One of the biggest challenges any organization faces is hiring the right people. You’re always balancing who you can afford to hire and who is interested in working for you. It’s a challenging balance, but when it works well the results can be extraordinary.
However, this quote from Steve Jobs highlights another issue that so many organizations face:
Steve Jobs is right. It doesn’t make any sense, but this is exactly what happens.
What does make sense is why it happens. Some leaders are control freaks and feel they have to control every decision and every action in their organization. When this happens, smart people are stifled.
As a leader, it’s a challenge to let go and trust that the smart people you’ve hired are going to be able to execute your vision. The reality is that your employees won’t execute on an idea or a project the same way you would if you were in their shoes. While many leaders fear this as a bad thing, it can turn out to be a very good thing. If you’ve hired the right people, then there’s a good chance that they won’t execute it like you would have done. Instead, they’ll execute it better than you would have done. That’s when the magic starts to happen.
The real message from Steve Jobs’ quote above is that if you don’t trust someone you’re hiring to do what they need to do to accomplish the job, then you probably shouldn’t hire them in the first place. That trust is essential to building a successful organization.