As an entrepreneur with employees, it is unrealistic that you will always be the smartest person in the room in all aspects of your business. You will need employees that are smarter than you in their assigned areas.
Back when I was a manager working for Digital Equipment Company, I remember visiting with my brother-in-law and the discussion of employees and hiring can up. I remember him saying “Aren’t you afraid of hiring a person smarter than you?” The thinking is that by not being the smartest person in your department you might lose your job to a smarter employee. I think this is a very real and subconscious fear experience by many managers in larger corporations.
This fear is exacerbated by the fact that many managers have reached their highest level of competency as described by the Peter Principal. Therefore, many private sector supervisors choose to pass on highly talented candidates fearing that if hired they will pass them on their climb up the corporate ladder or replace them as manager in their current position. Rather than risk their own position and future income potential they choose instead to hire employees that are beneath them in terms of skill and intellect.
Moreover, in large corporation’s departments are highly specialized. An employee may spend his entire career in a division like purchasing or marketing and have no knowledge of the other business sectors.
Small businesses, especially startups are not like there larger corporate cousins in that they are not large enough to have many layers of specialization. The small business owner must perform all of the same functions as larger competitors such as purchasing and marketing all by himself. Therefore, as a small business owner, it is impossible to be an expert in all facets of their business.
While the successful entrepreneur needs to be a “B” student in all areas of the business, they need to hire or subcontract “A” students in each key area. Moreover, since startup businesses often do not have the necessary cash flow to hire the best talent available they must make the position more appealing than just a paycheck. As I discussed in The Oracles of Business, the role of a successful entrepreneur in these companies is to create a passion for the vision. The entrepreneur’s passion for the vision and their ability to communicate it will often attract the talent they need to be successful.
Is your passion for your vision palpable enough to attract the very best talent?
