Emma Grede

I was actually hiring for a title when I should have been hiring for the pain point.

I need you to think about that a little bit because I talk about that so much in my book that I don't hire for experience, I hire for attitude.

And I have never been wrong about that.

It is one of the things that has actually set me up for success over and over again.

Now, I don't care so much about whether or not somebody has the exact expertise required because I'm confident that if they've got the right attitude, then they will figure it out and they're going to learn really quickly on the job.

What I cannot teach, however, is how somebody thinks.

I cannot teach curiosity.

I cannot teach care.

I cannot teach somebody to give a shit about the quality of their work.

Now, you can make a million mistakes.

You can ask a million questions.

But if I think that you don't care about the quality of your work or how you show up with your colleagues, then we're probably not meant to work together for very long.

And this matters even more when you're hiring for senior roles.

I hire a lot of people that are in their 40s or their 50s for executive leadership roles.

And I'm very, very conscious to rule out anyone who is overly fixed or rigid or certain.

If you come from a competitor and you say to me, the only way to get from here to there is the way that I've been doing it for the past 20 years, then let me tell you, we are not going to be the right fit.

I want the best experience.

I expect the best experience.

Absolutely.

But I need it paired with flexibility because what's happening right now is that technology means the customer's expectations, they're changing all the time.