Max Hansen, head of Y Scouts executive recruiting, presented in-depth mentoring sessions to Arizona business leaders, discussing strategies for hiring fully-aligned C-suite talent.
(PRUnderground) December 8th, 2025
Max Hansen, Founder and CEO of Y Scouts, recently led a powerful series of in-person leadership sessions for Arizona Growth Advisors (AZGA) — a high-impact peer group of growth-stage CEOs and business leaders. Across a week of deep-dive, 90-minute sessions, Hansen shared candid insights into what’s broken in executive hiring today and what forward-thinking leaders can do to fix it.
Drawing from over a decade of experience running an executive search company that boasts a 92% success rate, Hansen walked participants through the behind-the-scenes realities of hiring elite leadership talent. Topics ranged from role clarity and candidate experience to the ethical use of AI in hiring and how small improvements in process can permanently raise hiring outcomes.
“Being in the room with this caliber of leadership was an honor,” Hansen said. “The questions, the hunger to grow, and the openness to new ideas made it clear that every leader in the room understood that hiring isn’t just a task. It’s the most important thing they do.”
AZGA is a curated network of up-and-coming Arizona business leaders. Its mission is to cultivate strategic thinking, peer-to-peer insight, and sustainable business growth through ongoing leadership development opportunities, such as Hansen provided.
Key takeaways from Hansen’s leadership sessions for AZGA included:
- Hiring Is the #1 Priority. Every leader present acknowledged that great hiring is the lever for growth and that poor hires are one of the costliest mistakes they can make.
- Small Changes = Massive Impact. Even small upgrades to the hiring process (like better role definition or improved onboarding) compound over time to create stronger teams.
- Candidate Experience is a Competitive Edge. Hansen showed how a structured, aligned hiring process can differentiate companies in the eyes of top-tier candidates.
- AI is Only as Good as the Inputs. Hansen emphasized that AI doesn’t solve bad hiring. It amplifies it. Without clarity on success outcomes, values, and culture alignment, automation just creates faster misfires.
- Process Over Gut Feel. Hansen showed how Y Scouts’ proprietary Role Visioning Process defines what great looks like before a search begins, eliminating misalignment and reducing costly mistakes.
Hansen founded Y Scouts in 2012 to fix what was broken in executive recruiting. The firm takes a people-first approach to retained executive search — using its proprietary methodology to go beyond résumés and uncover the character, leadership DNA, and motivations that drive long-term impact. The result is hard-hitting C-suite leaders who are fully aligned with their companies’ mission, values, and culture and ready to achieve unparalleled business growth.
Earlier this year, Y Scouts was named among America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms by Forbes. To learn more about Y Scouts or its approach to purpose-driven executive recruiting, visit www.Yscouts.com.
About Y Scouts
Y Scouts specializes in purpose-driven executive recruiting. They are committed to connecting organizations with leaders who are not only highly qualified but also aligned with the organization’s culture, mission, values, and core competencies.
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Original Press Release.