I’ve seen a lot of blah blah blah on how to hire, who to hire, and etc, and it tends to run the same way, hire better than yourself, hire experience not resumes, hire team players. So I was happy with I saw these gems from Tom Evslin which expound beyond Bernard Moon’s often obvious advice (then again, should I criticize? Is there anything more rare than common sense?)
Tom says
“I disagree with Bernard’s math when he says “One A-grade hire equals 10 C-grade hires.” A C-grade hire is a negative — especially for a startup. Better to leave the position unfilled. No matter what you multiply a negative by, you still get a negative.
Bernard says to hire team players. You need to hire people you can work with but NOT necessarily team players. Team players won’t tell you when you’re dead wrong; they won’t be the only dissenting voice even when they’re right and everybody else is wrong. Startups need a team but I think a CEO can mold a team, has to mold a team, from very strong individuals.”
Both very true, and not just for start-ups. I especially appreciate his understanding that people come and go, and a hire for today may not be a hire for ten years down the line and that’s fine, even desirable. It’s part of larger mental model problem most people suffer from, which is a lack of understanding that many decision are contextual in time.