5 ms·

Some people are worth 10 average people (some people are worth 100). If you want your startup to outcompete, you need them. You may have to put up with some amo

by thras 18y ago

Some people are worth 10 average people (some people are worth 100). If you want your startup to outcompete, you need them. You may have to put up with some amount of shit, but hiring talent is a non-negotiable requirement for business success.

rokhayakebe 18y ago
But what is a Talented employee if he is close minded, dissects ever little decision, and only implements what he thinks is right according to his experience? And frankly I do not see the case where one person is worth 100 randomly picked persons in his field.
- anamax 18y ago
  > And frankly I do not see the case where one person is worth 100 randomly picked persons in his field. There's a rather famous list of 5000 German physicists who signed a petition stating that Einstein's theories were junk. I don't know how many other physicists Germany had at the time but surely that tells us something about the odds of randomly picking 100 German physicists who were collectively "worth" one Einstein.
  - yungchin 18y ago
    This is going slightly offtopic, but since you're bringing up this example, can I ask you for a link/citation for that list of physicists? I'm a bit surprised by the story, since Einstein's work was I believe internationally recognised almost immediately. (Nevertheless, the man was probably worth quite a number of randomly chosen peers indeed :))
    - anamax 18y ago
      I can't find it and I may be mis-remembering, so I'll call it bullshit.
    - rtra 18y ago
      I don't know about those 5000 physicists against Einstein, but: > Einstein was attacked by some with anti-Jewish leanings. When a pamphlet was published entitled 100 Authors Against Einstein, Einstein retorted "If I were wrong, one would be enough." http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Einstein.html http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Einstein.html
amirnathoo 18y ago
That's true. It's also true that a single person can destroy the productivity of 10 other people no matter how talented and motivated those other 10 are. I think that is the point the article is trying to make.
- thras 18y ago
  Well, I thought that the cornerstone quote of the article was this: "Deep technical competency is overrated compared with the ability to make excellent decisions and to create a culture where forward motion is valued and personal initiative is rewarded." And, on average, I don't find that deep technical competency is overrated compared to...well, he's talking about social skills here. At every stage of the hiring and interview and HR process, the deck is stacked in favor of social skills and social advantages. Is it better to be 25% more competent or to be 6 foot 3 inches tall at a job interview? The answer is unfortunately the second a lot of the time. Yes, there are cases where one bad apple spoils the bunch and you need to get rid of him. In my experience, the bad apples are far more likely to be managers than technical people (think about it: what sort of person wants to boss others around?). I see a much larger risk, for a medium-sized to large company, of driving out technical expertise by focusing too much on interpersonal skills. In fact, this may be exactly why larger companies tend to stagnate. Smaller companies that survive more than a year or two already know how to focus on talent.

by thras 18y ago

rokhayakebe 18y ago

But what is a Talented employee if he is close minded, dissects ever little decision, and only implements what he thinks is right according to his experience? And frankly I do not see the case where one person is worth 100 randomly picked persons in his field.

anamax 18y ago
> And frankly I do not see the case where one person is worth 100 randomly picked persons in his field. There's a rather famous list of 5000 German physicists who signed a petition stating that Einstein's theories were junk. I don't know how many other physicists Germany had at the time but surely that tells us something about the odds of randomly picking 100 German physicists who were collectively "worth" one Einstein.
- yungchin 18y ago
  This is going slightly offtopic, but since you're bringing up this example, can I ask you for a link/citation for that list of physicists? I'm a bit surprised by the story, since Einstein's work was I believe internationally recognised almost immediately. (Nevertheless, the man was probably worth quite a number of randomly chosen peers indeed :))
  - anamax 18y ago
    I can't find it and I may be mis-remembering, so I'll call it bullshit.
  - rtra 18y ago
    I don't know about those 5000 physicists against Einstein, but: > Einstein was attacked by some with anti-Jewish leanings. When a pamphlet was published entitled 100 Authors Against Einstein, Einstein retorted "If I were wrong, one would be enough." http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Einstein.html http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Einstein.html

amirnathoo 18y ago

That's true. It's also true that a single person can destroy the productivity of 10 other people no matter how talented and motivated those other 10 are. I think that is the point the article is trying to make.

thras 18y ago
Well, I thought that the cornerstone quote of the article was this: "Deep technical competency is overrated compared with the ability to make excellent decisions and to create a culture where forward motion is valued and personal initiative is rewarded." And, on average, I don't find that deep technical competency is overrated compared to...well, he's talking about social skills here. At every stage of the hiring and interview and HR process, the deck is stacked in favor of social skills and social advantages. Is it better to be 25% more competent or to be 6 foot 3 inches tall at a job interview? The answer is unfortunately the second a lot of the time. Yes, there are cases where one bad apple spoils the bunch and you need to get rid of him. In my experience, the bad apples are far more likely to be managers than technical people (think about it: what sort of person wants to boss others around?). I see a much larger risk, for a medium-sized to large company, of driving out technical expertise by focusing too much on interpersonal skills. In fact, this may be exactly why larger companies tend to stagnate. Smaller companies that survive more than a year or two already know how to focus on talent.