What makes a standout leadership hire?
The true skill set that differentiated her was her ability to connect with people, whether they’re external or internal customers, which was lacking on the technology team. We were very much I's and O's, ones and zeros, trying to solve technical problems, but we were missing the mark on empathy and emotion. Having that perspective supplemented the team really well and became the X factor that really allowed us to move a lot quicker than we were in the past. The way I've looked at it is really trying to augment and supplement what you're missing, so I try to find as many people as I can that are not like me, that would challenge me, to make sure that we're all thinking through the various compositions.
In the case of my infrastructure architect hire, I interviewed him and instantaneously the gut check told me, hire this guy as fast as you can. I trust my gut instincts, and when I go against my gut instincts I invariably regret doing so. He had instant cred, especially with engineers, and that was key, to know the audience and what they're looking for. He knew how to sniff out bullshit with the engineers, and they actually appreciated somebody that would call them on it, because he had that credibility.
When I think about standout hires, the key thing was that they realized they were joining a team where they were most needed. The people who realize that will probably shine the most because they understand that they're coming in to lead a situation, a team, or build a new operation. I've done a couple of those hires in the past where I said, I need you here. It wasn't really about the job and the compensation, it was that they’d do their best work. And so I kind of had that as a philosophy when I was looking to hire. And there were a couple of examples of that, that I've had over the years where people really shone through.
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