What to take away
- 1.Bad HR hires either cave to the CEO or refuse everything.
- 2.Test for healthy disagreement in the interview, not after.
- 3.Background-check this hire harder than any other — undo takes 18 months.
Bad HR hires fail on two predictable axes. They cannot say no to the CEO, or they say no to everything. Find the candidate who can disagree, articulate why, and then commit.
Test it. In the interview, present a scenario where their professional view conflicts with yours. Watch how they handle the disagreement. If they cave, they will cave at year two when the stakes are higher.
The other test: ask them to describe the worst HR decision they have made and what they learned. If they cannot name one, they have either not been in the seat long enough or they are not honest enough.
“Find the candidate who can disagree, articulate why, and then commit.”
Background-check this hire harder than any other. The damage a bad first HR leader does to the company takes 18 months to undo.
Try this Monday
- Write a scenario where your professional view conflicts with the CEO's.
- Add it to every people-leader interview loop.
- Score the response: cave, dig in, or disagree-and-commit.
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HR Asia on hiring your first people leader: the worst HR hires either can't say no to the CEO, or say no to everything. Test for healthy disagreement in the interview. https://hrasia.co/founder/first-people-leader-hire
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