Hire for Strength, Not Lack of Weakness
Consensus-based hiring finds inoffensive mediocrity -- hire for world-class strengths
Most companies, especially those with consensus-based hiring processes, end up selecting candidates who have no glaring weaknesses rather than candidates who have extraordinary strengths in the specific areas the role demands. Horowitz argues this is one of the most consequential and common hiring errors, particularly at the executive level.
The framework requires that before interviewing anyone, you clearly define the two or three strengths that matter most for the specific role in your specific company at this specific moment. These are non-negotiable. Weaknesses in other areas may be manageable, but mediocrity in the critical strength areas means the hire will fail.
Horowitz learned this through the painful experience of hiring and firing multiple executives. He found that the best path to understanding what strengths you need is to run the function yourself temporarily. When he ran sales at Opsware before hiring a VP of Sales, he developed a precise understanding of the strengths the company needed, which led to his best executive hire.
- Define the specific strengths you need before you start interviewing
- Consensus-based hiring systematically selects for lack of weakness over presence of strength
- There is no generic great executive -- only a great executive for your company at this moment
- Running the function yourself before hiring is the best way to understand what strengths matter
- If you don't have world-class strengths where you need them, you won't be a world-class company
- Define the Required StrengthsBefore looking at a single resume, write down the specific strengths this role demands in your company right now. Not generic qualities like 'leadership' -- specific capabilities like 'can build a direct enterprise sales motion from zero to $50M.'
- Run the Function Yourself (If Possible)The most powerful way to understand what strengths you need is to do the job yourself for a period. You will quickly discover what matters most and what the real challenges are, making you a much better evaluator of candidates.
- Screen for Strengths FirstIn every interview, evaluate candidates against your strength criteria first. A candidate who is world-class in the critical areas but weak elsewhere is almost always a better hire than one who is above-average everywhere.
- Override Consensus BiasHiring committees naturally coalesce around inoffensive candidates. If the committee is enthusiastic about a candidate but nobody can articulate a world-class strength, that is a red flag. Push back and keep looking.
After three failed sales leaders, Horowitz ran sales himself to understand what strengths mattered. He interviewed two dozen candidates, none of whom had the right strengths, before finding Mark Cranney -- who didn't fit the typical sales executive stereotype but had exactly the strengths Opsware needed.
After cycling through multiple failed sales leaders at Loudcloud/Opsware, Horowitz decided to run the sales organization himself before making his next hire. By personally managing the team, running forecast calls, and owning the revenue number, he developed a precise picture of the specific strengths required. This led him to hire Mark Cranney, who did not fit the stereotypical sales executive profile but had exactly the right strengths for Opsware's situation.