(Influential Leadership) Hire The Best

Hire The Best.

 

That sounds kind of obvious, doesn’t it?

• But what do you do when the best candidate might be able to do parts of your own job better than you do?
• Or is an expensive resource who you might have to bring in uncomfortably close to your own level and salary?
• Doesn’t that threaten your own fiefdom?

 

That’s when your mettle is really put to the test.

 

Early in my actuarial career, I faced exactly that situation.

 

I was building  an actuarial department from scratch, and had interviewed a number of reasonable candidates, when Bill came in. He was almost my age, had a very strong background in interest-sensitive products (a new product line for us which wasn’t a particular strength of mine), and exuded confidence, strength of character and leadership.  And to hire him, we would have to offer him a salary only a notch below mine.

 

There was no question in my mind (or my boss’s) that Bill would be a huge asset to our company, so I didn’t hesitate.

 

After a year and a half, Bill was promoted to be my equal, and a small piece of my operation was carved out to be his. However, in return I was given an entirely new unit to make up for that, one that would stretch my own leadership and management capabilities in new directions. And as Bill continued to progress in our organization, I found I had a strong ally and even a mentor.

 

Another time I had a consultant doing a great deal of work for us, who was in a leadership role at one of the major actuarial consulting firms.  John was probably earning twice what I did, and clearly had much more expertise in our main product line than I did – after all, that was why I had hired him to do the consulting!

 

John decided he’d had enough of consulting, and took a long break.  When he came back, a recruiter connected us.  It never would have occurred to me that he might consider working for me, which I thought would be a big step back for him.  And both my boss and I were convinced that he wouldn’t stay long, but were equally convinced that he would add a lot of value during whatever tenure that might be.  So we hired him.

 

Sure enough, John only stayed with us a year and a half.  But during that time he did terrific work, and served as a great mentor.  Years later, many at the company still remembered John and all of his contributions.  And he and I remained friends for many years; in fact, years later he offered me a job at his company.

 

Do such situations always work out as well as that? Of course not. But what does consistently shine through is your willingness to put the needs of the operation and the company first, which sets you up as a true leader in the organization.

 

So next time you are faced with a difficult hiring decision, err on the side of hiring the best.