Hiring Smart
Employ key people with proven records of success at doing what needs to be done in a manner consistent with the desired value system of the enterprise.
People do what they like; they like what they know. Experience adds depth to knowledge. The best indicator of how a person will perform in the future is how he or she has done in the past in the same or related activity. Criteria for selecting key people are dictated by the plan, the blueprint, for the business. A brick mason is not needed to construct a wooden building. The plan reflects the operational objectives, the work-a-day culture, and the intentions of the primary participants. The interests and capabilities of a new key person must harmonize with all three.
Commandment One dealt with the primary participants—directors, advisors, officers, and unique employees. Commandment Five has to do with setting the stage for the expanding and ultimately much larger group of people upon whom a growth company sooner or later must depend. There are two sides to the key-people coin. One side has to do with qualifications in a technical or functional sense; the other has to do with what can best be termed attitude, or, in somewhat fancier terms, inclination to pitch in and enthusiastically participate in building the enterprise. The proper selection of exactly the right key people is akin to building sturdy, square corners on a house under construction; doing so greatly simplifies the later addition of roof joists, wallboard, and siding. Sound, early decisions in picking lead salespeople, supervisors, and senior technicians, greatly simplifies decision making and cooperation as the enterprise grows.
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