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Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men (1924)

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Re: Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men (1924)

#31

Post by michaelochurch »

d23 wrote: post #19

What if you aren't a finisher? How can you become one?

What if you aren't a finisher? How can you become one?

I wish I were as good at taking this advice as at giving it.

    1. Lose the fear. (This is the root cause of all the other stuff.) Or, more 
       accurately, experience it but don't give in to it. 
    2. Timebox the work (as reasonably as one can) or limit "one more feature". 
    3. Fail fast, gracefully, and quietly. Learn when to *not* finish. 
       (You shouldn't be finishing *everything* you start. The problem is if 
       you finish *nothing*.)
    4. Succeed decisively but simply (not ornately; don't aim for perfection).

Re: Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men (1924)

#32

Post by john_b »

deadfall wrote: post #27

"But if you blunder for words, punctuate incorrectly, spell incorrectly, and express yourself clumsily, I'm sure to believe you mind is cluttered and ill-disciplined." My mind is cluttered and I rely on spelling correction. Hard to say if I would get the position.

Since the article was written prior to the invention of automatic spelling correction, these sorts of seemingly trivial errors could tarnish one's first impression significantly. If you know nearly nothing about someone but need to form an opinion of them, you will use everything you do know to assess them, regardless of how trivial. Furthermore, you will generally be biased towards criteria that are more difficult to fake. It may not be fair but it's how humanity works, and being aware of this can help you greatly.

Confidence, intelligence, credentials, and experience can be faked or lied about. Comparing someone's written words with their speech, in person or over the phone, will give you a more reliable picture of how they think and communicate than anything else.

Re: Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men (1924)

#35

Post by pdonis »

izzydata wrote: post #12

It doesn't seem fair to generalize everyone who is supposedly amazing at what they do as being poor workers. Seems like circumstantial evidence that might almost never be the case. Who really knows based on 1 person.

There's more than one example given in the article of a "brilliant" person who failed as a businessman. The author's opinion appears to be a considered one, based on multiple experiences, not a snap judgment based on one unfortunate episode.

Re: Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men (1924)

#36

Post by nilkn »

badman_ting wrote: post #23

Alternately, this is the story of a man who hired based on word of mouth, then when that didn't work out, learned the wrong lesson.

This was a beautifully written piece, but that's exactly the impression I came away with.

It's been written on HN many times that work sample tests are very important in hiring decisions. Perhaps this is just more evidence of that. The good news is that it's much more practical to give such tests in software development than in sales (to my knowledge).

Re: Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men (1924)

#38

Post by nemonemo »

d23 wrote: post #19

What if you aren't a finisher? How can you become one?

I think the fundamental reason of not being finisher may come from several reasons: lack of detailed planning (oh, there's an unanticipated obstacle), lack of energy to finish things, and little barrier of attention shift.

I would say I am not a finisher, but what I am trying to do is reducing these reasons: trying to understand/plan better to the deepest level, sleeping/eating well, getting more satisfaction from finishing things than starting one, and doing smaller things, selectively.

Re: Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men (1924)

#39

Post by DjangoReinhardt »

deadfall wrote: post #27

"But if you blunder for words, punctuate incorrectly, spell incorrectly, and express yourself clumsily, I'm sure to believe you mind is cluttered and ill-disciplined." My mind is cluttered and I rely on spelling correction. Hard to say if I would get the position.

Do keep in mind that this letter (essay?) was written in an era when SMS wasn't a thing and getting an education involved (quite literally) crossing your t's and dotting your i's. A keyboard wasn't a thing yet and spell check was something witches and wizards did before their exams.

Things have gotten speedier, and yet, much lazier now - so much that we have begun to rely a fair bit on technology and a common shared understanding of the concepts that unite us into the communities we partake in. Add to that, the exchange of cultures via this great, big melting pot called the internet, and you get a hodge-podge of words, symbols and grammar that we end up loosely calling a language. As with all melting pots, the contents of this one have melded into each other so much that these changes to the contents have (again, literally) stuck!

TL;DR - It was different back then & it certainly is much different now. It really doesn't matter what words (or spellings) you choose; what matters is the thoughts you are trying to convey through your words (and spellings).

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