Summary
- First identify whether the open role is value creating or value protecting. If it’s value creating, focus on ideas they’ve taken from start to finish even if they aren’t related to the role. If it’s value protecting, focus on whether they have lots of prior domain expertise related to the value you expect this role to protect.
- Assess whether they think like an owner. Do they own mistakes? Are they kept up at night by what they would do differently if they were CEO?
- Are they capable of strategic thinking? Can they keep your entire business equation in their head and even come up with new levers you hadn’t thought of that can move certain variables?
- Do their strengths align with the major risks of the company? Do they diversify your leadership team’s style and background?
- Are they a magnet for talent? Can they bring on people even better than themselves?
Found this great article on interviewing senior folks. One major culture shock I had when I joined NI was the questions that were asked for lateral folks. Irresspective of what the person has accomplished we used to go with a set of questions and judge the person based (mostly) on answers to those. The person might have been highly accomplished, but if he/she failed to answer “our” questions, the person was not selected. For someone grown up in interviewing not specifically for skills (don’t get me wrong, skills are important – you don’t want to teach ‘basics’ to senior folks), but also for knowledge/insights, attitude, work-ethic, demonstrated ability to learn etc., I was at a loss of words. Hope it has changed now.
The summary itself gives us a set of great processes and things to look for. Though it is directed towards startups hiring CXOs, it is applicable for us too when we hire Senior Enggs+ and GM+, though the scope of “strategic thinking” may be different for a GM when compared to a CFO.
No comments:
Post a Comment