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Of course. Now, would you rather hire the dummy who has no clue how to get shit done but believe in your "LinkedIn for puppies" or the expert who will take you

by dudul 11y ago

Of course. Now, would you rather hire the dummy who has no clue how to get shit done but believe in your "LinkedIn for puppies" or the expert who will take you there without caring for your idea? This post makes it sound like it's a requirement that employees believe deep down in their soul in your idea, while it is not at all required to do a good job.

nostrademons 11y ago
False dichotomy. You can probably get reasonably competent people who believe in your idea, and experts who are halfway interested in it. Given the choice between the two of them, I'd rather take the reasonably competent person who's really excited to be doing the job, rather than the expert who's halfway interested. You can train technical skills; you can't train motivation. And someone who's motivated will usually improve rapidly, so after a year or two, you may very well have an expert that's highly motivated.
- imh 11y ago
  > you can't train motivation. That's where that pesky paycheck comes in.
- vladimirralev 11y ago
  It's not that false. Remember, whatever you measure will improve. That's a warning. If you select for believers, you will get "believers". Most of the employees are coached from high school to simulate enthusiasm at job interviews. You can hear this in almost every jobseeker's seminar, school, motivational speech, you can even see this in pop-culture. Some would argue that eventually people can be so good at faking enthusiasm that a person who focused on actual skill and drive will be at disadvantage.
  - Mahn 11y ago
    Well technically speaking that dichotomy is false, people who are passionate or "believe" in a startup aren't necessarily dummies, and conversely, skilled professionals in specific fields aren't necessarily careless about a company's goals or vision. It's not a black and white question.
mindcrime 11y ago
Well, I doubt you ever want dummies in the strictest sense, but as for "experts who don't care", I'll just say that there's a time and place to bring in "mercenaries" to deliver specific abilities for nothing but money. Nothing says your workforce can't (or shouldn't) be made up of a mixture of people working for different reasons. In fact, it'd be pretty hard to put together a company where everybody wasn't working for a mixed-up combination of different reasons.

by dudul 11y ago

nostrademons 11y ago

False dichotomy. You can probably get reasonably competent people who believe in your idea, and experts who are halfway interested in it. Given the choice between the two of them, I'd rather take the reasonably competent person who's really excited to be doing the job, rather than the expert who's halfway interested. You can train technical skills; you can't train motivation. And someone who's motivated will usually improve rapidly, so after a year or two, you may very well have an expert that's highly motivated.

imh 11y ago
> you can't train motivation. That's where that pesky paycheck comes in.
vladimirralev 11y ago
It's not that false. Remember, whatever you measure will improve. That's a warning. If you select for believers, you will get "believers". Most of the employees are coached from high school to simulate enthusiasm at job interviews. You can hear this in almost every jobseeker's seminar, school, motivational speech, you can even see this in pop-culture. Some would argue that eventually people can be so good at faking enthusiasm that a person who focused on actual skill and drive will be at disadvantage.
- Mahn 11y ago
  Well technically speaking that dichotomy is false, people who are passionate or "believe" in a startup aren't necessarily dummies, and conversely, skilled professionals in specific fields aren't necessarily careless about a company's goals or vision. It's not a black and white question.

mindcrime 11y ago

Well, I doubt you ever want dummies in the strictest sense, but as for "experts who don't care", I'll just say that there's a time and place to bring in "mercenaries" to deliver specific abilities for nothing but money. Nothing says your workforce can't (or shouldn't) be made up of a mixture of people working for different reasons. In fact, it'd be pretty hard to put together a company where everybody wasn't working for a mixed-up combination of different reasons.