Jared Gardner

Everyone talks about hiring A players, here's what one looks like: Our Head of Search (responsible for all written content in the @epicgardening universe) came to me recently and said: "I'm spending 20 hours a week managing editor tasks and responsibilities, which likely cost our company $x/mo. I'd prefer to focus on e-commerce SEO, especially since it takes some time to ramp up and it's 6 months before our busy season in spring. There's a lot of low hanging fruit we need to fix before then, and it'd have a meaningful impact on revenue. If I do this, I need someone to replace my hours, and I've chosen "Jane" from our pool of freelance writers. She's talented, hungry, and already knows a lot of our systems. We can bump her up and bring her on full time which is a net cost increase of $x, which will be offset by increased content production of # articles per month, AND I'll be free to focus on higher leverage tasks. Am I clear to make this move?" This isn't the first time he's done this, either. He routinely brings me proposals like this that are well thought out, clearly display his understanding of how his department fits into the larger business goals, and how he can best leverage his skills.