Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

It’s Only Common Sense: Ordering Talent Off-Menu in 2023

In thinking about the best way to hire good and talent individuals, I went to my library and found a copy of Tom Peters’ book The Professional Service Firm50, published over 20 years ago in 1999. Even in these unprecedented times, I have to say: Tom Peters still has it.

Flipping through the book again, I was struck by how spot-on his advice still is and, for a moment, I thought that he had foreseen our future talent shortage all those years ago. But I came to realize that he didn’t need to know the challenges we’d be facing in 2023—good advice is timeless.

In his book, Peters talks about being a “connoisseur of talent,” always being on the lookout for talented and interesting people and trying to hire them—even if you don’t have a current opening.

Considering this sage advice made me realize that nobody I know, no company I know or have worked with, has ever done this. Most of the time, people only hire when they need someone, which is usually when someone leaves the company due to termination, retirement, or a better opportunity. Then, and only then, do companies start looking for a candidate to replace that person.

Sure, there’s the rare case where a company adds a new division or department and decides they need some people to fill that area. But most of the hiring we see today in our industry is entirely reactive. Peters is talking about being proactive.

He advises to always, always be on the lookout for good and talented people; in some cases, even unusual people—people who, at first glance, do not seem to actually fit into your organization, but upon taking a closer look at their skills and talents, you can connect the dots and realize that there’s a place for them.

Here’s an example: Smart companies are not looking for MBAs, they’re looking for MFAs. If you don’t know what I’m referring to here—and I would be surprised if you did, in this industry—I’m referring to those with a Master of Fine Arts degree. That’s right. Smart companies are looking for creative people; they’re looking for people who can think. They want people who can creatively figure things out and think outside the box—people who actually understand other people, unlike MBAs, who only understand systems and processes, have absolutely no people skills, and, in many cases, no sense of creativity whatsoever. If you think about this for a second, it makes sense.

Here are some other gems from Tom Peters’ mind, some of which may surprise you:

• Never hire a straight-A student. Chances are, they’re academic robots whose major accomplishment is knowing how to play the system. These people often know how to get good grades without learning very much. Peters recommends hiring C-level students because their experience is better suited to the real world.
• Be wary of hiring wealthy people. I once did a turnaround rescue of a company that had a well-off CFO. He had never seen an unpaid bill in his life and could not handle the mounting pile of unpaid bills that came with a turnaround. He was horrified at all the calls from vendors, and became mortified to even try to negotiate payment terms with them. He eventually ran away from us screaming in terror.
• Hire people who have dealt with adversity. Nothing scares folks who have seen and lived through hard times. They can handle anything—because they’ve had to in their own lives. I once worked with a company that was in Chapter 11, quickly heading toward Chapter 7, and let me tell you, those were challenging times. After that company went out of business, I got a job working for a company that was in a solid position financially. One night at dinner, a couple of my sales guys started complaining about the pressures of their jobs and how hard it was to make forecast. I just laughed and said, “Come on guys, you call that pressure? Pressure is taking your biggest customer out to a dinner at a fancy restaurant in Houston only to have the Maître d’ come up to your table to tell you that you have a phone call—right after you’d given the waiter your company credit card. And yes, you have a call all right—you end up in the kitchen on the phone with American Express pleading with them to cover the bill. Now that’s pressure!”
• Hire people who are a pain in the ##s. People who are so passionate about what they believe in will nag you so much that you want to fire them. But no matter how grating they are, the better part of you knows that they’re right and that you are lucky to have them on the team. Their passion is what makes your company great.

These are all the sensible things that Peters shares, most of which you will never see in any standard HR handbooks. But then if you want to find greatness, you have to look for it in places where no one else dares to look.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.