Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of People Group, which owns Shaadi.com, shared how it is crucial to hire the correct leadership for a great team to flourish. In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, the Shark Tank Judge said, “You can have a revolutionary product, a passionate team, and a booming market – all brought to their knees by a few bad decisions at the Leadership level.”
“How do you kill a company? By hiring the wrong leadership!” he added.
He talked about how hiring for senior positions is not easy. “While we all know this, hiring the right senior folks is yet another thing that falls in the list of – “Simple but not easy.” Founders & CXOs today are bombarded with fancy recruitment tools, psychometric evaluations, and interview techniques promising the perfect hire. But, most of them are only marginally effective. Unlikely that a smart senior individual will fail an interview, no?” he wrote.
He listed three things that one should focus on: “Numer 1: Meet again & again & … Everyone has their guard up during office hours and official interviews. The key is to be in a more relaxed environment and the best setting is over a meal - saves time too. Also, one such meeting won’t do. You specifically need 3 and here is the brilliant hack -> If every meeting gives you more confidence, you got your hire. If you get more doubtful, move on.”
“Number 2: Do “Unnamed” Ref Checks. ‘Named’ ref checks don’t work. I use my own networks to find common connections and request them for a confidential 15-20 min ref check. For this to work – Use my “PEARL” ref check theory: P - Promise reciprocity; E - Ensure confidentiality; A - Ask targeted questions; R - Retrieve critical insights; L - Learn rehire potential.”
“Number 3: Hire Builders. What you want in a leader is -> High learning agility + Strong ownership + Outcome orientation + High degree of candor. ‘Builders’ are usually like that – they like to roll up their sleeves and get shit done. Preachers & politicians can create toxicity in an org, what you are looking for are scientists who love questioning the status quo and finding the right answers,” he added.
Mittal concluded the post by saying, “Building a winning leadership team takes time, but hire correctly, and you will cut down half your workload.”
This post by the entrepreneur has generated thousands of likes and several comments since it was posted.