It's Character That Matters

In this series, professionals share their hiring secrets. Read the stories here, then write your own (use #HowIHire in the body of your post).

When I think about building teams — whether the team’s consisted of new hires or people already in my company — I find a lot of the same rules apply. In essence, how will the person perform "in the team"? To draw out that truth, I want to have a conversation, in-person, where we can talk through the following questions:  

How has working with others helped you succeed? Obviously, I want people who have a track record of achievement. Truth is, there are a lot of "successful" people out there who don’t work well with others. That’s not right for the team. So I look to see that this person’s success was a shared one. I also want to know how they have teamed well in multiple disciplines – business, school, even in sports or theater, which are efforts that require strong teamwork.

Will you bring diversity to my team? “Diversity” is not just a buzzword. People with different backgrounds and experiences bring creativity to a team; they give you a broader range of solutions and ideas. What’s more, they challenge their teammates — including me — to think differently.

Tell me about the adversity you have faced your life or career, and about a time where you challenged the status quo. This helps me understand how someone solves problems, and — perhaps more important — how much resilience they have. It also gives me a tangible example of their ability to think creatively and independently. I want collaborators, not yes-men.

All the while, I’m really focused on how the person is interacting with me to gauge his or her intellectual curiosity and their self-awareness. Intellectual curiosity is not an easy thing to assess, but it has become more and more crucial to me as I’ve gotten older. If we’re looking for someone to lead and manage others, they have to be interested in what’s on other people’s minds and what’s important to them. They need to be interested in new ideas, and in what’s going on in the world. As for self-awareness: When they talk about success or challenges, how do they describe the moment and their role in it? Do they say "I" a lot, or "we"? Do they blame adversity on someone else, or some other factor?

Bottom line, I’m far less interested in stats or numbers — what awards a person has won, how much money they’ve made for their company — and much more interested in their character. Character is a more reliable measure for predicting success. And it helps us find people who are more willing to respond to the needs of our clients to help them reach their goals, and who will make the most of the people around them.

John Thiel is the head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and is responsible for the strategic management of 14,000-plus financial advisors and 6,000 client associates, as well as more than 200 private wealth advisors.

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