The more I re-examine the hires I helped managers identify, and then make during almost 14 years of recruiting, approximately 9 years as an independent head hunter, and 5 years as a corporate recruiter who primarily headhunts my candidate pool, I know this is more than just theory.

My friend Mark, a former Apple employee, recently pointed me to former Apple Macintosh Evangelist and current VC Guy Kawasaki‘s Corollary on Hiring:

“Hire better than yourself. In the Macintosh Division, we had a saying, “A players hire A players; B players hire C players”–meaning that great people hire great people. On the other hand, mediocre people hire candidates who are not as good as they are, so they can feel superior to them. (If you start down this slippery slope, you’ll soon end up with Z players; this is called The Bozo Explosion. It is followed by The Layoff.) I have come to believe that we were wrong–A players hire A+ players, not merely A players. It takes self-confidence and self-awareness, but it’s the only way to build a great team.”

I now think the real answer is somewhere in between my original theory, and Guy Kawasaki’s Corollary:

• Good managers hire candidates who are at least A level themselves, but will hopefully hire A+ people;
• Bad managers either hire themselves (aka “Mini Me”  Hiring); or they hire C, D, E, F, etc. players.

How does the original bad managers, or a bad team mate get hired?

Yes, there are the star performers and originally good hires that morph into B, C, D, etc players; but I believe most companies create their own messes by not consistently following established hiring policies and practices.

I’ve worked for companies with stated policies requiring full interview loops of internal partners and customers, peers, the manager’s manager, etc. – and yet on more than one occasion, and at more than one company, miraculously one day a new hire appeared out of thin air, no interview loop necessary; rarely does this scenario have a good outcome.

Sometimes the candidate profile is flawed; a hiring manager and/or the hiring team concluded profile x is desired, even though a very quick business needs analysis showed profile x would not solve any of the business needs which profile y could and would.  Profile x it was; cleaning up that mess took multiple people multiple months, and cost the company two star performers who tired of being the team janitors.

Oh well.

Imprecise and/or ineffective interview styles and questions also contribute to bad hires, particularly interviewers who:

• Don’t know what to look for;
• Don’t know/ask the right questions to be able to effectively evaluate a candidate;
• Don’t accurately or effectively evaluate a candidate after asking the right questions;
• Don’t drill down on soft skills in a way which does not allow the candidate to respond with well rehearsed and safe answers;

are likely to make a bad hire.

Whether you believe in my theory, Guy Kawasaki’s Corollary, or something in-between, it’s hard to fix a team/group/company after more than one bad hire.

But – if you think you have what it takes to successfully turn around those kinds of teams, let me know – there are several teams and companies I still genuinely care about, and will happily point you to work your magic – and … May the Force be with You.

Related posts:

Speak of the Devil…

The CEO’s Secret Handbook