By Kevin Roberts
As I mentioned I the last article, if I were to describe how to accurately assess humility in a candidate, I would be providing that same candidate a blueprint for deception. Any self-absorbed prospect could set aside this character weakness for the length of the interview process and then, after being hired, slip back into behaviors that undermine the organization.
Let’s try a different tack.
What do hiring, dating, and buying a vehicle have in common? Your business is growing and you need to add an employee. You’ve been single long enough and it’s time to settle down. The old clunker is tired and you need to replace it. What do you do? All three of these are long-term decisions that you do not want to get wrong. You make a list.
This list is made up of absolutes (needs and deal breakers) and preferences (things to hope to get and things you hope to avoid). If you’re serious, you may slave over the list incessantly. Then comes the big day. You have scheduled the interview, the date, or stop at the dealership. A year or two later, you may have only a vague memory of how this happened. Where did my list go? Why and how did I hire, move in with, or buy this lemon? That employee/mate/automobile had one quality that not only trumped your list, but it also made the list disappear. You found that interviewee, date, car… ATTRACTIVE.
If you think you are immune to this, consider an example. What is the most public hiring process on the planet? The NFL Draft. Search “draft bust” (don’t put “NFL” in the search). When I did so, first I got the “AI Overview”. Second, I got Wikipedia. Third, I got a list. The top draft bust for each of the 32 NFL teams. When I searched YouTube I got list after list. Teams, decades, top ten, top fifteen, worst of all time. Everyone involved knows that the decisions made in this venue will impact the team for years, will be scrutinized for decades, and will be forgotten…never. There’s a YouTube video about draft stories of the 1960s Baltimore Colts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSqBfSqMVdM
How is it possible that, knowing everything that an NFL scout knows about the consequences of failure, they still get it catastrophically wrong? It’s the same reason we get hiring, dating, and car buying wrong.
First, we get it right many times. In 1989, of the top five NFL draft picks, four ended up in the Hall of Fame. That’s a pretty good run. However, the one that did not is considered by many to be the biggest draft bust of all time. This is unfortunate because Tony Mandarich actually played in the NFL for several years. It is not simply a bust because the player never plays a single down. It’s because of the vast difference between the expectation and the reality. On the flip side you have Tom Brady (6th round, 199th pick) and Bart Starr (19th round 200th pick). These two are poster boys for the extreme advantage of character traits over simple expertise. Neither one was a superstar at the beginning of his career. But their character led to continual improvement in their skills and resulted in Hall of Fame careers and multiple championships.
It is the fact that we get it right so many times that causes us to drift into complacency and forget the fact that we got it right because we did it right. The buyer’s remorse of 1989 happens when we trust all that positive experience, and it causes us to expect positive results simply because we… deserve it(?) Tony Mandarich’s attractiveness put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated… shirtless. The buzz snowballed into a frenzy that overcame the recognition of his arrogance, “I am not like other players, I am Tony Mandarich.” And an unknown (at that time) use of PEDs. In a telling quote after his retirement but before his confession about steroid use, he “publicly blamed his work ethic” for his lack of success. Think about that. I do not wish to belabor an uncomfortable chapter in someone’s life. But it is instructive as a cautionary tale.
Setting aside for the moment the deception, if the employer goes through the process of developing and recording a list for the necessary hire, mate, or car, how do they end up getting talked into a less-than-ideal result? First, it is because there is an industry in and a science of making products and people attractive. The salesman has undergone countless hours of training in turd polishing. Second, it is because the customer is a partner in the failure. Because they do not value humility in themselves, they do not recognize humility in others.
Do you want to overcome your weakness of falling for the attractive? Get to know yourself honestly. Learn to value the traits and skills of others. Practice sharing credit for success until it is second nature; until you become concerned only with results, not who gets the credit. If you can do that, you will discover that arrogance will become so distasteful to your subconscious System 1 that it will give you that nagging gut feeling that you may not even be able to explain. Trust that gut feeling.
To summarize the necessity of character over expertise, honesty and humility are the two primary traits that provide for long-term successful employees. We could add ambition, discipline, and that most unique of all human traits, awareness. If you are a Technician or a fleet manager, this is who you want to be, and this is who you want to hire. This is neither simple nor easy but with due diligence it is possible.
