Fit Happens: The Executive Search Podcast
Fit Happens asks the question most leadership conversations avoid: why do talented people fail in the wrong roles — and thrive in the right ones? Hosted by Jason Baumgarten, an executive search specialist with decades of experience placing CEOs and building boards, each episode blends cutting-edge research with candid conversations with the leaders who've lived it. Because fit isn't luck. It's a science.
How Scott Pulsipher Found His Fit as CEO of a 200,000-Student University
What does it really take to find the role you were built for — and lead it at scale?
In this episode of Fit Happens, I sit down with Scott Pulsipher, CEO of Western Governors University, to explore how a former Amazon leader found the most meaningful fit of his career — and what it cost him to get there. Scott opens up about a brutal leadership feedback experience at Amazon that nearly broke his confidence, how that humbling moment became the foundation for his growth as a leader, and why attending a single WGU commencement convinced him this was...
The One Sentence Every Executive Should Write Before Day One
Most executives fail not because they lack talent — but because they're solving the wrong problem.
In this solo episode of Fit Happens, I'm breaking down the single most important sentence any executive can write: "I was hired to do X, as measured by Y, while avoiding Z, and by building systems and teams that make it repeatable." Whether you're stepping into a new C-suite role or six months into one, mandate clarity is the difference between performance and misalignment. I walk through a practical framework covering how to define your real mandate (X), understand how success wi...
Career Fit Beyond VC: Kara Nortman's Path to Women's Sports Leadership
She left a dream job at peak success — because she finally discovered what true alignment feels like.
In this episode of Fit Happens, Jason Baumgarten sits down with Kara Nortman, managing partner of Monarch Collective — the only investment platform exclusively focused on women's sports. Kara's career spans Morgan Stanley, IAC, Battery Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and co-founding Angel City Football Club alongside Natalie Portman. She talks candidly about what it took to leave a role she was thriving in to pursue a fit she didn't know she needed, the role of coaching and personality frameworks in her...
What Is Fit? The Science of Finding Your Place in the Workplace
Most people are winging one of the most important decisions of their lives.
What's the difference between someone who springs out of bed Monday morning and someone who drags themselves there? It's not salary. It's not title. It's fit — and it's backed by over a century of science that most of us are ignoring. In this premiere episode of Fit Happens, Jason Baumgarten breaks down the five levels of job fit, the dark side of getting it wrong, and why the most dangerous hiring tool in business might be your own gut. Drawing on research, re...
