Granite Rock is a terrific company that won the Malcolm Baldrige Award for quality in 1992. I asked Bruce Woolpert, President of Granite Rock, how he was able to win the award and achieve such high levels of quality. He carefully responded, “Well, let me tell you about our hiring practices.” For anyone who thinks that quality is something that any company can achieve, Bruce’s comments are sobering and encouraging. They are sobering because quality isn’t easy. If you’ve got a stodgy old organization, achieving quality is going to be difficult because it all starts with your people. Bruce’s comments are encouraging if you’ve already got a great group of people or if you believe in your people.
Another great entrepreneur, Red Scott, CEO of Intermark, once said, “Put all your efforts into hiring and none into managing.” The leverage, he’s saying, is in who is on your team, not how you manage those people. It’s easier to hire smart than to manage tough.
Hire Smart vs. Manage Tough
Harvey Mackay is often quoted on the importance of hiring. He works hard at hiring the right people for his companies and is known for visiting people in their homes in order to really get to know them. One of his favorite quotes is:
If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain.
If you want ten years of prospertiy, grow trees.
If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.
So, why doesn’t every company check the references of their applicants? They may simply not understand the importance of reference checking. A terrific book about hiring was recommended to me recently by Scott Hamilton. The book is called Hiring Smart, by Pierre Mornell. Inc. Magazine published an excert of this book March of 1998 that is as topical today as it was then. I recently have spent time with an industrial company and at each of their locations, I have been greatly impressed by the quality of the leaders. Why is this so? In my opinion, because the leader of the organization has been able to attract and retain great people. Now, what does “great people” mean. Well, for a clue to the answer, I would check out an organization called Summersearch. “The mission of Summer Search is to find resilient low-income high school students and inspire them to become responsible and altruistic leaders by providing year-round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting support network.” FYI, the founder of Summersearch is Linda Mornell, wife of Peter Mornell.
Finally, I don’t know whose quote this is, but it’s one of my all-time favorites:
You get what you tolerate.
Pierre Mornell, M.D. is a psychiatrist and one of the world’s leading experts in the field of human resource development. Since 1985 Dr. Mornell has lectured at IBM’s Advanced Management Seminar and International Executive Programs. He also acted as the first Dean of the University Faculty for the Young Presidents’ Organization. He has led day programs at the Stanford and Harvard Business Schools and has served as consultant to the presidents of organizations as diverse as Intuit, Kinko’s, American Gold Corporation, and Art Center College of Design. He is a frequent keynote speaker on “Executive Evaluation” and “Managing Change” at conferences worldwide. Dr. Mornell was a founding director of The Trust For Public Land. He served as a trustee of the Bolinas-Stinson Beach School Board and San Francisco University High School. Currently, he is on the steering committee of Harvard Business School’s new research center in Menlo Park, California. In addition, Dr. Mornell is a columnist for Inc. magazine. His previous book, Hiring Smart, has sold over 30,000 copies and was named a San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of the Year, 1998. He is married and has three adult children. He lives in Marin County,California. Excerpt from Ten Speed Press
