The Pitfalls of Hiring a Superstar
In the recruiting and selection process we always recommend that our clients look for and hire 'A' players. So what about taking this a step further and hiring "superstars"? Our advice....beware....for this is fraught with possible pitfalls.
In Jim Collins' newest book: "How the Mighty Fall--and Why Some Companies Never Give In", he describes the potential pitfalls of hiring a superstar in senior leadership positions. He states "Over the years of conducting research, I've been a leadership skeptic, influenced by the evidence that complex organizations achieve greatness through the efforts of more than one execptional individual. But in cases of decline, we find a more pronounced role for the powerful individual, and not for the better. While no leader can single-handedly build an enduring great company, the wrong leader vested with power can almost single-handedly bring a company down. Choose well."
Collins give several examples to prove his point. Samuel Armacost was selected by the board of Bank of America (the original version, not today's) describing him as a "vigorous, 41-year-old, tall, articulate and handsome leader". From 1980 to 1987, Armacost took the oranization from the largest and one of the most profitable banks in the world, and according to HBR, one of the best managed, to near disaster. After several strategic missteps and huge losses in net income, the organization was acquired in 1998 by a bank based in Charlotte, North Carloina (today's Bank of America).
Another example by Collins was HP's hiring of Carly Fiorina in 1999 with the announcement that HP had hired the most powerful, glamorous, exciting, magnetic, superstar female executive in the world. Carly was quoted in a Forbes article saying that "leadership is a performance." In early 2005 HP's board fired Fiorina.
Obviously, the boards did not "choose well" in selecting these superstars.
The problem of hiring superstars is also made in a recent article in Talent Management Magazine titled "Avoid 'Stars' for Long-Term Buisness Value." The article points out: "when you hire people whose investment is essentially around their own career and their own resume as compared to building something that lasts, that's a real problem. At the end of the day, it's the team that wins the game and not any individual player."
So how can hiring managers differentiate between 'A' players and 'superstars' to ensure they hire the right talent for the long term?
- Conduct multiple intervews including several different levels of staff and inquire as to how the interviewee relates to the different groups.
- Ask perfomance(behavior)-based questions on previous performance and teamwork and LISTEN to the responses (e.g. "I" vs. "We").
- Use assessments to bring objective information to the table on the candidate's work style, motivators, and inter-personal skills.
- Carefully and thoroughly check references to determine if this person caused more problems than he/she solved with previous employers.
Conclusion: Hiring 'A' players is recommended. When hiring superstars it's buyer beware!
