Hiring
A few thoughts on hiring:
1. Figure out what you’re looking for
Two big predictors of a candidate’s success are curiosity and persistence.
You don’t need a team of stars. You do need people who fit your system.
Seek cultural contribution, not cultural fit.
Hire for strengths, not absence of weaknesses.
2. Get the hiring process right
A couple of good hiring questions:
Get me excited about something you’re interested in.
What is your current organisation’s point of difference?
The biggest challenge we are facing at the moment is X. How would you deal with this challenge?
Take as much time as you need to get your early hires right. A bad hire in the early stages can be fatal.
3. Get the onboarding right
Your hiring is only as good as your on-boarding. Even if you hire the best talent, your people need to understand your mission, their role within it, and how to build internal networks.
Further reading:
How to trust people you don’t like, Adam Grant
The problem with allstars, Adam Grant
Interview with Luis voh Ahn, Tim Ferriss
Masters of Scale, Reid Hoffmann
Interview with Michael Lombardi, The Knowledge Project
You can have too many stars on a team (Adam Grant)