TopGrading Introduction, page 1.
- The one factor accounting most for individual and organizational failure is not flawed strategy, insufficient capital, lack of government protection or bailouts, bad luck, corruption, or technology.
- More important than all of these factors is a failure to embed sufficient talent in the organization.
- The single most important driver of organizational performance and individual managerial success is human capital – talent.
- The ability to do what every company and every manager wants to do – hire and promote the best people available at every salary level – is what distinguishes premier companies, large and small, from mediocre firms.
- And the ability to hire and promote the best talent available at every salary level explains why managers enjoy highly successful versus more ordinary careers.
- Throughout the world, most companies do not have superior talent because they are poor at picking talent. They simply can’t figure out how to solve three huge problems in hiring:
- Rampant dishonesty by weak candidates who easily get away with fudging their resumes and faking their interviews.
- Insufficient information, because most companies use superficial hiring methods that enable candidates to control and hide what they share about themselves.
- Lack of verifiability, as most reference checks are practically useless. Since most reference checks are fact checks with Human Resources, not done at all, or conducted with the candidates’ buddies as references, even the weakest candidates can get away with problem #1, dishonesty.
- I’ve conducted 65,000 oral case studies with managers:
- 95% of managers said the “least enjoyable” aspect of the job was problems caused by their mis-hires.
- 80% of managers hired turn out to be mis-hires.
- 75% of people promoted turn out to be underperformers.
- 21% of CEOs are satisfied with their external search firms.
How Does Topgrading Solve the Three Biggest Hiring Problems?
- High performers are generally truthful in their resumes and interviews, but low performers too often hype the positives and hide the negatives.
- Topgrading hiring has a “truth serum,” where candidates understand that they will eventually have to arrange reference calls with former bosses.
- Topgrading cures the “lack of information” headache because it covers the total career – every success, failure, key decision, and key relationship, for every job.
- Topgrading cures the “lack of verifiability” headache by requiring candidates to arrange reference calls with former bosses and others you choose.
- Topgrading brings truth and honesty, complete information on the candidate’s career, and, as frosting on the cake, everything a candidate claims will be verified through reference checks that the candidate arranges.
