I’m going to be slight hypocritical here in saying that when it comes to compiling your team, you shouldn’t look to hire already-made Experts. Odds are that these Experts are too expensive, have too much experience (i.e. they’re inflexible) and they have a chip on their shoulders (from the sustained success until that point).
Suffice to say, I’m thus not a big advocate of head-hunting either.
Instead I believe in unearthing the raw talent and then polishing that into a more expert form. For example, I’d pick a hard-working, committed and loyal person over the obscenely talented one every single time; talent fades away when it can’t find a proper fit within the team environment. Those characteristics are also unspectacular and it should breed a culture of staying humble whilst always contributing value.
Remember that your business is unique and the requirements placed on your team will thus also be specific to what you need to achieve. So a great candidate in general could possibly be your second or third choice if you consider their credentials within the context of your unique needs. Keep this in mind when you are looking at the combination of individuals on your team, as their individual contributions aren’t that important when considered individually; it is however those contributions in combination with the rest of the team that should be extremely valuable.
