
Your Best Hire: It May Surprise You - nreece
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jul2008/ca20080724_402370.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories
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allenbrunson
_Long ago, a boss told me: "Hire into your weakness." That's a tough pill for
managers to swallow. If we hire people who are stronger than we are in certain
areas, we run the risk of looking incompetent. We may look foolish, or be in a
position to have to ask for advice more often than we like. If we hire people
who are better than we are in some realms, they may not respect us._

good lord. do people really think like that? if so, i think they've got much
bigger problems than merely hiring people like themselves.

~~~
marijn
The process doesn't have to be conscious. People who are competent in areas
one doesn't understand can come across as vaguely intimidating, while being
weak in areas where one is stong might be interpreted as stupidity. As such,
unless you are extremely honest with yourself you run the risk of
underestimating those that differ from you, and overestimating your mirror
image.

~~~
allenbrunson
what surprises me is to see an article like this on hacker news, and to see it
getting serious upvotes.

if you ask me, the author of that article is not part of the solution, she's
part of the problem. she's describing a framework where decisions are made
based on ego and pride. exactly the sort of environment that the average
hacker news reader wants to avoid.

then she goes on to describe how you might fix one small part of this -- by
deigning to hire someone not exactly like yourself. while leaving the rest of
the ego-based framework intact, no doubt.

i'm guessing the _real_ problem she's describing is deep insecurity. i'd
prefer to see her tackle that one, rather than some tiny insignificant facet
of it, as she's chosen to do here.

~~~
prakash
The degree of _Hackerness_ on HN has been going down since that techcrunch
post, now days it's a lot like reddit a few months before the condenest sale.
Of course, this is my subjective opinion.

These days the challenge with any community is that once the masses find out
about it, it's all downhill in a matter of months, unlike years before.

~~~
coglethorpe
I'll make you two a deal. If you submit _hackerish_ stories to HN, I'll keep
an eye on your profiles and vote for them.

I'm serious. I'd actually see more hackerism here.

~~~
aspirant
I sympathize. In an attempt to help I wrote and submitted the item below, but
I think it got zero visibility on the site due to my newness and lack of
karma. As far as I can tell it's the sort of thing you want to see more of,
but if not please tell me.

Why Hacking Exists: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=247513>

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jonmc12
Good observation.. those differences probably starts with your co-founder and
trickles down through subsequent hires. Reminded me of the value of tools like
DISC, myers-briggs, the book 'Now, Discovery your Strengths', and the '5
dysfunctions of a Team'. Anyone else know of any useful tools or proverbs
along this line?

~~~
swombat
DISC is awesome. Is there a link to it somewhere? I've never managed to find
it online for some reason...

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nazgulnarsil
_The process doesn't have to be conscious. People who are competent in areas
one doesn't understand can come across as vaguely intimidating, while being
weak in areas where one is stong might be interpreted as stupidity._

it's important to remember this not just in a business setting but in a social
one as well.

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angstrom
A narcissist always enjoys a good mirror.

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unalone
Not to sound flippant, but wasn't this the idea behind the Beatles? Lennon and
McCartney's balancing each other is what made the Beatles so great.

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weiser
An honest self-assessment is essential for hiring into your weakness.
Unfortunately, most people are unable or unwilling to do that.

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adamc
Not as good as the Yegge essay "Done, and Gets Things Smart", except that it's
shorter.

~~~
unalone
Brevity is the soul of gettingpeopleonlinetoactuallyreadwhatyou'vewritten.
Shakespeare said that.

