Several years ago I developed a thyroid problem. Up until then, I had been blessed with extraordinarily good health. I won’t go into the details, but the result was that my physician, who I had seen regularly for 10 years and to whom I had never complained, failed me. Every doctor that he recommended I see failed me. I was in a circle of mediocrity.

After a lot of research and actually interviewing a number of endocrinologists who would serve as my primary care physician, I found an amazing doctor and every doctor he has ever referred me to has been the same. I had entered ….. the circle of excellence.

A couple of years ago, The Business Insider ran an article called Bad Hires Have Cost Zappos Over $100 Million.  The article included a video interview of Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh discussing how a bad hire has residual effects i.e. they generally hire bad people, and they hire bad people and so on and so on and so on.

Although it is not a hard and fast rule, it is by and large true …. talent knows talent and good hires will hire well because they attract talent.

A hiring mistake is hard on everyone, but allowing that person to remain in place is about more than just his or her presence. It’s about everyone they bring on board as well.

Your business is too important to run that risk. And time is too valuable a commodity to waste.

Today more than ever, you are who you know. An important question to explore before you make any hire is whether or not that hire exists within a circle of excellence.

During the interview, ask questions that will give you a sense of the candidate’s network, like:

● Who is your mentor? How did you meet?

● Who in your business network, do you most admire? Why?

● Who in our industry do you most admire? Why?

LinkedIn is a great resource to learn something about a person’s network, especially who you might know in common.

Skills and experience are important; cultural fit is important; but a candidate who moves within a circle of excellence has an added dimension with potentially far reaching advantages.

Share/Bookmark

I’ve only written one blog post and that was a few months ago, but I must write something today. It is the day following the announcement of Steve Jobs’ passing. I say passing because Steve Jobs will never die. He will live on in the products he created and the way they have changed our lives. I began using Apple products in the early 90s and once I switched to the Mac …. I never looked back. I became a loyal Apple brand fanatic. Steve Jobs understood the elegance of good design and he demanded that in the products he developed for us. His attention to the details of a great user experience through elegant design is what makes Apple products so great.

I have long admired this great innovator and I will miss his creative genius. RiP Steve Jobs.

Share/Bookmark

I’ve started boxing again, and a couple of weeks ago my trainer said something that really stuck with me. I have a tendency to think everything to death, especially if I’m not in my comfort zone (and boxing isn’t actually a comfortable sport for me or one for which I have an innate talent).

After complimenting me on my “natural snap”, he said “Now get out of your head, you know this, you’re thinking too much. You have the technique, now trust your instincts.”

As I’ve been pondering this blog and thinking about posts I might write, it occurred to me that when it comes to hiring talent, learning some technique so you can feel free to trust your instincts is a pretty good place to begin.

For the past year I’ve been interviewing serial entrepreneurs about their staffing strategies. What do they know now about assembling a great team that they didn’t know when they started their first company. Over time and multiple businesses, these entrepreneurs have developed their own hiring techniques that support their natural instincts to identify talent that is right for their organization.

One of my goals for this blog is to write about some of their hiring techniques. They aren’t one size fits all. What works for one entrepreneur may not work for another. But why should a first time entrepreneur have to reinvent the wheel?

Stay tuned for some fascinating hiring insights from entrepreneurs who have “been there …. done that”!

One more thing. Anyone wanting to work for a start up or early stage company might find this kind of insight useful as well.

Share/Bookmark