EP315: Building A-Player Recruitment Teams, Culture & Innovation — Leo Harrison, Founder of Chapter 2EP315: Building A-Player Recruitment Teams, Culture & Innovation — Leo Harrison, Founder of Chapter 2
The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast
Founder Leo Harrison shares how he builds and scales high-performing recruitment teams at Chapter 2, blending embedded talent, AI and employer branding. He reflects on costly missteps, cultural values, retaining A players and balancing intense leadership with family life and personal wellbeing.
41:23•16 Mar 2026
Building A-Player Recruitment Teams Without Losing Your Soul
Episode Overview
- High-performing recruitment teams need both capability and cultural compatibility, with clear traits such as resilience, customer obsession and curiosity.
- Consistent innovation is essential, as summed up by Leo’s rule: never lose a client through lack of innovation.
- Leaders should be willing to admit and correct costly mistakes, rather than clinging to failing initiatives.
- Retention of top talent depends on a simple mutual deal: if the business looks after its people, they will look after the business.
- Burnout and personal challenges in A players call for support and adjustment, not instant rejection, especially when long-term trust has been built.
“If you look after us, we’ll look after you.”
Get ready to be moved by a real-life account of what happens when a recruitment leader mixes bold ideas, brutal honesty and a few very expensive mistakes. This conversation centres around Leo Harrison, founder and CEO of Chapter 2, as he talks with host Lysha Holmes about building high-performing talent teams and the culture that keeps "A players" sticking around.
Leo explains how Chapter 2 builds and runs in-house talent ecosystems for global brands, combining embedded recruiters, AI tools and employer brand content under a fixed-fee model. You’ll hear how he helped grow Oliver from four people to 3,000 staff in 40 countries, then launched Chapter 2 just two weeks before COVID.
He shares how that experience shaped his obsession with innovation, summed up in his mantra: "Never lose a client through lack of innovation." Leo is disarmingly open about his mistakes, including, "I spent a million quid on building a technology platform that I didn't launch," and how he chose to stop throwing good money after bad, reworking the product instead of stubbornly sticking with a failing idea. His car-in-the-workshop analogy will stick with anyone who’s ever backed the wrong project.
The episode also digs into what an "A player" means at Chapter 2: high-potential people with grit, customer obsession, curiosity and strong communication. Leo stresses that capability and cultural compatibility both matter, and that retention hinges on a simple deal: "If you look after us, we’ll look after you." There’s a softer side too.
Leo talks about burnout, why you don’t just "bin off" a great performer who’s struggling, and how he balances being a CEO with being a present husband and dad, supported by marathon running and a focus on gratitude. If you’re leading a team, hiring recruiters or just rethinking what high performance should look like, this story might prompt you to ask: are you really looking after the people who look after you?
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