Hiring the 'BEST' Athlete

You hear this alot in start-up land. The concept evades people sometimes, so I hope to provide some clarity here:

1st - it comes from the NFL draft and college recruits.
2nd - it's the idea that you hire based on overall 'athleticism'. In the context of work that means people who can be effective in taking on additional responsibilities and/or different roles.
3rd - this should not be the criteria for a specific search, rather the deciding factor between the top candidates for a position.

And, lastly, the notion of hiring the BEST athlete is mostly for the early days of a start-up. In the early days of the start-up, hiring best athletes is great for establishing the DNA of the organization.

As business and demand continue to pick up, the need for 'division of labor' and 'specialization' will invariably require you to hire more specialists with deep specific expertise... Hiring then should have some basis on competency and behavioral assessments. At TheLadders we like the TopGrading methodology.