three nonnegotiable criteria

In November 2001 I was having lunch with the head of a consumer products company and his vice chairman. The company had been losing market share, and the discussion at the table identified the source of the problem: weak marketing leadership at the top. The company clearly needed to hire a chief marketing person - it would be a make-or-break job for 2002. The CEO had someone in mind. She had been recommended by Mark, the vice chairman, and the CEO sang her praises, saying, "She's great, fantastic." "In what ways?" I asked. When he answered in glittering generalities, I pressed and again asked why he thought she was so wonderful. Remarkably, he couldn't be specific, and his face turned crimson.

I asked the CEO and vice chairman what the three nonnegotiable criteria for the job were. After some discussion, they named the following: be extremely good in selecting the right mix of promotion, advertising, and merchandising; have a proven sense of what advertising is effective and how to best place this advertising in TV, radio, and print; have the ability to execute the marketing program in the right timing and sequence so that it is coordinated with the launch of new products; and be able to select the right people to rebuild the marketing department. 

After they articulated these criteria for the job, I asked whether the candidate met them. There was a long silence. Finally, the leader answered honestly: "You know, now I realize that I don't really know her." 

Neither the CRO, the vice chairman, nor anyone else in the organization had asked the right questions. To consistently improve its leadership gene pool, every business needs a discipline that is embedded in the people process, with candid dialogues about the matches between people and jobs, and follow-through that ensures people take the appropriate actions.

Ram Charan 

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan with Charles Burck. 2002. Crown Business, NY, NY. p. 113, 114

you've got to make mistakes

No one does the leader's job flawlessly, believe me. You've got to make mistakes and learn from them. Yankees manager Joe Torree got fired three times during his career. Now he's looked upon as the icon of the game. He learned some things along the way. 

In his book, Jack: Straight from the Gut, Jack Welch freely admits he made many hiring mistakes in his early years. He made a lot of decisions from instinct. But when he was wrong, he'd say, "It's my fault." He'd ask himself why he was wrong, he'd listen to other people, he'd get more data, and he'd figure it out. And he just kept getting better and better. He also recognized that it's not useful to beat other people up when they make mistakes. To the contrary, that's the time to coach them, encourage them, and help them regain their self-confidence.

Larry Bossidy

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan with Charles Burck. 2002. Crown Business, NY, NY. p. 83

a lot to do just to be hired

Emily Cole believes being Fans First starts with just "being a good human." She highlights how coaching good behavior starts during the hiring process. "This gives us a chance to really work alongside someone and show them how things operate in Bananaland. If they can naturally mirror the way we treat people, that's the first requirement. We can coach the skills part.

For example, we send handwritten thank-you cards to people who interview for full-time positions. If we get a handwritten thank-you card back, it's a great indicator that they listen carefully and respond. It also means they can pick up our culture's language. "When great individuals join our team, they automatically become even more caring, different, enthusiastic, fun, growing, and hungry because that's the Fans First Way, and that's what we focus on daily," Emily emphasizes.

These little tests may sound like a lot to do just to be hired, but people love our interview process. It has three parts. First, applicants do a cover letter so we can see their personality. (Coach Gillum's was legendary, helping him to beat out a coach from MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates.) Second, they write a Fans First essay and explain how they fit our core beliefs. Third, they write a future resume because we're more interested in what they'd like to do in the future than what they've already done.

That last part leads to deeper engagement with our new team member. We ask our staff members what they want to do in the future so we can work toward those goals and better support them. We can have open conversations about their goals. We may hire them to work for the Bananas, but we also want what's best for them as opposed to what's best for us. We acknowledge that it's not all about us, that they are not living just for this company, and that they are still their own separate people, with their own hopes and dreams and creativity. 

Jesse Cole

Fans First: Change The Game, Break the Rules & Create an Unforgettable Experience by Jesse Cole. Lioncrest. 2022.

ensuring cultural consistency

By the time I stepped down as CEO, we were hiring about 85 percent of our leaders from inside the company. A certain number of external hires will inject new thinking into the organization, but hiring internally the vast majority of the time is vital for ensuring cultural consistency.

David M. Cote

Winning Now, Winning Later: How Companies Can Succeed in the Short Term While Investing for the Long Term. HarperCollins Leadership. 2020. p. 111

a man with enthusiasm

I would rather hire a man with enthusiasm than a man who knows everything.

John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller on Making Money: Advice and Words of Wisdom on Building and Sharing Wealth. Skyhorse Publishing. 2015.  As found in 2022 Great Quotes From Great Leaders Boxed Calendar: 365 Inspirational Quotes From Leaders Who Shaped the World. 

hire for attitude and train for skill

The best companies hire for attitude and train for skill. Pal’s [Sudden Service - a burger joint] 26 locations employ roughly 1,020 workers, 90 percent of whom are part-time, 40 percent of whom are between the ages of 16 and 18. It has developed and fine-tuned a screening system to evaluate candidates from this notoriously hard-to-manage demographic—a 60-point psychometric survey, based on the attitudes and attributes of Pal’s star performers, that does an uncanny job of predicting who is most likely to succeed. Among the agree/disagree statements: “For the most part, I am happy with myself.” “I think it is best to trust people you have just met.” “Raising your voice may be one way to get someone to accept your point of view.” Pal’s understands that character counts for as much as credentials, that who you are is as important as what you know.

Bill Taylor

"How One Fast-Food Chain Keeps Its Turnover Rates Absurdly Low". Harvard Business Review. January 26, 2016.

standardized onboarding process

In my experience as a consultant for Fortune 500 companies, I’ve found that the most effective organizations onboard new hires for the duration of their first year — their most vulnerable period — and focus on three key dimensions: the organizational, the technical, and the social. By using this integrated approach, they enable their employees to stay, and to thrive...

Organizational Onboarding...

• Teach them how things work...
• Help them assimilate...

Technical Onboarding...

• Define what good looks like...
• Set up early wins...

Social Onboarding...

• Build a sense of community...

If you want to retain the talent you spend good money to acquire, make sure a new hire’s first year is positive and productive. Organizations with a standardized onboarding process experience 62% greater new hire productivity, along with 50% greater new hire retention. Those that invest time and effort in their new employees reap the benefits. If you want to be an employer of choice for top talent, make sure a new hire’s organizational, technical, and social needs are well met.

Ron Carucci

"To Retain New Hires, Spend More Time Onboarding Them" Harvard Business Review. Dec. 3, 2018

practice these essential basics

Our [HBR Leader’s Handbook] research [interviews with over 40 successful leaders of large corporations, startups, and non-profits] pointed to six leadership skills where practice was particularly important. These are not mysterious and certainly aren’t new. However, the leaders we talked with emphasized that these fundamental skills really matter. Aspiring leaders should focus on practicing these essential basics:

1. Shape a vision that is exciting and challenging for your team (or division/unit/organization).
2. Translate that vision into a clear strategy about what actions to take, and what not to do.
3. Recruit, develop, and reward a team of great people to carry out the strategy.
4. Focus on measurable results.
5. Foster innovation and learning to sustain your team (or organization) and grow new leaders.
6. Lead yourself — know yourself, improve yourself, and manage the appropriate balance in your own life.

Ron Ashkenas and Brook Manville

"The 6 Fundamental Skills Every Leader Should Practice" Harvard Business Review. Oct. 24, 2018

good sense and self-restraint

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

Theodore Roosevelt

"50 Inspiring Quotes on Leadership for Everyone" Time. July 1, 2015

looking for character

Wright: When you bring someone into the Spurs organization, what do you look for?

Popovich: Oh, boy. This is going to be a long interview. For us, it’s easy. We’re looking for character, but what the hell does that mean? We’re looking for people -- and I’ve said it many times -- that have gotten over themselves. And you can tell that pretty quick. You can talk to somebody for four or five minutes, and you can tell if it’s about them or if they understand that they’re just a piece of the puzzle. So we look for that.

A sense of humor is a huge thing with us. You’ve got to be able to laugh. You’ve got to be able to take a dig, give a dig, that sort of thing, and feel comfortable in your own skin that you don’t have all the answers. People who are participatory. The guys in the film room can tell me what they think of how we played last night if they want to. Sean Marks would sit in on our coaches meetings when we’re arguing about how to play the pick-and-roll or who we’re going to play or who we’re going to sit.

We need people who can handle information and not take it personally because in most of these organizations, there’s a big divide. All of the sudden, the wall goes up between management and coaching, and everybody is ready to blame back and forth. And that’s the rule, rather than the exception. It just happens, but that’s about people. It’s about finding people who have all those kinds of qualities, so we do our best to look for that, and when somebody comes, they figure it out pretty quick.


Michael C. Wright
"Gregg Popovich on Kobe Bryant: 'You can't help but just watch him'" ESPN. 2/20/2016

grammar is my litmus test

I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don't think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren't important. And I guarantee that even if other companies aren't issuing grammar tests, they pay attention to sloppy mistakes on résumés. After all, sloppy is as sloppy does.

That's why I grammar test people who walk in the door looking for a job. Grammar is my litmus test. All applicants say they're detail-oriented; I just make my employees prove it.

Kyle Wiens

"I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why." Harvard Business Review (HBR Blog Network). 7/20/2012

increase employee engagement

1. Hire for traits and behaviors: Usually, hiring managers look at experience and education when choosing new applicants. But, once on the job, it's attitude and actions that count. When you recruit, go through networking channels to find employees who are the most highly recommended by their prior coworkers and managers. By recruiting people who are highly engaged, you can keep the vibe in your office positive and productive.

2. Be visible and available: When employees feel abandoned by supervisors and management, they aren't as actively engaged in the workplace. Take time out of your day to be available for questions, work with the door open and be seen throughout the day. 

3. Seek employee feedback: Sometimes, your employees will have better ideas for how things should go than you do. Ask employees for feedback and you will find that they can come up with more efficient processes, new ways to engage prospects and ideas for making a happier, more exciting workplace.

4. Be flexible: Rigid policies can make people feel like their in detention instead in a job that they enjoy. If feasible, allow employees to have flexibility in their schedules or work from home. Open up social media policies or allow workers to interact with one another with an online chat to promote team cohesion. Allow a relaxed dress code for people who do not have direct customer contact, or allow a dress down day one or more day a week.

5. Recognize and reward accomplishments: When people know that their hard work is seen and appreciated, they are more likely to give it their all. Regularly recognize achievements like high sales or innovating ways of solving customer concerns. The recognition can come in the form of announcements in the company newsletter or small perks like tickets for half-days at work or a small gift certificate. 

6. Provide opportunities for employees to grow: When we do the same thing day in and day out, we get bored. Give employees new tasks that require learning and using new skills. Take time to work with employees one on one in a mentor position. And, when feasible, give employees the chance to go to conferences, classes and workshops that expand their list of skills.


Eric Roach

"6 Unexpected Ways to Boost Employee Engagement" everyonesocial.com blog. 7/22/2015

replacing policy with principles

The curious thing about organizations is that having more people somehow doesn't equal more output. “As size and complexity of an organization increases, productivity of individuals working in that organization tends to decrease,” he says. As headcount grows, so too does the policy-and-paperwork stuff that gets in the way of rapid iteration and scale.

Why is this the case? “I think it comes down to human nature and the way we react to problems,” Curtis says. Our natural response to any problem — from a downed server to a social gaffe — is to try to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. In companies, more often that not, those solutions take the form of new policies. “What happens when you create a new policy, of course, is that you have to fit it into all of your existing rules.” And so begins a web of ever-increasing complexity that's all about prevention. Soon, you start to hit safeguards no matter what it is you're trying to do.

To avoid this type of bureaucracy from the very beginning of your company, you should adopt two particular tactics: “First, you have to build teams with good judgment, because you need to be able to put your trust in people,” Curtis says. “Then you shape that good judgment with strong principles.”

Minimizing rules that become roadblocks in your organization will only work if you’ve built a team that will make good decisions in the absence of rigid structure. Your hiring process is where you can take the biggest strides toward preventing bureaucracy.


Interview with Airbnb VP Engineering Mike Curtis
"Bureaucracy Isn’t Inevitable — Here’s How Airbnb Beat It" First Round Review. 5/18/2015

your brand: the people who report to you

Reflecting on his time as CEO, Hurt emphasizes that there is no better way to enforce culture and values than by the way you hire. “You’ll be most defined as the CEO by the people [who] report to you. That’s going to be your brand.” Moving quickly at startup speed brings out the true integrity of your hires — both the good and the awful. 100 mph work speed is where your top players step up, the people Hurt describes as “born to change the world.”

The individuals you choose to bring onto the team speak volumes. With each new hire, the CEO reinforces the values of the company, highlighting the traits perceived as most valuable for the organization. The same concept is applicable to firing. Hurt clarifies, “If you fire brilliant jerks, it says to everybody, ‘that’s not going to be condoned.’ If you hire people that have real passion, love your calling, it’s going to feed on itself.” The CEO sets the tone.

Drake Baer (presentation by Bazaarvoice CEO Brett Hurt)

"You Aren’t Born Knowing How to Be a CEO" First Round Review. 7/2/2013

thoughts for managing a creative culture

John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, VES Awards. 2/28/2010

Here are some of the principles we’ve developed over the years to enable and protect a healthy creative culture. I know that when you distill a complex idea into a T-shirt slogan, you risk giving the illusion of understanding – and, in the process, of sapping the idea of its power. An adage worth repeating is also halfway to being irrelevant. You end up with something that is easy to say but not connected to behavior. But while I have been dismissive of reductive truths throughout this book, I do have a point of view, and I thought it might be helpful to share some of the principles that I hold most dear here with you. The trick is to think of each statement as a starting point, as a prompt toward deeper inquiry, and not as a conclusion.

• Give good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the right team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.
• When looking to hire people, give their potential to grow more weight

people are more important than ideas

The gestation of Toy Story 2 offers a number of lessons that were vital to Pixar’s evolution. Remember that the spine of the story – Woody’s dilemma, to stay or to go – was the same before and after the Braintrust worked it over. One version didn’t work at all, and the other was deeply affecting. Why? Talented storytellers had found a way to make viewers care, and the evolution of this storyline made it abundantly clear to me: If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.

The takeaway here is worth repeating: Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right. It is easy to say you want talented people, and you do, but the way those people interact with one another is the real key. Even the smartest people can form an ineffective team if they are mismatched. That means it is better to focus on how a team is performing, not on the talents of the individuals within it. A good team is made up of people who complement each other. There is an important principle here that may seem obvious, yet – in my experience – is not obvious at all. Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea.

This is an issue I have thought a lot about over the years. Once, I was having lunch with the president of another movie studio, who told me that his biggest problem was not finding good people; it was finding good ideas. I remember being stunned when he said that – it seemed patently false to me, in part because I’d found the exact opposite to be true on Toy Story 2. I resolved to test whether what seemed a given to me was, in fact, a common belief. So for the next couple of years I made a habit, when giving talks, of posing the question to my audience: Which is more valuable, good ideas or good people? No matter whether I was talking to retired business executives or students, to high school principals or artists, when I asked for a show of hands, the audiences would be split 50-50. (Statisticians will tell you that when you get a perfect split like this, it doesn’t mean that half know the right answer – it means that they are all guessing, picking at random, as if flipping a coin.)

People think so little about this that, in all these years, only one person in an audience has ever pointed out the false dichotomy. To me, the answer should be obvious: Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas. 

Ed Catmull

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Random House 2014.

when buffett fires people

Warren famously invests in management, specifically to avoid firing people. He does not enter companies where a management change is part of the plan.

“One thing I don’t like is when I have to make a change in management, when I have to tell somebody I think somebody else can do a better job.”

That’s an interesting way to phrase it — that someone else could do a better job. Not that the manager is bad or incompetent or doing anything wrong — simply that there is room for improvement and he has a duty to make that improvement. That doesn’t make it easy for him though:

“It’s pure agony, and I usually postpone it and suck my thumb and do all kinds of other things before I finally carry it out.”

It seems like most people are the same way — firing may be the most-procrastinated task in the business world. No one wants to pull the trigger.

When the firing decision is not based on performance, but on infractions of ethical or moral grounds, things are much more clear cut. Here’s Buffett:

“Lose money for my firm and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”

 Eric Jorgenson

"How to Fire Someone: How to Decide, When to do it, and How to be Guilt-free" Medium. 5/17/2015

talented people are restless at their core

Q: You’re in an odd position, because the better your employees perform, the more likely you are to lose them. How do you handle that tension?

A: Talented people are restless at their core. It’s the nature of the beast. The more talented move on sooner or later, and quite often the least talented are the most loyal. When I advise people about leaving the show, I always use the same metaphor: I tell them to build a bridge to the next thing and, when it’s solid, walk across. Don’t leave a national platform, where everybody in the industry can see you reinvent yourself each week, too early. I know there’s a lot of pressure and the hours are awful. It’s the hardest job in show business. But the real world of show business is much rougher than ours. I think Kristen handled it well. After Bridesmaids, which really established her, it was time to move on. But until her last day, nothing was a priority but the show.

Lorne Michaels

Interview with Lorne Michaels. Harvard Business Review. September 2013

hire people more talented than you

It's an oft-quoted refrain from hiring textbooks, and one equally often ignored in practice. How often do egos get in the way in traditional business and startups, let alone in narcissistic Hollywood? How tempting it can be -- for all of us -- to go for the self-image boost of engineering teams so that we are always the sharpest tool in the shed rather than collecting the absolute best talent possible? 

Stewart successfully and consistently hired correspondents more talented than he is. From Steve Carrell who has gone on to become an international movie star to Stephen Colbert who's notoriety has arguably eclipsed Stewart's in moving on to the CBS Late Show, to John Oliver who now hosts his own show on HBO, The Daily Show boasts an incredible alumni network. And it doesn't stop with these big names -- he's surrounded himself with comics with sharper wit -- Lewis Black -- and better acting chops -- Samantha Bee -- as well.

This talent was made abundantly clear when every former correspondent returned to his final show, filling the stage with unbelievable star power. Stewart has identified talent and The Daily Show has served as a 'rocket ship' for dozens of careers.

Alex Budak

"3 Leadership Lessons Learned From Jon Stewart." Huffington Post. 8/10/2015

managing vs. leading

Companies manage complexity first by planning and budgeting-setting targets or goals for the future (typically for the next month or year),establishing detailed steps for achieving those targets, and then allocating resources to accomplish those plans. By contrast, leading an organization to constructive change begins by setting a direction - developing a vision ofthe future (often the distant future) along with strategies for producing the changes needed to achieve that vision.

Management develops the capacity to achieve its plan by organizing and staffing-creating an organizational structure and set of jobs for accomplishing plan requirements, staffing the jobs with qualified individuals, communicating the plan to those people, delegating responsibility for carrying out the plan, and devising systems to monitor implementation. The equivalent leadership activity, however, is aligning people. This means communicating the new direction to those who can create coalitions that understand the vision and are committed to its achievement.

Finally, management ensures plan accomplishment by controlling and problem solving – monitoring results versus the plan in some detail, both formally and informally, by means of reports, meetings, and other tools; identifying deviations; and then planning and organizing to solve the problems. But for leadership, achieving a vision requires motivating and inspiring – keeping people moving in the right direction, despite major obstacles to change, by appealing to basic but often untapped human needs, values, and emotions.

John P. Kotter
“What Leaders Really Do.” Harvard Business Review. 1990.