Danielle Gualtieri

In his book How to Hire A-Players, Heric Herrenkohl spends an entire chapter talking about finding A-players in unexpected places. Sort of Diamond-in-the-Rough-esque. 

Teachers. Servers. Military officers. Former entrepreneurs. Parents returning to the workforce.

I thought that was interesting, but I kept getting pulled toward a different question:

What happens after you hire them?

Because you can find someone with initiative, creativity, accountability, curiosity, and leadership…

And then completely smother all of it.

Give them a manager who wants to approve every decision.

Make every new idea go through five layers of approval.

Tell them to “think outside the box” and then get annoyed when they actually do.

At some point, I wonder if we’re still talking about talentself…

…or the space we’re giving it.

How do we polish & set the rough diamond so it can actually shine?

Talent Takes Space

If a quality is difficult to teach, it seems especially strange to hire for that quality and then create an environment where it can’t be used.

Take initiative.

If someone constantly sees things that could be better, they’re going to notice problems.

They’re probably also going to suggest solutions.

Sometimes those solutions will be inconvenient.

Sometimes they’ll be wrong.

Sometimes they’ll challenge something that has been done the same way for years.

But if the organization only wants ideas that fit neatly into what it’s already doing…

What exactly are we asking people to be creative for?

Do We Actually Want What We Say We Want?

This feels like a weird organizational contradiction.

We want people who challenge assumptions….
… but we don’t always want to be challenged.

We want independent thinkers…
…but we don’t always want them making independent decisions.

We want initiative…
…but sometimes “initiative” just means doing the thing we already wanted done without having to ask.

And I don’t think this is necessarily malicious. Organizations need structure. People need boundaries. Not every employee should be able to change whatever they want whenever they want.

So where is the line?

Setting to Shine

This is where I think the chapter connects to something bigger than hiring.

If an organization hires someone with a capability it didn’t have before, the organization has also created a responsibility to make use of that capability.

Otherwise, it’s kind of like buying a really nice gemstone, and keeping it in a drawer.

The glimmer is there.

You’re just not using it.

It needs a proper setting.

What makes an organization great is not just having talented people.

It is giving them enough structure to function…

And enough space to shine.