WE TALK A LOT ABOUT leadership, self-improvement, entrepreneurship, and how to achieve success. Lots of theories, and opinions. Some are good, in my view, most likely ’cause they are from real life and experience, they fit the context of people and everyday life, and some are less, ’cause they fly in the face of all experience, and focus fundamentally on ourselves, as individuals, not taking account of the Others. But then, over and above words, there’s reality. The reality of life, and life is made up of meetings and partings. It’s made from People.
There are people who want to lead a normal life. Steady job, no stress, raise some kids…and so on…then, there are people that come forward. There’s good people, and there’s bad… It depends on people. We don’t live in a social vacuum. No one has ever achieved a significant success all by him/herself. There’s always a combination of different factors, but people are always the most important element.
The more you surround yourself with people who have a strong potencial, who are totally honest with you and others, who have breadth of vision, in many respects, and think along the same lines of yours, the more you are close to success. We often forget this fact.
There are people that can help others, and people that can’t, ’cause they do not want to or do not have the right mindset or are far from possessing the necessary moral and/or professional qualities to do so. Let me take just an example from my own experience, which has tought me that people (and their human qualities) is all. Not the competence. The competence is an important factor, yours and that of other people, but it is not the deciding factor, if you really want to build something.
Once, a number of years ago, I had a medium-term assignment. They decided I was the right guy to turn a relatively small enterprise around. They gave me “carte blanche” to redesign and improve business operations of a small subsidiary of a much larger Group. I had also to roll out the solution at the operational phase. I could do almost anything, but hiring and firing. I came up with a plan, and I was told to turn it around pretty quick.
Everything was running smoothly. Everything seemed fine. Everyone was rowing in the same direction. Two months had already passed. Until the whole matter turned into my worst nightmare.
They needed to hire a director of operations. They shortlisted ten candidates. I was asked to take a look at their resumes. There were two of them particularly interesting. Everything was consistent with what they were looking for. I liked one, they liked the other one. They clearly prioritized expertise and experience. I, as a consultant, was not supposed to discuss the hiring process, I made just a feeble attempt to suggest due diligence in regards to personality traits, especially since a manager of people was needed in that particular transition time. The hiring process went ahead. And then one day, they came to me and introduced the person. I was told he was wonderful. It was the person they liked most. It goes without saying that I started working closely with this person. This individual proved to be an expert.
Another two months had passed, and so much had changed for the better. I was almost over.
I started noticing that few executives were rather coolly and with a certain distance to me. The mood was grim. I noticed also a certain sense of uneasethat was shared by people throughout the company.
“What the heck‘s goin‘ on here?!” I kept saying to myself over and over.
I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I thought to myself: “Sure wish to know if I did something wrong”. Indeed there was something wrong. I still had no idea why, ’cause I was too invested in my job, but many signs pointed to the perfect storm. I thought: “I can ask around, see if anyone most trusted knows anything”. And that’s when I discovered the truth.
This “wonderful” director of operations they hired, – was a smooth liar.He was literally executing a power grab at my expense. He excelled at getting “in” with “upstairs”. He deceitfully made ambiguous alliance at board level, without my knowledge.To my face, this person was my biggest supporter, but behind my back, he was backstabbing me and other employees while inflating his own image. He was withholding information, blaming me and others, and portraying himself as victim, playing “mind games” and seeking sympathy.
He was paving the way to make me kick out (and the well-known practice that appointed me), and on top of that, (I only found out later) to bring his wife and her consulting practice into the company. What a wonderful honest guy!
I knew I did a real good job, so I was sure of myself. A meeting was arranged, and I dismantled him point by point. Many in the meeting shifted uncomfortably in their seats; body language spoke by itself.They couldn’t publicly acknowledge that they made a terrible mistake, so the whole thing got swept under the carpet. And then, of course, a year after that, they fired him.
But the fact remains. The fact that there are those without decency…unscrupulous people. Highly technical people without human qualities. People we fall easily in love with, ’cause we don’t see who’s behind the mask. We are fascinated by their knowledge.
Everything I told you is just an extreme example (and it is not fiction) of how important it is to understand who the people really are. Because when people are ruthless, sooner or later they show you who they really are, and you may be in serious trouble. The danger goes up in direct proportion to the role of the people. People without human qualities can destroy your company from within.
I think we should really get under the skin of people when hiring, more than focusing all our efforts on understanding the level of their expertise, ’cause expertise and character, ethic are disengaged.
I think that we should discuss in depth what this issue may also imply in the community. Companies are People. People is All.
What do you think? Do you attach right importance to this aspect?
Hi Massimo. Many companies, and hiring managers, are not willing to admit that we made a mistake and hired the wrong person. It speaks to our fears. But we should have a greater fear of keeping the wrong person “on the job” for even a day longer than we should.
We need to cut our losses quickly and learn from our mistakes. Sadly most do not.
Absolutely agree with you Steve ! Yes sadly most do not… Thank you Steve.
Thank you Bob ! As I said on LinkedIn answering your comment,(by the way, thank you), I deeply believe in what you said. It’s the reality we see every blessed day, that maybe many forget or do not want to see. You are ABSOLUTELY right in my view when you say that “Talent is not found in resumes or interviews or background checks or college transcripts. Thank you.
Hello Massimo,
You make a persuasive argument for hiring for job talent not just resumes and interviews.
The best talkers make the best employees about 20% of the time.
If employers understood the true nature of people the following would not be true.
– 80% of employees self-report that they are not engaged.
– 80% of managers are ill suited to effectively manage people.
The two 80 percents are closely related.
Successful employees have all three of the following success predictors while unsuccessful employee lack one or two and usually it is Job Talent that they lack.
1. Competence
2. Cultural Fit
3. Job Talent
Employers do a…
A. GREAT job of hiring competent employees.
B. good job of hiring competent employees who fit the culture.
C. POOR job of hiring competent employees who fit the culture and who have a talent for the job.
Identifying the talent required for each job seems to be missing from talent and management discussions. If we ignore any of the three criteria, our workforce will be less successful with higher turnover than if we do not ignore any of the three criteria.
1. Competence
2. Cultural Fit
3. Job Talent
There are many factors to consider when hiring and managing talent but first we need to define talent unless “hiring talent” means “hiring employees.” Everyone wants to hire for and manage talent but if we can’t answer the five questions below with specificity, we can’t hire or manage talent effectively.
1. How do we define talent?
2. How do we measure talent?
3. How do we know a candidate’s talent?
4. How do we know what talent is required for each job?
5. How do we match a candidate’s talent to the talent demanded by the job?
Most managers cannot answer the five questions with specificity but the answers provide the framework for hiring successful employees and creating an engaged workforce.
Talent is not found in resumes or interviews or background checks or college transcripts.
Talent must be hired since it cannot be acquired or imparted after the hire.