APTITUDE VS. EXPERIENCE

If you want excellent talent, there are two ways to get it:

1. hire someone who CAN do what you want them to do
2. hire someone who has already DONE what you want them to do

#2 has one upside:?finding and hiring the candidate is easy -- just look at their experience.??

Two downsides:?

A) You'll pay top market salary.?

B) You're not necessarily hiring a growth mindset.?

(If they were obsessed with their own rate of improvement, they wouldn't be jumping at a re-do of their last job.)

#1, however, has two upsides:?

A) You're getting a growth minded person.?

(someone who has followed Kevin Kelly's advice -- only apply for roles you're unqualified for)?

B) You're getting them at their pre-peak salary by giving them a big opportunity (win-win).?

Caveat: choosing #1 means you have to do the work -- deep?discussions about ambition, curiosity and resourcefulness — all connected to identity.?

My friend Matt Finelli summarizes his hiring approach like this:

With aptitude you get experience as a byproduct, but it doesn’t work the other way around.?

If we all got better at assessing aptitude, we could reduce our dependence on experience. And build the best of both worlds.?