Solving the People Puzzle

Episodes

• 
  Good Intentions Alone Don't Scale 07.10.2026 33m

  What happens to your company culture when the founder isn’t in the room? In Episode 81 of Solving the People Puzzle, we explore how Amazon Web Services (AWS) turns cultural intentions into everyday behaviours through practical, repeatable mechanisms. Think of culture as a garden: knowing what you want to grow is only the beginning. You also need an irrigation system that keeps it growing without depending on one person to water it every day. From hiring and feedback to innovation and leade...
• 
  From Prompting to Executing: The Shift to Agentic AI in 2026 26.08.2026 26m

  AI is moving beyond chatbots and prompts — and 2026 could be the year it starts doing the work. In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, Johan sits down with CTO Ewan to explore the shift from traditional AI and prompting toward agentic AI: systems that can understand a goal, take action, execute tasks, and work alongside humans. The conversation explores the opportunities and risks this shift creates for HR and talent acquisition, including AI bias, candidate fraud, automation, data pri...
• 
  The Power of a Chance: Why Corporate SA Needs to Hire Hungry Youth. Featuring Lesego Shelembe, Specialist recruiter, Nedbank. 29.07.2026 24m

  What happens when you stop treating entry-level hiring as a tick-box compliance exercise and start using it to build South Africa's future executive pipeline? In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, host sits down with Lesego Shelembe, Specialist Recruiter at Nedbank, to unpack how corporate South Africa can solve the youth unemployment crisis by giving hungry talent their first real break. Processing 35,000 applications for 650 spots in just 90 days isn't just a massive recruitment c...
• 
  If managers resist hiring tech, is it about change… or control? 24.06.2026 12m

  Why did you choose Candidate A over Candidate B? 🤔 Can you actually defend your last hiring choice if an upset applicant calls you out publicly on social media? Welcome to Chapter 3 of Wamly, broadcasting live from our brand-new, tranquil offices! 🚀 In Episode 78 of Solving the People Puzzle—the ultimate business leadership podcast and human resources podcast—Fran drops a truth bomb that challenges standard talent acquisition trends in 2026. When a line manager resists digital hiring, is it...
• 
  Marko Stavrou on Solving the Gen Z Puzzle: How to Lead, Hire, and Connect with the Next Generation 28.05.2026 53m

  Marko Stavrou, known across South Africa as the Gen Z Guy, is a dynamic young business leader. At 17, he became the youngest person accepted globally into Henley Business School. Today, aged 22, he is the founder of Genlink, an investor-backed consulting and insights firm focused on unlocking the potential of organisations' next-gen talent and customers. Over the past few years, Genlink has worked with the likes of Standard Bank, Nedbank, Universal Music, Walter Sisulu University, and many ot...
• 
  7 Ways Candidates Commit Fraud (And the 5-Layer Defense to Stop Them) 30.04.2026 22m

  Are you sure your last remote hiring decision was legitimate? In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we explore a terrifying shift in the global talent landscape: the rise of the fraudulent candidate. What was a fringe topic 12 months ago is now a central boardroom concern for HR leaders and executives worldwide. THE $5 MILLION ENGINEERING SCAM Imagine hiring a "perfect" remote engineer who aced every interview, only to discover three months later that they were a proxy—a fake identi...
• 
  The Falsifiable Framework: What Real Scientific Hiring Looks Like 08.04.2026 19m

  Stop betting on "vibes" and start hiring with certainty. In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we’re hosting a first-of-its-kind "Industrial Psych Panel." We’re stripping away the Metric Lie that speed is the only KPI that matters. If you can’t prove why you hired someone, you aren't using science—you're just following a workflow. We’re geeking out on how technology "forces" objective hiring by baking falsifiable research directly into the process. From automated job analysis to AI-d...
• 
  The Myth that is killing your recruitment process. 26.03.2026 13m

  We've been led to believe that more tech means less human interaction in recruiting, but this episode challenges that notion. We explore how top recruitment teams optimize their time through technology, proving that the best hiring process uses automation to enhance, not replace, professional judgment. It’s about creating space for crucial "human moments" and allowing AI to be a coworker, enabling recruiters to focus on impactful tasks rather than being bogged down by the recruitment workflow...
• 
  5 Talent Attraction Trends HR Leaders Need to Know 11.03.2026 17m

  Attracting talent has become increasingly complex and fast-paced, with more changes in the last three years than in the previous decade. Join Fran from Wamly in this solo episode of Solving the People Puzzle as he deep dives into five essential recruitment trends. This episode is a must-listen for anyone in the recruitment industry looking to optimize their talent acquisition strategies and workforce planning. We discuss how to transform boring job descriptions into high-converting recruitme...
• 
  Is Your Culture Accidental? The Cost of Passive Leadership in 2026 25.02.2026 34m

  Get ready for a masterclass in the messy middle of leadership with the phenomenal Stephanie Usher, Head of Talent Acquisition for Heineken Beverages. In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we’re ditching the corporate handbooks and HR fluff to talk about what company culture actually looks like when the cameras are off, and the pressure is on. Stephanie joins Francois to tackle the ultimate question: Is your workplace culture a proactive masterpiece or just a happy accident? We dive d...
• 
  Automation didn't remove the human touch, it revealed where it actually matters 11.02.2026 12m

  There is an overwhelming fear that AI will make human roles mundane or irrelevant. In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we challenge the "anti-human" misconception of technology. Automation is not a substitute for the human; it is a filter that exposes where judgment, meaning, and purpose have been missing all along. We explore why top-tier JSE-listed corporates are demanding AI in their RFPs and why this shift is the best thing to happen to strategic HR. If a task can be autom...
• 
  The Future of Work 2026: 10 Trends Every CEO and HR Leader Must Know 19.01.2026 14m

  If you aren't aware of the top ten HR and hiring trends for 2026, you will not be hiring better people faster. In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we unpack the 10 definitive trends shaping HR and talent acquisition this year. We explore how HR is graduating from a support function to becoming an "AI Era Strategist". 📅 JOIN OUR IN-PERSON EVENT Deep dive into these trends with our 90-minute intensive sessions in Johannesburg and Cape Town. 🕒When: Last week of February ...
• 
  Is AI Replacing HR? The Truth About Reshaping, Fluency & Future Skills with Dieter Veldsman 08.12.2025 33m

  Is Artificial Intelligence coming for your job, or is it the key to finally becoming a strategic business partner? In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, Francois sits down with Dr. Dieter Veldsman, Chief HR Scientist at the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR), to debunk the myths surrounding AI in the workplace. Dr. Dieter reveals why the narrative of "replacement" is wrong and why we are seeing a rise in "AI Regret"—where companies replace humans too quickly, only to realize the value of e...
• 
  How to Hire for Tech Sales: Grit, Analytics, and Process with JP Malherbe 24.11.2025 44m

  Is the era of the "Wolf of Wall Street" salesperson finally over? In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we explore why the most effective salespeople in 2025 aren’t the loudest extroverts—they are the "nerds," the process engineers, and the data analysts. Learn how to hire for tech sales with expert JP Malherbe. Discover the importance of grit, analytics, and process in building a successful tech sales team. This recruitment podcast is a must-listen for anyone in the tech sales indus...
• 
  The Coca-Cola Playbook: How Kego Ntshe Uses Authentic Storytelling to Win Top Talent 10.11.2025 30m

  What if your company's greatest talent attraction tool isn't your perks package or your job specs... but your stories? In a competitive market, how does a global giant like Coca-Cola cut through the noise to attract, onboard, and keep top talent? The answer lies in a strategy that moves far beyond the traditional job ad. In this episode, we sit down with Kego Ntshe, Country Employer Branding Lead at Coca-Cola Beverages, to unpack the official "playbook" for building a magnetic employer bran...
• 
  Mark Sham on Untaught Skills for Authentic Success 20.10.2025 46m

  In a world promising an easier life, why do so many of us feel like it's harder than ever to find authentic success? In this powerful conversation, Francois welcomes back entrepreneur and dear friend Mark Sham for a brutally honest discussion about what it truly takes to thrive. Mark shares his deeply personal journey of reinvention, explaining why he had to let go of his old identity to find real growth. He reveals the essential "core skills" our education system never taught us and explains...
• 
  From Admin to Advisor: Rebuilding HR's Voice and Value | Guest: Jo Watt, Director, Art of Talent 06.10.2025 32m

  This episode of Solving the People Puzzle tackles the silent identity crisis facing so many in the HR community. We explore why many practitioners feel they are going backwards, struggling to be seen as the strategic advisors they aspire to be. The conversation confronts a difficult reality: many organizations do not view their HR department as a game-changer. HR is often unfairly burdened with being the sole "gatekeeper of values and ethics" , creating a high-tension environment where the de...
• 
  Solving for Scale: How WeBuyCars Hires 120+ People a Month, with Rikus Blomerus, CMO, WeBuyCars 22.09.2025 35m

  🚀 Is your hiring process a bottleneck or a growth engine? In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we sit down with Rikus, the CPO and CMO behind WeBuyCars. He shares the incredible inside story of how they transformed their talent acquisition from a manual, time-consuming process into a strategic competitive advantage. Learn the exact mindset shift that occurred when they stopped viewing HR tech as a cost and started seeing it as an enabler to grow the rest of our business". Tune into...
• 
  The Wamly Story: How We're Helping the world Hire Better People, Faster 08.09.2025 10m

  Ever sat in an interview and realised within 5 minutes that the candidate doesn't match their CV?. You're not alone. That single, time-wasting problem is what sparked the creation of Wamly back in 2018. In this special episode of Solving the People Puzzle, Wamly founder Francois de Wet takes you through the entire journey—from a simple one-way video interview tool to a revolutionary end-to-end hiring platform built to solve the biggest challenges in recruitment today. Learn why HR teams are d...
• 
  The Ultimate Guide to Talent Acquisition KPIs (Cost, Quality, Speed & More) 21.07.2025 26m

  In this solo masterclass from Solving the People Puzzle, Our founder and CEO, Francois de Wet, gives you the ultimate guide to the five essential talent acquisition KPIs. Drawing on success stories and insights from Wamly's clients , Francois goes beyond definitions to provide practical tools, techniques, and next steps you can implement in your business right away. In this episode, you will learn: Time to Hire: Why this is more than a number—it’s a direct reflection of your candidate experie...