This is going to be one of many posts, I think. I picked up a copy of Harvard Business Review on my way to Vegas (leave the nerd alone) … and man, the ideas running through my head right now. The first is after reading an article called “Great Leaders Don’t Need Experience.” The main findings were that candidates with lots of experience from outside an organization performed just as well as one inside the organization without as much experience. But the best candidates? The ones without experience and are outside the organization. They are the highest risk, but also the highest reward.
This appeals to me in a few ways, and applies to why I love working for Distilled as a consultant. Therefore I thought I’d share with the wider world. Do notice though that the author even states that hiring unexperienced leaders should not be the first choice hire.
“HBR: So should firms always hire outsiders without experience?
No, because those people are also more likely to crash and burn. Though the best leaders—Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln—were unfiltered, the things that made them so effective, such as their ability to think differently and not feel beholden to a certain way of doing things, often lead to terrible results. Unfiltered leaders are high risk, high reward.”
Finding Distillers
I talked to a few UW students this week and they asked me about working for Distilled. I remember being in that position … thinking about getting a job out of school, wondering what I should do to impress the companies I was interested in. I got to tell these students that we look for passion. We look for smart people. Distilled doesn’t care if you have tons of experience, we actually prefer people without experience.
Why? We want people that are good problem solvers. People that are creative and can approach problems from a logical perspective. Those things together mean that we ask much from one person. So experience doesn’t matter and I love that about my workplace. We all come from different backgrounds … and may clash now and then, but the sparks that result from the clashes mean great results for our clients.
Does that mean we don’t hire experienced people? No. I had 7 years of experience in search when I joined Distilled. Hannah Smith, Mike Pantoliano, and we just nabbed Mike Tekula. Experience isn’t bad, it’s just not everything. It’s not a predictor of talent.
Consultants
Telling someone you are a consultant is getting to be as fun as saying you’re a lawyer. The “oh, one of THOSE people” looks appear more frequently as the years go by. We are those high paid outsiders that insiders sometimes think do nothing but state the obvious.
Well, sometimes that is true. We do state the obvious, but we also work to get the obvious enforced to help a company grow.
As this study pointed out, the best leaders, the best thinkers, come from the outside of an organization. As a consultant, I don’t expect to be in the every day business of my clients nor do I expect that we will be with that company forever. Does that make my company’s head of sale cringe? Maybe a little, but she gets it too. We are there to insert ideas, to inspire action, to give insight from outside and from learning from other companies. Once we have served that purpose, I, for one, am happy to leave.
Applying to Small Businesses
Hiring a high paid consultant might not be in your cards, but you can still get great ideas from the outside with less risk. I’d recommend a few things. First, go network. Make friends, and get some of their thoughts on your business. Second, trust your current friends and family. Their insights are usually invaluable. And even if they aren’t spot on (or understand one iota of what you do), the inspiration they can provide by not being IN your business can be the needle in the haystack.
I challenge you all to ask people outside of your business for help and ideas. Hire people that are passionate, not those that necessarily have the experience (though finding both is awesome). Take the time to invest in their training and you’ll probably get more ideas out of them than anyone who has years of experience.
As the study’s author said, filtered experienced leaders will grow your company steadily, but few amazing things will occur. But the fresh blood is a risk. Think about it. 😉
