Who
The A Method for Hiring
Book Edition Details
Summary
Hiring is a game of high stakes, with missteps costing fortunes. Enter Geoff Smart and Randy Street's "Who," a playbook that shatters the myth of randomness in recruitment. Forget the haphazard guesswork; this book unveils a strategy honed by insights from titans of industry. Imagine transforming your team by mastering the art of identifying top talent. With a 90% success rate, the A Method is your secret weapon against the odds, crafted from an unparalleled study with billionaires and CEOs. Whether you're vetting a CEO or choosing a babysitter, "Who" empowers you to discern the exceptional from the mediocre, ensuring your choices drive success.
Introduction
Every leader faces the same fundamental challenge that can make or break their success: finding and hiring the right people. While many executives spend countless hours perfecting strategies, optimizing processes, and chasing the latest business trends, they overlook the single most critical factor that determines whether their vision becomes reality or remains just another failed initiative. The difference between organizations that soar and those that struggle isn't found in their what decisions, but in their who decisions. When you get the people right, everything else falls into place. When you get them wrong, even the most brilliant strategies crumble under the weight of poor execution. The journey from hiring frustration to building championship teams isn't mysterious or complex, it simply requires a proven method that transforms your greatest challenge into your most powerful competitive advantage.
Define Success with Scorecards and Strategic Sourcing
Creating clarity around what you actually need is the foundation of hiring excellence. A scorecard serves as your blueprint for success, defining not just the activities someone will perform, but the specific outcomes they must achieve and the behaviors they must demonstrate. This isn't another job description filled with generic requirements, it's a precise roadmap that separates true performers from polished pretenders. Consider the story of Neville Isdell, who served as chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola during a critical transformation period. When Isdell needed to hire a new head of human resources, he faced a demoralized workforce and an HR function that ranked at the bottom in employee respect. Rather than posting a standard job description, Isdell crafted a detailed scorecard that captured the situational demands. He needed someone who could rebuild coalitions while moving with energy and speed, requiring high emotional intelligence, business knowledge, and bridge-building capabilities. This precision enabled Isdell to identify and hire Cynthia McCague, who succeeded for exactly the reasons he had anticipated. The scorecard didn't just help him find someone with impressive credentials, it helped him find someone whose specific strengths matched the exact challenges his organization faced. McCague transformed the HR function because Isdell had been crystal clear about what transformation actually looked like. Your scorecard should include three essential elements: a mission statement that captures why the role exists, specific outcomes that define success, and competencies that ensure both job performance and cultural fit. Start by writing a mission in plain language that anyone can understand. Next, identify three to eight measurable outcomes that only the top ten percent of candidates could achieve. Finally, list the behavioral competencies that matter for both the role and your culture. Remember that every situation requires a different type of leader, and your scorecard should reflect your current reality, not some idealized vision. Take time to pressure-test your scorecard against your business plan and ensure alignment with other key roles. When done correctly, your scorecard becomes a powerful filter that attracts A players while deterring those who can't deliver what you actually need.
Master the Art of Selecting A Players
The selection process is where most hiring decisions go wrong, not because managers lack intelligence or experience, but because they rely on methods that feel right but predict nothing about actual job performance. Traditional interviewing approaches, from gut instinct decisions to lengthy unstructured conversations, are essentially random predictors of success. The key to accurate selection lies in conducting systematic interviews that reveal patterns of past performance. The most powerful tool in your selection arsenal is the chronological career interview, which walks candidates through each significant role in their work history. Consider the experience of a ghSMART consultant who interviewed a former VP of sales being considered for a CEO position. When asked why he left one particular job, the candidate initially described a "philosophical disagreement" with his boss. Through persistent questioning, the full story emerged: during a tense board meeting where the CEO was being pressured about missed sales targets, the CEO threatened to fire the VP of sales if numbers didn't improve. The VP of sales responded by insulting his boss in front of the board, which led to his termination and cost him three million dollars in stock options. This revelation came not through trick questions or psychological testing, but through systematic questioning that encouraged the candidate to tell his complete story. The consultant didn't judge or interrupt, but simply remained curious about what actually happened. The candidate's willingness to share this damaging information during the interview process revealed both his lack of judgment and his inability to work effectively with difficult personalities. Your selection process should include four types of interviews: a brief phone screening to eliminate obvious mismatches, an in-depth chronological interview to understand career patterns, focused interviews that probe specific competencies, and reference calls to verify what you learned. For each role in their career history, ask five simple questions: What were you hired to do? What accomplishments are you most proud of? What were the low points? Who were the people you worked with? Why did you leave? Pay attention to patterns across multiple jobs rather than isolated incidents. Look for candidates who were consistently pulled to greater opportunities rather than pushed out of positions. Rate each candidate against your scorecard, focusing on those who have a ninety percent chance of achieving what only the top ten percent of candidates could accomplish.
Seal the Deal and Build Winning Teams
Finding the right person is only half the battle; convincing them to join your team requires understanding what truly motivates top performers and addressing their concerns with genuine care and persistence. The best candidates have options, and your success depends on demonstrating why your opportunity represents their best choice for professional fulfillment and personal growth. John Malone faced this exact challenge when recruiting Greg Maffei to become CEO of Liberty Media. Maffei was a blue-chip executive with credentials from Microsoft, Oracle, and Harvard Business School, but his family had deep roots in Seattle and resisted moving to Denver. Rather than simply increasing the compensation package, Malone made the family's concerns his primary focus. During nearly every conversation with Maffei, Malone asked about his wife's feelings and his children's excitement about living in Denver. He consistently emphasized the lifestyle benefits of Colorado, from mountain access to outdoor recreation opportunities. Malone's persistence and personal attention to family concerns ultimately convinced both Maffei and his family to make the move. The key wasn't manipulation or excessive perks, but genuine understanding of what mattered most to his candidate. Malone recognized that A players don't make career decisions in isolation, and their families' happiness directly impacts their professional effectiveness. Your selling strategy should address five critical areas: fit between the candidate's goals and your company's vision, family considerations that affect the decision, freedom to operate without micromanagement, financial rewards tied to performance, and the enjoyable aspects of your work environment. Most importantly, sell continuously throughout the entire process, not just at the end. Start selling during your very first conversation by understanding what the candidate truly wants from their next opportunity. Continue during interviews by highlighting aspects of your company that align with their interests. Maintain momentum between your offer and their acceptance by staying in regular contact and addressing concerns as they arise. Even after they accept, continue supporting their decision until they successfully integrate into your team. Remember that persistence separates successful leaders from those who lose great candidates at the final moment. Great people are worth the extra effort, and your willingness to fight for the right person often becomes the deciding factor in their decision to join you.
Summary
The path from hiring frustration to building championship teams isn't complicated, but it does require discipline and commitment to proven methods rather than comfortable habits that feel right but deliver poor results. As the research clearly demonstrates, management talent accounts for over half of business success, making your hiring decisions the most important choices you'll make as a leader. When you define exactly what you need through detailed scorecards, source candidates through systematic networking and referrals, select people based on career patterns rather than interview performance, and sell them on the genuine opportunities your organization provides, you transform hiring from a source of stress into a competitive advantage. The leaders who embrace this approach don't just build better teams, they create organizations that consistently outperform their competitors and provide fulfilling careers for everyone involved. Start today by creating your first scorecard for an upcoming hire, and begin the journey from hoping you'll find good people to knowing you'll consistently attract and retain the A players who make everything else possible.
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By Geoff Smart
