-life balance, and adapting to Gen Z ✅ Emotional management, self-awareness, and leading under pressure ✅ How to reset your culture and scale with purpose Whether you're building a team, scaling a business, or trying to level up your leadership style — this one’s packed with insight you won’t hear in your average recruitment podcast. Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro & Alex’s recruitment background 02:21 – Skill vs. will: why willpower drives outlier performance 04:41 – Spotting motivation gaps & hiring for drive 07:04 – Why you can’t fix low motivation after hiring 09:23 – Coaching with context: goal setting that actually works 11:09 – Aligning personal drivers with business goals 13:19 – The A vs. B player mindset (and how to lead both) 15:38 – The leadership mistake that cost Alex great people 17:51 – Sales floors as bell curves & moving performance right 20:06 – Legacy as a motivator & deep value-driven coaching 22:23 – Getting honest answers & the 5-whys questioning method 24:46 – Going deep: emotional goals and logical planning 27:02 – Rewiring beliefs, burnout, and evening routines 29:22 – Emotional drivers + logical plans = consistency 31:35 – Radical candor, challenge, and care in leadership 34:00 – Performance psychology = emotional regulation 36:24 – Reshaping habits, beliefs & getting your sleep in order 38:48 – What real personal discipline looks like in practice 41:01 – Leadership psychology vs. performance psychology 43:24 – Values in action: how to set & live them 45:45 – Every business has values — even if you don’t write them 48:05 – Changing culture as you scale (the hard truth) 50:23 – Toxic standards vs. sustainable performance 52:47 – What high standards really mean today 55:08 – Social contracts & setting expectations at hiring 57:29 – Flexibility, responsibility, and knowing the line 59:50 – Can Gen Z still thrive in high-performance culture? 01:02:06 – Work ethic, perspective, and enjoying hard work 01:04:28 – What motivates today’s recruiters (beyond money) 01:06:47 – Choosy tribes: building the right hiring culture 01:08:57 – Alex’s 1% Better tip: Gamify performance & track what matters Connect with Alex Elliott 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexelliott123/ Connect with Charles Kyriakou LinkedIn: / charleskyriakou1 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@charles.kyriakou Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46LjJfw... LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/...
