Who Would You Want Running Your Business?

I was in a meeting the other day and I witnessed an exchange between the people at the meeting about the problems they are having in their business. They were complaining that it is tough to get employees to show up on time, do their job even when the boss isn’t watching, call in when they are sick or going to be late, be courteous to customers and so on.  The list went on and on.

I stepped back for a moment and thought about who is it that sets this all up?  Who is it that really trains these employees as to what is expected?  It’s the manager.  So with that in mind, if you were hiring a new manager, what would be the most important qualities you'd look for?  Would you want to have someone with good communication and relationship skills along with the ability to motivate, manage and solve problems?   How about qualities such as honesty, integrity, moral courage, accountability and fairness?  Would you also want the manager to have a high level of demonstrated knowledge and competence in the business you are all about?

What if you found someone that not only was an accomplished manager in the areas of your business but also had a history of successful business accomplishments?  Would that make that person an ideal candidate?  Now let's jump on the other side.  What if you found someone that was a pitbull of a manager who made lots of money for the companies they were involved with but was lacking in all of the character qualities mentioned.  They were demanding, temperamental, high strung, always on edge and were just downright rude and/or nasty to others around them.  They do “whatever it takes” to get ahead, including making some unethical decisions but did them in the name of “getting to that next level” within the business.  They were the type of person that was not liked by employees but they did what was needed to be done to make more money for the company.  Their numbers they produced did not lie.  Would you hire that person over the other person?

My point I'm trying to make is that who you hire says a lot about your company. Warren Buffet said, "In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you."

Since it's easier to train a person of good character to do a job well than it is to develop character in a skilled but unprincipled person, if you had to choose, would you hire people in your company for character and train for skills? 

I shared these points with the people at the meeting  and emphasized that your business will get better when the people in your business get better.  Your sales will get better when your sales people get better. Your customer service will get better when your people doing customer service get better.  Your employees get better when managers supervising them get better.  In fact, kids will get better when parents get better. And parents will get better when husbands and wives get better.  Do you get the theme here?

A sidebar to this post is that 3 people after the meeting hired me to come in and train their managers and employees in ethics in the workplace. Pretty cool!

Comments

[Gary Bourgeault (managersrealm.com)]

I couldn't agree more that integrity is by far the greatest virtue to look for: especially in a manager.

People in the business, in general, will become what the manager is.

Hiring for what you want in a human being is far more important than hiring for skills, energy or resumes.

[ContrarianLuddite]

I could comment on most of your posts one by one but to sum it up - you are hitting the nail right on the head regarding integrity.

As a consultant, I have seen it all the good, the bad, the ugly and the real ugly.

I would rather have my integrity and ethics intact and walk away from a high paying consulting project than slither on my belly with an office full of snakes.

When you have a person running the show (as in a company President) who will not confront the snakes, and so the law of like attracts like takes place - the snakes multiply at the speed of light. Talk about chaos.

That's when I put on my walking shoes and exit stage left.

Honesty and integrity in place allows me to sleep at night.

ContrarianLuddite