Hire for “Abnormality?”
May 6th, 2009
I’ve been at the PMI Regina PDC this week. I did a general session talk Monday, and am leading a two-day estimation workshop through tomorrow. Andy Nulman had a great riff on normal vs. abnormal employees. You can see a clip of it here. Warning: racy, not completely clean.
If you think of normal as conforming to a type (see normal) and as average, then most of us want to be abnormal 
Should you specifically hire for “abnormal”?
If you are in an entrepeneurial environment, yet. In a high innovation environment, yes. In a place that takes risks, yes. But not everyone works in places like that. Hiring for people who have a wacky way of looking at the world is part of cultural fit. Don’t just hire people who are not average, who don’t conform because it’s an interesting idea. Make sure you have cultural fit, too.
But I still like the idea of not hiring “normal” people
Entry Filed under: culture, hiring strategy
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