Future-Focused Hiring Standards

“There's the IBM person in a white shirt or a Ross Perot person who came from the military. We want people who are not absolutely conventional. Who cause trouble because they are willing to break some of the boundaries and challenge us or someone else, or chal- lenge an idea. You need a certain amount of brewing in the pot. [Otherwise,] the tendency for people is, well, let's all just get along. I don't want the organization to settle in to lattes and talking about what we did over the weekend.”

“McCaw is scrupulous about those he selects for his senior manage- ment group. He subjects potential hires to a series of interviews with top managers, plus a meandering, soul-searching, character-exploring encounter with him. While McCaw was traveling once, he asked a candidate for a high-level finance position to meet him at the Denver airport for what was supposed to be a one-hour meeting. McCaw swooped down from the clouds in his private plane and left his wife and others to wait as he probed the candidate's childhood, life experiences, ideas, and values. The session expanded to fill six hours. Finally,”