“Why is it that every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a mind attached?” Henry Ford
👭Hiring Philosophy:
– Rockstars gives leverage.
– Culture-contributors are better than culture-fitters.
– Hire action-takers who can get the job done.
– Hire for potential and learning not experience. Expertise becomes obsolete. To survive and grow a startup must be a learning organisation. The clearest signal of a learner is curiosity.
♟Hiring Strategy:
– Don’t build a team for a startup.
– Hire people who can relate to customers.
– Avoid homogeneity in your team.
🧑Focus on Personality:
– Openness.
– Conscientiousness.
– Extraversion.
– Agreeableness.
– Emotional stability.
🐾Understand attitude & behaviours:
Those people who:
– Would rather act than deliberate.
– Have an appetite to get out of the building.
– Don’t see money as the solution.
🌍Take lessons from Google:
Project Aristotle, identified what underlying factors led to their most effective teams:
– Psychological safety.
– Dependability.
– Structure and clarity.
– Meaning.
– Impact.
In a startup, minds dramatically amplify the value of hands and they become even more powerful when they’re able to engage with likeminded, stimulated others in the team.
Don’t rush, AirBnB spent five months interviewing for their first employee before they hired someone.
Thank you Ian, a fabulous article. “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” H.E. Luccock