Do you only hire “9”s?

What do I mean by “do you only hire “9”s”?

Well, first, nobody is perfect, we all have room to grow, so nobody is a 10, we are all seeking to improve. In other words, 9 is as good I would score a hire 😉 So, if you only hire “9”s, then you are hiring the best and reducing the risk of being held back by average performance. Remember, as Netflix famously set out in their legendary culture deck: “Adequate Performance Gets a Generous Severance Package”.

Now, let me counter that strategy by warning that there are also risks to only hiring “9”s. I strongly recommend you hire beyond “9” skill levels and also seek out people ready to change and grow.

I am a fan of growth mindset, as I wrote about here, as is Whitney Johnson, who recommends in her book “Disrupt Yourself” that we utilize the idea of the S Curve to keep stretching ourselves to develop. In that context, then, imagine you hire people that are already at the “9” level. Not only do they have little room to contribute more as time goes by, but there is also the risk that they become demotivated or even bored. Also, consider that someone who comes in at a “9” in one area and is willing to stay there may well be someone who has settled for mastery in one specific area. That may be valuable, but also may limit your business if you need people to be curious, to innovate, to push the edges.

What to do when hiring, then? Consider hiring people that you know already have great skills and who also have lots of energy and motivation, so are a 9 in their best areas, but even if you move them into an area where they are initially only a 6 or 7, will rapidly learn and bring enthusiasm, drive and inspiration to themselves and their team through that growth and learning process? They can then leap off the top of one S curve and jump onto a new one lower down the curve, say at a 6 or 7 level, to begin with.

For me, I love to see the balance between a) already operating as a “9” as they enter the business, and b) having the hunger to learn, to grow, to be Brave, Hungry, Open and Humble such that they want to surf S curves and learn and grow as they contribute.