We all understand the concept of right person, right seat. But as the company grows the demands of each seat change. What is required from zero to $5 Million will most likely shift on your journey to $10 million in revenue.  So hiring ahead of that curve becomes the biggest challenge.  It is important that, in the earliest stages of the company, everyone in the organization identifies as a “builder”. Builders are the people who have a deep desire to problem-solve issues that have not even become identified and create systems from scratch.  As the business grows, the need for “im ..read more

Over the past few years talent has been scarce. And when talent is scarce, fear leads hiring decisions. We don't want to lose (what we perceive to be) “good people”, so we shortcut the interview process.  Here's the thing, our perceptions are often wrong.  Our gut is often wrong. And it is wrong because the data we input is either assumed or circumstantial. Resulting in marginal hiring that hurts your business.  So, what if every person that you hired thrived in your company? What would be the ROI if you operated at a hiring success rate over the 90th percentile? It would be pre ..read more

Let’s talk about building an advisory board. I think we would all agree that having strong advisors and mentors in your corner brings huge benefits to every organization. Not just as sound advice in making business decisions but also providing introductions and bringing credibility to the business.  So when is the right time to build your advisory board? As soon as you find the right people who will help. This means before you hire your first employees.  Building an advisory board, much like building company values, is often an activity to do later. But guess what, later is too late ..read more

10 business days is the optimal time to bring an interview process to a successful outcome.  The way to achieve this is to tighten timelines from stage to stage and cut down the number of people involved in the process. Now I know what you are thinking, that more people should be involved. Which is incorrect. The reason we involve more people in the interview process is because we value their “opinion” or “input” on the individual. But opinion has no value when it comes to making a hiring decision. And opinion is what you get when your interview questions are not tied to gathering evidenc ..read more

Let’s talk about performance metrics for a minute.   Do you have performance metrics drawn out for every person before they are hired? Are they clear on the expectations for the first 90 days of employment?  If not, you are setting people up for failure because expectations are never in alignment. We're going to leave it to you to “figure it out”.  Then we scratch our heads when the person fails, wondering what we missed in the interview.  What was missed was the work on defining the role and writing down the company’s expectations of what needed to be accomplished by the i ..read more

Two people sit down in an interview. What happens next??? What happens is that, well, we have no idea what happens.  But the data suggests that a decision is made on behalf of the interviewer in the first 7 minutes of the conversation. The remainder of the time is used to confirm the decision.  There is no way that a person can extract enough evidence to support making a correct decision without bias or personal motives in an unstructured process.  A perfect breeding ground for Murphy’s law- Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong How well a person aligns with the company’s va ..read more

“People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. - Simon Sinek How does this translate to your hiring? The simple answer is that your company's WHY is the one thing that differentiates whether a person joins for the paycheck or something bigger. Because it is important to them.  It is the WIIFM (what's in it for me) Right person, right seat needs to happen, every time. Your company depends on it! When we hire solely for skills. We experience the Wrong person, Right seat more than 51% of the time.  When we hire for values first, and skills second, it moves us closer to a 75% su ..read more

Referrals are most often your most potent source of talent for your organization.  So investor referrals must be the holy grail of all referrals. After all, there is a vested interest in your company's success so why shouldn't the referrals be outstanding?  Here’s the thing to consider. Yes, these referrals are gold but it is dangerous to assume that this person will automatically thrive in your unique company.  We cannot forgo a formal interview process based on a strong voucher from a trusted source.  The only way we discover if they will in fact thrive, is to be diligent ..read more

How often have you hired the right person for the wrong seat?  Here’s how that happens.  A person is identified and it is assumed that because of their background that they crush it for you. After all, they are already doing it for someone else. Perfect logic, right? Nope! The reason this logic is so dangerous for your company is that current skills are just a small part of success. As we have all experienced, by going above and beyond to land that “rockstar” from a name brand company. Only to have them crash and burn within the first 90 days.  To avoid this dilemma in the ..read more

Amazon’s leadership principles (Core Values) have been the most critical element in their unprecedented success. Value alignment first, and skills second. So why is this not a standard practice among all up-and-coming startups?  The reason I believe is that leaders then become accountable for their actions when they misbehave.  Without values, it is easy to hide. It is easy to rationalize bad decisions and easier to deflect blame when the shit hits the fan. This is why 9 out of 10 startups fail. Without the right people, your company will not be able to execute.  And the right p ..read more