The Perception of Expertise
Hiring an expert is (somewhat)) straightforward when you need a very specific solution to a very specific problem i.e., you need point expertise. For example, if you need a forensic accountant to figure out which one of your suppliers is short-changing you, well, you know exactly what to get.
Mind you, I’m not saying you canfind the person — especially at the price point you need — but the pool of talent is very clearly defined.
Mind you, I’m not saying you canfind the person — especially at the price point you need — but the pool of talent is very clearly defined.
The thing is, most of the time you’re not looking for that kind of expertise.
You’re probably not hiring a new Product Manager to build the same damn thing that they built at their previous gig — your people are different from the previous lot, the market has changed, the customer requirements are probably different, etc.
What you’re looking for in them is what they learned in their journey at their previous company, how they juggled the competing pressures of scale, speed and scope, their interactions with stakeholders, and so forth. The judgement calls they made along the way, the mistakes they made and how they recovered from them, those are the hard won lessons that you are looking for, and those are the things you are — or should be! — focusing on.
You’re probably not hiring a new Product Manager to build the same damn thing that they built at their previous gig — your people are different from the previous lot, the market has changed, the customer requirements are probably different, etc.
What you’re looking for in them is what they learned in their journey at their previous company, how they juggled the competing pressures of scale, speed and scope, their interactions with stakeholders, and so forth. The judgement calls they made along the way, the mistakes they made and how they recovered from them, those are the hard won lessons that you are looking for, and those are the things you are — or should be! — focusing on.
There is so much dumb luck involved when it comes to success in our biz, that relying on the final outcome as an indicator of expertise is tantamount to hoping that lightning strikes twice. Oh, it could happen, but is that what you want to rely on?
Just because something worked at a previous company will not mean that it will work for yours. It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about tools, systems, or processes, the context in which they were built is all important. Their journey is not your journey, and their pitfalls are not your pitfalls!
So yes, be very, very careful when you hire that “expert”, the one who has Done It Before™, who is going to help take you to that Next Level™. If you get it wrong, at best you will end up existing as a poor imitation of their previous company. At worst, of course, you won’t exist at all…
Comments