Comments on: Hire People Who Accomplished Something Amazing

By: David Sickmiller

David Sickmiller — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:50:00 +0000

That’s an interesting approach to hiring. The examples of successful achievements seem to generally center around specialties that require large amounts of individual training and deliberate practice.

While I have limited sales experience, I think I can see how that relates to work in a sales position. It also seems like this hiring strategy would also work well for programming positions and perhaps surgeons — roles where an individual’s contribution is a large percent of the end result.

However, I wonder if the strategy would have good results for highly interdependent positions, such as a program manager or an engineering manager. I’m not sure if one’s dedication to individual study predicts success in directing and motivating others and making decisions with insufficient information.

By: John Burke

John Burke — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:20:00 +0000

I have a somewhat different view of this discussion. On a personal level, if someone asks me, ‘What have you accomplished that’s truly amazing?’, I’ll be somewhat uncomfortable answering that question. Humility, to me, is a desirable quality. If I feel I’m amazing, that pretty much throws humility out the window. A more appropriate question might be ‘What significant obstacles have you had to overcome in order to achieve a meaningful goal?’.

From the standpoint of the interviewer, if someone tells me they’ve done something amazing, unless I’m blown away by it and truly feel it’s amazing, I’m going to think the candidate is too easily impressed with their own accomplishment.

I want to hire people who overcome obstacles to achieve their goals. Whether or not the candidate is amazed by their own accomplishment is really insignificant, and possibly a red flag if it indicates that they lack humility. I want to know what the candidate has accomplished and then decide on my own if it is amazing or not.

By: Keith Halperin

Keith Halperin — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:08:00 +0000

There does seem to be relationship between successful sales people and successful competitive athletics- the skills, discipline, hard work, goal-orientation….
I am unaware of similar relationships in other career disciplines, but would be interested in hearing about them if they exist.

Meanwhile, there seems to a great deal of continuing emphasis placed on hiring the very best in any given field. I would think that if you are a for-profit organization and you advertise yourself as paying better than any of your competitors, you’ll be able to get the people you need relatively easily. If you don’t pay the very best (or have the best benefits, or work/life balance or something significant), why should you get the very best? Are we working in some sort of corporate Lake Woebegone, where all the companies are in the top 10%?

Cheers,

By: Scott Boren

Scott Boren — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:25:00 +0000

Overall i would agree. If someone has shown the tenacity, nerve and intelligence to REALLY succeed in one area, most of those traits will transfer to others. But don’t lean on too heavily. In the Michael Jordan example, he was given the chance to play baseball ONLY because of his success in the NBA. And by all accounts he was a grand failure in baseball. A GREAT ABC will not an XYZ make.

By: Mel Kleiman CSP

Mel Kleiman CSP — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:32:00 +0000

Accomplished something Amazing. Leads to one of the most important questions you can ask no matter what the position.

‘Tell me about an accomplishment or achievement that your are proud or most proud of?’

There are ways you can break this question down into different areas. Such as a part of a team, or individually?

In many cases you may not think graduating from high school is a great accomplishment. But for someone with a disability or other challenges this may have been something absolutely amazing.

You will be surprised with the number of people who can not come up with something.

Why would you want to hire them?

By: Dan Lefeld

Dan Lefeld — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:24:00 +0000

I have to agree with you 100%.

By: Manish Sagar

Manish Sagar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 06:16:00 +0000

Indeed a requisite!! Anyone who has accomplished something definitely has the drive and confidence to work further and rightly so to set forward his own short-term goals (in line with the ones set by the company). There is no doubt to their being successfull or becoming an asset to the compay.

By: Jim McCaskill, CPC

Jim McCaskill, CPC — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:25:00 +0000

I find the article and replies very interesting. The concept is hiring someone who has done something amazing. In nearly every case people discuss something related to sports or athletics. No one mentioned winning a National Science Fair, National Spelling Bee, or anything related to academics. Is this theory only related to sales candidates? If it extends to all executive management, I guess it is a good thing Michael Dell, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs all started companies, because they did not have the athletic achievement to get hired by this group.
I think this may be a case of of people hiring people most like themselves, and not really having a profile of success predectors for their company.

By: Steve Myers

Steve Myers — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:59:00 +0000

Now THIS is a great article. Brian hits it right on the head with one of the least understood aspects of hiring. Most think that industry experience is the most important thing, but that is very rarely the case. Product details and industry overview can be learned, and can be learned very quickly by a driven, ambitious person.
I would make a small change to this approach as I believe it’s important to hire people who are not only great at 1 thing, but are also well rounded. I would posit that Gary Kasparov would not make a great salesperson because his expertise is too narrowly focused. However, in my experience when you find someone who has a record of success and a palpable drive or ambition, you’ve got a winner. Thanks for the article Brian!

By: Steven Smith, PHR

Steven Smith, PHR — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:35:00 +0000

While hiring those types of individuals who are driven and motivated we have had success for sure, but I have to say that every sales environment is somewhat unique, and not all have been successful. In my last organization we hired some of the top notch sports heroes of their days in college, and only 1 in 9 would make it. The drive was there, but the skills were somewhat lacking, not because they did not have sales experience, but because the sale was very unique to what they were used to and they had trouble changing or adapting.

I never played sports in High School or college, and yet by my second year out of college, I made 6-figures…Despite the lack of sports I am very driven and can adapt. It seems the ability to adapt is huge, because if you are stuck in one way of doing things, whether you are a sports hero or not, you won’t be able to breed that success in your next organization.

Just food for thought

By: Leif Wennerstrom

Leif Wennerstrom — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:18:00 +0000

I have a team of recruiters who exclusively handle revenue generating roles at NetApp. For years, I have asked my customers the question about rolodex:
If Brian Tracy or Anthony Robbins was in front of you with no industry experience or rolodex, would you hire them?
Of Course….when you reach the top of one sport as a winner, the logical move is to consider other sports to conquer.. The best are very comfortable with new sports because of the challenge of not being #1, then winning: Lance Armstrong finished the NY Marathon last year.. Michael Jordan and Dion Sanders played baseball.. etc.. I won a highschool championship in an event because my coach told me that I could not… there has to be more than just money for even the best sales executives.

By: Tripper Allen

Tripper Allen — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:58:00 +0000

Agreed on a lot of levels. We’ve found that people who have felt success as you’re describing are hungry for it in their next endeavor. That hunger is diffucult to teach, if not impossible. The other issue is that these people have often failed as well, but have been able to pull themselves off the mat in order to reach their level of success. They tend not to crumble when things don’t go exactly to plan.

By: Michael Marty

Michael Marty — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:44:00 +0000

Success breeds success. I think this is an important concept to keep in mind when hiring anyone who will be responsible for growing, strengthening or creating for the business, not just in sales.

By: Sheila Greco

Sheila Greco — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:55:00 +0000

I certainly agree! When we interview and present sales professionals for positions, we have discovered that ‘athletes’ seem to be a good choice when a choice is given. Most athletes, are competitive by nature and set their own goals in addition to those set for them by the company. Although, you cannot say all athletes are good candidates, I also agree with you that choosing those who ACCOMPLISHED something and sets them apart from the pack makes for a good candidate background too. Thanks for sharing this with us.