Unmuted Podcast | Episode #75
Topic: From Roster to Org Chart - Lessons Leaders Can Learn from Pro Sports
Guest: Maria Vilshanski - Founder & CEO at Silo-In
Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvilshanski/
Guest Website: https://silo-in.com/
Host: Jeff Waldman - Founder & HR Tech Evangelist at ScaleHR & SocialHRCamp
Episode Overview:
What if organizations managed talent more like professional sports teams?
In pro sports, talent isn’t static. Athletes are continuously assessed, coached, developed, and redeployed based on performance, readiness, and fit, not simply job title, tenure, or where they happen to sit on an org chart.
Now compare that to many organizations today. Employees are often boxed into roles. Opportunities move slowly. Talent reviews happen once a year. Potential can remain hidden in plain sight. And perhaps the biggest difference of all? Sports teams see failing to develop or redeploy talent as a major risk. Many companies still don’t.
In this episode, Maria Vilshanski joins us to explore what leaders can learn from a pro-sports approach to workforce strategy, and how applying that lens can completely reshape how organizations think about visibility, readiness, mobility, and talent decisions.
We explore:
👉 The biggest difference between how pro sports teams manage talent vs. most companies
👉 Why annual reviews often miss what continuous assessment can reveal
👉 How organizations can improve visibility into who is ready now, and who is developing for the future
👉 How to create opportunity without creating pressure or burnout
👉 1-3 practical ways leaders can start managing talent more dynamically today
If you’re a founder, executive, HR leader, or manager trying to build stronger teams and smarter talent systems, this episode offers a fresh and highly practical perspective.
About Maria Vilshanski:
Maria Vilshanski is the Founder & CEO of Silo-In, a workforce intelligence platform built for the construction industry. She has built and led products across construction, engineering, and manufacturing, bringing a pro-sports mindset to talent strategy. Through AI-powered roles like the Coach, the Scout, and the Sports Agent, Silo-In helps companies gain visibility into their workforce, develop internal talent, and make smarter, data-driven people decisions.
🔗 Connect with Maria: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvilshanski/
🌐 Learn more: https://silo-in.com/
About ScaleHR:
The Unmuted Podcast is powered by ScaleHR (https://goscalehr.com/), a rapidly growing company that supports emerging HR, Recruitment, and Work Tech startups and SMBs with brand awareness and lead generation.
Our proprietary solution, Catalyst, blends content strategy, influencer marketing, and omnichannel distribution to help brands cut through the noise.
📩 Connect with ScaleHR: https://www.goscalehr.com/
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