Stop hiring brilliant jerks
You're working too many hours, constantly dealing with people issues, your senior leadership team is distracted from growing the business and one person seems to dominate every leadership meeting and takes up too much of your time and energy for all the wrong reasons.
They might be brilliant at what they do.
But they're still a jerk.
I've seen it time and time again. Businesses recruit or promote someone because they're technically outstanding. They have the experience, the qualifications and the track record. On paper, they're the obvious choice.
Six months later, they're causing friction, damaging relationships, creating silos and draining the time and energy of everyone around them. You and your senior leadership team spend more time managing one individual than they do growing the business.
That's why skills alone are never enough.
Whether I'm helping a client recruit or deciding who should be promoted internally, or who isn’t the right fit and needs to be sorted out, I use the VESTA model.
V – Values alignment. Do they genuinely live the none negotiable values your business is built on?
E – Emotional intelligence. Can they communicate, influence and bring people with them?
S – Skills. Can they actually do the job?
T – Tenacity. Will they keep going when things become difficult?
A – Action. Do they take ownership, make decisions and get things done without chaos?
Miss just one of these and you're gambling with your business.
A leader with exceptional skills but poor values can destroy a culture. A leader with emotional intelligence but no action frustrates everyone around them because nothing ever gets done. A leader with skills but no tenacity often struggles the moment the pressure is on. Equally, someone who takes action without the emotional intelligence to bring people with them leaves a trail of disengaged colleagues behind.
The best leaders consistently demonstrate all five.
The next time you're recruiting or promoting someone, consider this.
A CV says they can do the job. Values, emotional intelligence, tenacity and action say they will do the job.
You have to ask better questions around the non technical skills and look for (or stop ignoring) the red flags on value alignment.
Hire slowly (it’s important to take your time and be 100% sure) and if they are a brilliant jerk, fire quickly.
Ask yourself whether they'd score highly across VESTA or just on the skills part.
The cost of hiring or promoting a brilliant jerk isn't just their salary.
It's the endless leadership conversations, the time you and senior leadership team spend dealing with issues they shouldn't have to, the frustration of your good people, the damage to your culture and the opportunities your business never gets chance to pursue because your attention is focused in the wrong place.
The best recruitment and promotion decisions aren't made by choosing the person with the strongest CV.
They're made by choosing the person who strengthens the business, not just the role.
If you're about to make an important recruitment or promotion decision, take a step back and look beyond skills. Recruit and promote people who score highly across VESTA and you'll spend far more time growing your business than managing your brilliant jerks.
I've seen too many businesses spend months trying to manage a brilliant jerk when the warning signs were there from day one. If you're facing a difficult recruitment, promotion or leadership decision, I'd rather help you make the right one now than help you fix the consequences six months later.
Contact me with the word VESTA along with your mobile number and I’ll do the rest.