Hiring Soup

When thinking about hiring people and growing your organization, there are two trains of thoughts.

The first, and dominant, goes along the lines of “I wish I could just clone my current people”. I fell into this mindset when our company was first growing.

Consider your organization as a pot of soup containing chicken breast, salt, chicken broth, broken spaghetti, and carrots. The dominant approach to growing a team is searching for more of the same — more chicken breast, more salt, more broken spaghetti. So you end up with more of the same soup, which can be sold to more of the same clients.

An alternative approach to growing a team is making more soup, but also changing the soup while you do it. Instead of more chicken breast, you look for chicken thigh. Instead of broken spaghetti, you look for tubettini. Instead of more carrots, you look for peas. So while you still end up with more soup to feed more clients, the soup has now evolved.

Naturally, the reason the dominant approach is so dominant is because people feel a level of certainty towards more of the same. Especially when compared to the uncertainty of introducing change alongside growth.

There is no right or wrong, just ask yourself — do I want more of the same or do I want to try for something better? 🤔