DNA of an Achiever

Having built very successful teams at high-growth companies like Zuora , Productiv , and Applied Intuition , I often get asked, "What is the secret to building a high-growth business?" The answer characterized in one word is "PEOPLE," but you are all already aware of that. The real answer resides in the DNA; the DNA of the people who will eventually help you build and scale a business most efficiently and in record time.

Hire hungry, driven, passionate, and ambitious people

When it comes to building a successful business, many leaders and managers overlook the importance of hiring passionate and ambitious individuals who are willing to take risks. While experience and tenure can provide stability and consistency, it’s the fear of failure embedded in hungry and driven people that will often drive them to make bold moves and achieve greater success. Here’s why DNA is more important than experience when building a high-growth business.?

Hiring hungry people means you’re hiring people who are driven by their passion for what they do. They have an innate desire to succeed and grow in their field; they want to learn more, be better, and push themselves further than anyone else. Their competition is themselves from yesterday. They want to be better each day. This type of person is often willing to take risks in order to achieve success because they believe that the reward outweighs the potential outcome if things don’t work out. Additionally, hungry people are typically more creative and open-minded than those who are tenured – this allows them to think outside the box when it comes to finding solutions or coming up with new ideas.?

Passion drives motivation and perseverance; without passion, even the most motivated person may eventually give up if they don’t see results quickly enough or if something becomes too difficult. You have to find people that believe - in themselves, in the product, in the company, in the leadership, and in the industry. These individuals will strive for excellence despite challenges or roadblocks because they truly love what they do; this kind of enthusiasm can be infectious in an organization and can help inspire others around them.?

Ambition in individuals brings energy and enthusiasm to any project or task they tackle; they have big goals in mind, which helps keep everyone focused on what needs to be accomplished in order for success. Ambitious people also tend to challenge the status quo by looking at things from a different perspective – this can spark creative solutions or help uncover hidden opportunities that no one else has seen before. Finally, ambitious individuals are often great team players because they understand how working together can increase everyone’s chances for success.?

When you hire passionate, ambitious, driven individuals you create an environment where big ideas are encouraged and risk-taking is rewarded – two essential ingredients needed for successful high-growth businesses. So next time you’re in charge of hiring someone for your team or company, look beyond experience and tenure – focus on their DNA instead!

A simple mechanism that has helped me through thousands of candidate interviews is leveraging the acronym CAGE and creating a robust scoring mechanism for it:

C - Character

A - Acumen

G - Grit

E - Experience

Within each of these key criteria are sub-categories that I evaluate for. This has been a strong framework for my personal success at building high performing teams. Feel free to reach out and I'm happy to share/discuss my hiring framework with you.