From
the September 8, New York Times and the Corner
Office column by Adam Bryant and his interview with Daniel Lubetzky, the chief executive of Kind Snacks.
Q. How
do you hire?
A. I ask
a lot of questions and I listen to make sure that everything is consistent,
because people can be very good at interviewing. They can sound great but you
really have to get to know them and understand them and connect things.
I rely heavily on references. The art of a reference
check is aligning a candidate’s interest with yours and making sure the
reference understands that. You don’t want the person you’re interviewing to
come work for you and fail, so you really want to impress that upon the
reference.
Reference checks are also an enormous opportunity to
strengthen the person if you do hire them — to understand how to get the most
out of that person, especially if you’re hiring somebody very senior. You learn
about their strengths and weaknesses, so they’re much more likely to have a
faster ramp-up and succeed.
I also have strong opinions about the concept of letting
people go. There are corporate environments where a person has dedicated their
life to working hard, and then they’re fired with a security person escorting
them out the door. I find that so demeaning and disrespectful. There are times
and places for that, like if somebody is intentionally doing something wrong.
And none of what I’m saying has to do with tolerating mediocrity.
But a vast majority of people who work have the best
intentions, and sometimes they don’t fit with the work. So if you took the time
to hire them and to put them in that situation, and they’re doing their best
but just not working out, I think the best practice is to do a few things:
No. 1: Maximum communication, because if you communicate
with the person and have constructive criticism early, you might prevent a lot
of issues. A lot of problems happen because the manager doesn’t address them,
and then it’s too late.
No. 2: If things are not working, set a plan. You have a
30-day plan, a 60-day plan. Hopefully, they get on the right course. If they
don’t, maybe it’s just that that particular job doesn’t fit them. So can you
move them to another part of the organization? You should have done enough work
during the hiring process to determine if the person has your values and your
work ethic, but maybe the skill set is not aligned with their job. So can you
find another one for them?
Try that first, and if that doesn’t work out, then at
that time come up with an elegant way for them to transition out. And we have a
different model for that. As long as it’s not someone who has bad intentions —
they’re doing their best but you’ve just determined that they need to be doing
something else — it’s much better for them to start looking for another job
while they’re employed. But they’re also going to help us find the person who
will replace them and help train them.
And by the way, in exchange for this culture of us never
treating somebody badly, we have an expectation of our employees that they
can’t just walk out because they decide to. Everyone is a stockholder, and
ownership carries responsibilities. You need to give a minimum of 60 days’
notice if you’re departing. With my direct reports, I require two years. In
exchange, I’m blindly loyal to them.
Q. What
career advice would you give to a class of graduating seniors?
A. The
most important is to make sure that you talk to yourself, that you think hard
about what’s important to you and gives you meaning. When I was 19 and walking
between classes, I didn’t have a phone, so my brain would take me in different
directions. And it’s so healthy and important to be thinking, “Oh, I could have
done that better.” Or, “What about this idea?” But nowadays, we’re on our
iPhones all the time, and you don’t have time to talk with yourself, to
analyze.
It’s
very important for people to know what gives them meaning. But it’s hard for
people to figure out if you’re not connecting with yourself and taking the time
to just be introspective and daydream.
Q. Tell
me about your leadership style.
A. I’m
very inquisitive. I love hanging around people who can teach me. I ask a lot of
questions. And I’m very introspective and self-critical. I try hard to always
question myself and wonder: “What could I have done better? What did I do
wrong?” The culture at our company is to be self-critical, but you have to
balance that as a leader with praise for your team.
Q. What
else?
A. We
talk a lot about “and, not but,” which is about challenging people’s
compromises. It is true that sometimes you have to choose this or that, but
many times those are false choices. Our brains help us take shortcuts to be
efficient, but sometimes the assumptions you take as givens — to help make
decisions quickly — are no longer true or have always been false. It’s
important to ask: “What do I want to achieve and what’s stopping it? Is there a
way to have my cake and eat it?” It’s about being creative.
Here is a link to the entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/business/daniel-lubetzky-of-kind-snacks-on-reaching-multiple-goals.html
