Are you willing to break the traditional rules?

When I was building my team I knew I had a gap.

A place that I wasn’t strong

And as I embarked on the journey to find someone with those talents and gifts

As luck would have it, there was someone already right in front of me.

They were extremely gifted yet not necessarily thriving in their current position.

We had a relationship and when they saw the posting reached out to me to gain more insights into the position.

I never dreamed I could get them on my team.

They were an expert in areas that I wasn’t.

And overall an extremely talented and wonderful human being.

And while all that was great, I knew they were bound for bigger things.

It was a lateral move. 
I couldn’t pay them any more money.

I also knew they would LEAVE.

I hired them anyways.

This is NOT the traditional rule in hiring.

Some have judged my decision.

Some have why I’d invest in someone I knew would leave.

That answer was simple.

My team and I would learn from them while they were there 
We’d be able to leverage those learnings….long after they were gone.

And I could add value to their growth in areas that I was strong and they weren’t.

Often we get so stuck on playing the long game

That we forget there’s a short game to play to get us to winning the long one.

It requires us to have:

Awareness
Intentionality
Mindfulness
To look at the bigger picture

And always have a desire to develop your team to reach that next level.

To reach those higher grounds.

To leave you.

It takes being untraditional and taking risks to win the long game.