Here's a pattern we see all the time: a wellness brand is scaling fast, a leadership gap opens up, and the pressure to fill it is intense. New locations are opening. Subscription growth is stalling. There's a list of urgent things as long as your arm, and hiring feels like just one more.

So speed wins. You see the gap, you fill it.

But the quality of your leadership team, built with intention, is what determines whether growth is sustainable. And this is where so many brands trip up. They hire for the stage they're in, not the stage they're heading into. The role gets filled. Things seem fine for a bit. Then six or twelve months later, the misalignment becomes impossible to ignore.

This isn't bad luck and it isn't a thin talent pool. It's a structural problem. The good news? It's completely fixable.

Why growth-stage brands keep making the same mistakes

Wellness brands at this stage tend to hire in one of three ways. They take a referral from their network, they promote the person who's been around the longest, or they just move fast because the pressure to fill the gap is unbearable.

They all feel pragmatic. They all solve the immediate pain. But they all carry the same risk.

The referral trap

In a tight-knit industry, a trusted contact's recommendation carries serious weight. Fair enough. But it's worth pausing to ask what the candidate actually delivered. A long resume is just a starting point. We've seen plenty of "Heads of Operations" who managed systems but never built them. Hiring a manager when you need a builder is one of the most frequent (and expensive) mistakes in this space.

The quick hire

A role opens, pressure mounts, and the instinct is to fill it yesterday. You've got targets to hit and a key seat sitting empty. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, 87% of US small business owners hiring in 2025 reported few or no qualified applicants, which makes it even more tempting to jump when someone credible shows up. But speed rarely fixes a lack of clarity. When the job description gets written around whoever's available rather than around what the business actually needs, you're setting yourself up for a mismatch.

The experience mismatch

This one catches people out because it looks like a great hire on paper. You bring in a heavy hitter, someone who spent years at a large, structured business. They know how to operate within big systems, with resources and teams and budgets behind them.

The problem is, your growth-stage brand doesn't have any of that yet. They're used to a marketing department, an HR team, software budgets. Drop them into an early-stage environment with no established playbook and even a truly talented person can struggle to find their footing. They wait for processes that don't exist. They hesitate without the data they're used to having.

That's not a reflection of their ability. It's a reflection of the brief.

Before you hire the right person, you need to be clear about which stage your business is actually in. And what that stage demands from your leadership hiring.

Matching your leadership hire to your stage of growth

There are three broad stages of wellness brand growth, and each one calls for a different type of leader. We see the pattern start when brands confuse them, or assume the same profile works across all three.

Stage one: Foundation

Small team. Proving the model. Limited infrastructure, high ambiguity. Decisions happen fast and often with incomplete information. Some days you're figuring it out as you go, and that's just the reality of this stage.

The opportunity is real, though. According to the Health & Fitness Association’s 2026 US Health & Fitness Consumer Report, US fitness facility membership reached a record 81 million in 2025 – a 5.2% increase from 2024; while total participation (including non-members using day passes and other access options) surpassed 100 million.

What you need at this stage is someone comfortable with chaos. Someone who can experiment with the offer, the team structure, the commercial model. Who can hold five different responsibilities and actually thrive. There are no lanes yet, so this isn't a role for someone who wants to stay in theirs.

You're looking for a generalist with strong accountability and real entrepreneurial instinct. Someone who gets energy from building, not from optimizing something that already works. Excited by the blank page, not overwhelmed by it.

Where this goes wrong is when you hire a polished operator who's spent their career inside structured organisations. It's not a skills issue. The environment they've been trained for (clear reporting lines, established budgets, support teams) simply doesn't exist yet. They get frustrated by the lack of process. You get frustrated by their lack of speed. It doesn't end well for anyone.

Stage two: Growth

The model is working. You've got proof of concept. Now it needs to be replicated, accelerated, and professionalized. Teams are bigger, targets are more ambitious, and the startup feel is starting to give way to something that looks more like a real company.

This is often the hardest transition. The leader who was on the floor in Foundation, selling memberships, building the tech stack, creating SOPs, now needs to drive performance through other people. That's a completely different skill. Systematizing what works, building teams, letting go of the day-to-day. Not everyone who was brilliant in stage one can make that shift.

You need someone who's scaled before. Ideally, in fitness, wellness, or something adjacent. Someone who knows what breaks when you go from one location to five, or from five to twenty. They understand how to build a team around a proven model without losing the energy that made it work in the first place.

Be careful about bringing in another builder here. Builders want to reinvent things, but that's not what you need anymore. You need replication. Someone who can run and grow, not start again. And be equally careful about hiring a corporate executive too early. That can kill the agility that got you here.

Stage three: Scale

Multi-site. Multi-market. Multi-product. Complex organization, multiple revenue streams, brand recognition building externally.

Leaders at this stage manage other leaders. They think strategically across the full business. They're not in the day-to-day anymore. They represent the brand and its values outwardly, and they're looking at the 18-month roadmap, not just next month's numbers.

This calls for a seasoned executive with a genuine track record of leading at scale. Someone who's done this before in a context that is relevant to yours. Not just impressive names on a resume, but proof that they can operate at this level of complexity.

Watch out for promoting an internal star before they're ready, or hiring for pedigree without really digging into whether the context translates. Both are common at this stage.

The best leadership hire you'll ever make is the one that meets your business where it's going, not just where it's been.

Scope the role first, find the person second

The quality of a leadership hire is almost always determined before the search starts. A well-scoped role attracts the right candidates. A vague one results in the wrong ones.

Define the outcome, not the tasks

What does success look like in 90 days? In 12 months? Get specific about the problem this hire is solving and how you'll know when it's been solved. A job description built around tasks ("manage weekly meetings," "oversee sales") just doesn't land the same as one built around impact ("increase retention by 15%," "launch three new sites"). The best candidates want to know the scorecard. Give them one.

Build your brand's credibility

Your brand doesn’t necessarily need to be a household name to attract the best talent. But you do need to make the most of what you have and be able to illustrate your vision. How does your brand show up to someone who's never heard of you? What makes this role, at this company, at this moment, compelling?

Your hiring process is a candidate's first experience of your leadership. Make the most of this opportunity to engage and deliver delight.

Build a compelling offer

Salary compression in wellness is real. You probably can't match the base salary of a corporate giant. But base salary is one lever among many. Equity, benefits, flexibility, autonomy, mission alignment, career trajectory. All of these factor into how a strong candidate evaluates an opportunity, especially someone coming from outside the sector who needs a fuller picture before making the leap. A clear path to ownership or a meaningful performance bonus can absolutely outweigh a lower base for the right candidate.

Run a process, not a single conversation

A structured hiring process signals maturity to anyone considering joining your team. A clear brief. Considered interview questions. Deliberate evaluation criteria. A proper reference process. Even when you already have a name in mind. Especially when you already have a name in mind.

Where does this leave you?

The next leadership hire you make might be the one that opens your next chapter. Or it could be the one that results in 18 months of delayed growth.

It's worth getting right.

If you're heading into a leadership search and want to make sure it's scoped for where you're growing into (not just where you are today), we'd love to talk. Reach out to the Good Soul Hunting team for a conversation about what your next hire should look like and how you can attract them.

And if this landed with you, share it with a founder or operator in your network who's navigating the same challenge. Good souls know good souls.

Good Soul Hunting | A Search Agency With Soul