People who build startups into successful larger companies are disruptors by nature. One doesn’t create new things without the intensity and drive to push through obstacles and overcome resistance to change. It’s especially difficult to successfully navigate the structural challenges of increasing scale.

“Founder Mode” was coined by Paul Graham of Y Combinator, referring to founders who remain deeply involved in their companies. This is in contrast to “Manager Mode” (characterized by structure, convention and functional specialists/managers) that typically accompanies growth. The problems of founders not being able to let go and not being able to manage at scale are well documented. In contrast, Graham explains problems caused by bringing in the wrong people to help manage growth and offers examples of well-known founders who had to get back into the ring to save their companies.

Core Principles of Founder Mode

Hands-On Management. Founders drive vision through direct involvement. High founder involvement can inspire employees.
Direct Interaction. Leaders in Founder Mode typically engage in skip-level meetings to keep them connected to staff and operations.
Innovation and Vision. Heavy founder involvement fosters quick decisions, agility and culture preservation.

Challenges

Scalability Issues: As companies grow, the founder’s hands-on approach may not scale well. He or she could become a bottleneck for decision-making and won’t have the time to manage all details effectively.
Risk of Micromanagement. There’s a fine line between being involved and micromanaging. If not balanced correctly, it can lead to employee burnout or a lack of autonomy, stifling innovation at lower levels.
Delegation Dilemma. Founders often need to learn to delegate effectively to ensure long-term sustainability, especially as the business grows beyond their capacity to manage all details.
Selection Risks. Founders face challenges selecting people who will support their culture and vision while bringing the necessary skills to expand the company’s structure to handle growth. If you empower the wrong people, they’ll drive your business into the ground. See Graham’s article linked above for elaboration.

Hiring for Founder Mode: Traits that Predict Success

Founders are often difficult to work for due to their intensity, demanding nature, hands-on style and impatience for results. It’s difficult but possible to find talent that thrives in Founder Mode companies. Starting with first principles, we know that best predictors of effectiveness for any job are the I-Competencies: problem-solving ability; good interpersonal and communications skill; integrity; and work ethic.

Other Essential Traits

Adaptability: Ability to thrive amid rapid shifts in strategy and roles.
Vision Alignment: Passion for the founder’s mission is crucial.
Initiative: Ability to keep momentum without constant oversight and be a self-starter in general.
Risk Tolerance: Comfort with uncertainty.
Problem-Solving: Ability to generate quick, practical solutions to complex problems.
Communication: Ability to communicate clearly and directly in flat hierarchies with a wide range of personalities.

How to Recognize Good Candidates

Behavioral Interviews: Past actions predict future fit (past behavior predicts future behavior). Look at the body of work.
Psychometric Testing to assess problem-solving aptitude, ability to get along with people, stability and conscientiousness. Low scores signal poor fit.
Observations: Work samples and interviews reveal cultural alignment.

For Candidates Considering a Founder-led Company, Ask Yourself:

Can you handle demanding, results-focused leaders?
Do you adapt quickly to unpredictable settings?
Can you solve novel problems efficiently?
Are you aligned with the founder’s vision? Can you fully support the founder’s mission and culture? Do you truly believe in what the company is trying to do?

We help founders make good decisions by hiring the right people…and avoiding the wrong people. And we help people make early and mid-career adjustments to find the right path to greater personal growth and professional development. Sometimes that involves striking out in a different direction and shifting into Founder Mode. Or it may be a case of finding a more suitable environment.

Get in touch for a free consultation.

Careers develop from many decisions made over time. Some are made by default, and some are made by other people. The more of these decisions you can make, the more likely you’ll have a better outcome, as long as they’re based on good information and insights about yourself and about your fit with the careers of interest.

There are a few fortunate souls who realize quite early that they want to be a chef, pilot, musician or other professional, but most of us are likely to back into a career through happenstance, fits and starts. There are more career options now than in the past due to factors such as expanding technology, prolonged adolescence, the lack of mandated military or civil service and generally higher levels of affluence, to name a few. To complicate matters, the choices for college majors are broader than ever, vocational and trade career paths are not always apparent, and it is sometimes hard to see the connection between a major and a career that will deliver a good return on the investment in school. So they feel it’s back to square one.

Many people achieve great success by working in a seemingly disconnected variety of jobs before finding their true direction, assuming they have learned from these experiences and built a skill stack that will transfer to other roles. However, people will be most comfortable and productive when they develop a greater sense of clarity for a rewarding and meaningful career direction earlier than later in the process. Although this will happen naturally over time for many people, there are ways to speed things up.

Picture three overlapping circles: the things you are good at; the things you enjoy doing; and the things you can make money at. If you’re lucky, you will eventually make it to that golden triangle where all three circles overlap. The things you are good at depend on your aptitudes. The things you enjoy doing are related to your interests and to some degree your personality traits. The things you can make money at depend in some measure on outside circumstances such as business needs and the general economy, but they are also related to your personality characteristics and psychological makeup.

Imagine the decision-making process to find a productive and rewarding career as a funnel. As it narrows, the issues and decisions involved become more subtle and difficult. The top and widest part of the funnel relates to a person’s aptitudes and abilities. If one does not possess the skills to perform in a particular job, the likelihood of becoming happy and successful there is minimal. However, if the necessary abilities are indeed present, the next most important factors to consider are patterns of interest. The more closely you can align your interests to your actual job duties, the happier you will be over time.

The most narrow bottom part of the funnel represents personality traits and characteristics. For instance, if you are naturally introverted, you may not be happy in a role that requires a high level of social interaction. Similarly, if you enjoy working in a structured environment, you may not feel comfortable in roles characterized by ambiguity and/or independent action. Personality is not destiny, but it affects our actions and behavior consistently over time, and it clearly affects the way we relate to the world. It also offers meaningful signposts and roadmaps for career success.

With self-knowledge and awareness in these three areas, people can make better-informed career decisions. Your life’s work does not have to be drudgery. In fact, it can be quite satisfying and rewarding if you make the right decisions and find a career that will be meaningful to you and others.

If you or someone you know are at a career planning choice point, there are tools that can help you find the right direction more quickly. Developmental career guidance that includes professionally developed and statistically validated aptitude assessments, interest inventories and personality measures is a proven and cost-effective way to jumpstart the development of a meaningful career, and to help people make midcareer adjustments. Get in touch with us to discuss your career situation and to learn more about the options that may make sense for you at this stage of your development.

We’ve previously discussed the characteristics of good people and how to select them for your organization. Without the right people, you’ll never have a culture that attracts more of them and encourages growth and success. Although anyone can improve, some things take too long to change enough to make a difference in the business context and timeframe. So we must select people with specific fundamental and stable traits and aptitudes. These are the foundation competencies: intellectual, interpersonal, integrity and intensity. Or Head, Heart, Guts, and Will for short.

Avoiding the wrong people is equally crucial to success. This is simple and important: don’t hire bad apples. If you have them, get rid of them. One toxic person can do more damage to an executive team than all your star performers can overcome. Allowing abrasive or ineffective people to remain in place sends the message that you are too timid to confront the issue, that you are out of touch, or that you don’t care. The long term implications for your culture are evident.

Of course poor performance can be related to poor management practices, but on an individual level it is often related directly to problems with the I-Competencies described above. Although all ineffective people have a detrimental effect, a particular category of bad apple deserves special attention. People with some of the characteristics described below can do more than just damage internal morale and performance. They are the most likely to get into ethical and legal difficulties. If they’re at an executive level, they can do real damage to the organization, up to and including destroying it. Beware of the Dark Triad cluster of traits related to manipulative, antagonistic and socially undesirable behavior: Machiavellianism; Narcissism; and Psychopathy.

For context, the descriptions of each of these pathologies are presented below.

Machiavellianism. Nicolo Machiavelli, a Florentine poet, musician, playwright, and keen observer of political power, is best remembered for The Prince, a biting but accurate treatise on the practical application of power in politics. Machiavellianism is defined as the proclivity to manipulate and exploit using power, intimidation, charm, or other such methods to get what one wants. People high on this trait tend to be strategic and prioritize their own interests above those of others. They see others as instruments to help them get their way. But they can also have a smooth and persuasive exterior.

Narcissism. In mythology, Narcissus was a handsome young man who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Narcissism is the quality of being self-absorbed to the point of pathology. Narcissistic personalities are characterized by an inflated self-concept and self-centeredness. Narcissists lack empathy for others and typically assume that they are entitled. Their view of themselves is grandiose. They have a sense of superiority. They also tend to be flamboyant.

Psychopathy. As with other antisocial behavioral patterns, psychopathy and sociopathy are deep-seated and quite resistant to change. Psychopathy includes lack of concern for others, disregard for social norms, low tolerance for frustration, and a keen ability to rationalize problems by placing blame elsewhere. Psychopaths don’t experience guilt, and consequently don’t learn much from punishment. They are thrill-seeking and impulsive.

Please note that the Americans with Disabilities Act specifies that clinical or medical conditions of candidates cannot be asked or considered before a job offer. In addition, medical records and information must be kept confidential and in separate medical files. If a person has been clinically diagnosed with a personality disorder, this could be considered a medical condition. Fortunately, people with the most pronounced manifestations of these pathologies usually de-rail before making it to the executive ranks. However, the Dark Triad brings to mind milder behaviors which can be destructive at work, and which are appropriate to evaluate as part of the hiring process. Remember, the best predictor of anything is what it has been in the past. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior in similar circumstances. Pay attention to interview behavior and to clues about past behavior from the interview.

Watch out for indications that a candidate demeans or damages others, especially those with less power, in order to accomplish their objectives (for instance, as observed by Robert Sutton in his book, The No Asshole Rule). One often overlooked data point is how the candidate treats “lower level” people who do the scheduling and handle administrative duties relative to the interview process. Any arrogance or demeaning behavior here is a red flag.

Look for signs that a candidate touts his or her own accomplishments, but is unwilling to also recognize others’ contributions. Taking credit for the work of others should never be ignored. It is an indication of a long term pattern of behavior you don’t want in your organization.

Beware of candidates who emphasize their own expertise and having the correct answer above candor and humility. Good candidates will be able to ask for and hear other ideas or corrections.

Anyone who has worked in organizations knows that trust is crucial to building a productive workplace. A lack of trust was the first reason for team problems noted in Patrick Lencioni’s classic The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Any candidate who lies or fudges on a resume, or who otherwise behaves in a manner to cause you to distrust him or her should set off the alarm bells.

Diligent hiring practices are crucial in cultivating a positive organizational culture. Your selection system should be focused on job-related behaviors, past relevant experience and alignment with your culture and values. Seek out people with strong intellectual, interpersonal, integrity, and intensity competencies, and vigilantly avoid people with traits associated with the Dark Triad. Comprehensive testing, realistic job previews, structured interviews, and thorough background checks offer the roadmap for steering clear of toxic influences and fostering a workplace of collaboration, innovation, and long-term prosperity.

We help managers make better decisions, especially when it comes to hiring and developing people. Call for a free, no obligation consultation about your current selection practices and unique problems or issues you may be facing.

A CEO was known to tell candidates that there were two reasons he’d fire them: if they weren’t good at their jobs, or if they were jerks. That was a realistic job preview, one of the most effective ways to give prospective employees an idea of what life would be like with the company. And it was a good way to cull the herd and get some of the wrong people out of the pipeline – many candidates just didn’t come back for more interviews.

But how can you predict who will be good at their jobs and work well with others if you’re not in a position to cut to the chase so directly? We rely on three independent sources of data in our psychological assessments when helping managers make hiring and promotion decisions. First, you can tell a great deal about candidates with a properly structured interview. This format lets you begin to get to know them as people. Second, the person’s general background and work history offer a great deal of useful information. Third, the person’s profiles on personality inventories and performance on general aptitude assessments provide a wealth of data. Our job then is to look for the recurring themes from all three independent data sets. If you see indicators pointing in the same direction from all three sources of information, you can be comfortable that’s telling you something real and probably useful about the candidate, and how he or she will perform on the job.

You can get better at just about anything with time, resources and motivation. But from an organizational perspective, you don’t have enough of those things to develop everyone to their potential. You need to focus on the attributes that are largely built in by the time a person gets into the recruitment pipeline for other than entry level jobs. That is, you need to differentiate between the things that are innate and the things that can be developed.

There are clear indications that certain intrinsic characteristics are quite predictive of growth and success in organizations, and in the broader arena of life. These are the foundation competencies: the abilities and enduring behavioral patterns a person brings to the job. These traits are often referred to as the I-Competencies: Intellectual; Interpersonal; Integrity; and Intensity. Think of them as head, heart, guts and will. They differ from the many surface competencies (e.g. formal presentation skills, spreadsheet skills, technical knowledge base, etc.) that are the result of training and experience in schools, early jobs and other learning experiences. Foundation competencies are innate. Surface competencies are overlays that can be learned.

For any mid-to-high level job, a person must bring a certain minimal amount of the foundation competencies to succeed. Of course people can grow, but change takes time – more than most organizations can invest. So, for practical purposes, we treat these as the hard-wired factory settings.

Performance depends on your natural abilities and characteristics (the foundation competencies), the knowledge, skill and experience you bring to the job (the surface competencies), the organizational factors that facilitate achievement, and the nature of the leaders. To help ensure high performance, you must select people with the necessary foundation competencies, help them develop the necessary surface competencies, and keep them focused on the right objectives. Of course you also need to reinforce good performance by rewarding success and by fostering a culture that isn’t toxic.

To maximize your chances for success, focus on the foundation competencies when selecting new employees.

The Intellectual Competency (Head) has traditionally been measured by standardized tests that predict success in school, but test scores alone aren’t infallible. General intelligence encompasses mental agility, quickness and creativity, depth of knowledge, logical reasoning and common sense. This factor is a combination of a person’s unique mix of skills and abilities and how well she or he uses them. People who make smart decisions and who use their talents effectively are more successful over time than those who make bad decisions and/or squander their intellectual resources. After almost one hundred years of scientific research about this, the results are quite clear and unambiguous. This is the best single predictor of job performance available. There are always exceptions to the rule (there are very bright people who never amount to anything, and there are people of very average ability who work hard and achieve great success) but the overall correlations between this ability and performance over time are clear and consistent in all jobs and occupations.

The Interpersonal Competency (Heart) facilitates communications and relationships. No matter how clever the problem solution, if you can’t communicate it to others and convince them of its merits, it won’t matter. People who have good social skills and who get along with other people are much more successful as a group than those who don’t have as many talents in this area. They will have greater influence on a team because others like them and feel good about them. This trait is the key that unlocks the door of influence. It enables you to communicate the worth of your ideas. It includes general social and persuasive skills, social insight and intuition, likeability and persuasiveness. The intellectual competency enables you to solve a problem. The interpersonal competency enables you to convince other people that the solution is a good one.

The Integrity Competency (Guts) is broader than basic honesty-dishonesty although that’s an important part of this factor. It is the cornerstone of building trust, one of the two primary factors of credibility. It includes conscientiousness, discipline and follow-through. High integrity ensures that you will meet your commitments on time to the standards expected. Part of this competency includes the ability to focus and to use your talents and aptitudes with appropriate discipline. This is the factor that holds things together and facilitates trust and consistency of performance. The greater the perceived integrity, the greater the trust.

The Intensity Competency (Will) is the motivation factor. It includes energy, stamina, drive and full engagement. People with high intensity are active, not passive. They are driven by a need to get things done and to see results. With the proper control and focus, people with higher intensity will achieve at higher levels than others. This is the fuel that provides the force for achieving goals and for staying motivated in the face of obstacles. The more motivated you are, the more likely it is that you will get things done, and consequently the greater your ability to influence others by virtue of tangible accomplishments and credibility.

Everyone wants more high-potential employees, but it can be a crap-shoot at best trying to find them among the competition and noise. However, you can increase your success rate through the use of structured and job-related interview practices, valid personality and aptitude testing and careful reference checking.

Unlock the potential for success in your organization by harnessing the power of high-potential employees. Don’t leave your talent acquisition and development to chance. Let us help you apply the proven and valid assessment techniques that will help you identify and cultivate high-potential employees who will drive your organization forward.

Personality is not destiny but it has a strong influence on our experiences, reactions, preferences and behavior. Personality traits are long-term and enduring patterns of behavior that affect us consistently over time, and consistently in a wide range of circumstances. Our traits are our factory settings. They’re difficult or impossible to change, but we can modify how we respond, how we deal with new situations and how we choose to conduct our lives. We all can grow, develop and build skills to help us better deal with life.

Of the five major personality traits, the factor of Emotional Reactivity is most closely associated with psychological health and well-being. People on the low end of this spectrum are inclined to be calm, relaxed, even keeled and stress tolerant. Most of us reside somewhere in the middle, experiencing occasional frustrations and anxieties but typically not reacting too strongly. However, people of high emotional reactivity tend to be hot reactors. That is, they express their irritations, insecurities, emotional states and general intensity directly and sometimes forcefully. This can obviously have negative consequences for career progression and life success in general if not managed effectively.

Think of the hot reactor process as a circuit with two switches. The first switch is thrown automatically as a reaction to something that upsets us. That normally leads to flipping in the second switch, which closes the loop and produces the behavioral response to the frustrating event. Hot reactors have a short fuse and respond quickly to triggering events. As people get better at understanding why they respond as they do, they can extend the time between the trigger and the response. Think of it as building “yellow flag” pause-and-reflect skills.

One of the most effective tools to help build resilience and develop skills and insights to manage hot reactor tendencies is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). With the knowledge and techniques that can result from coaching or therapeutic interventions, and with the energy from consistent work and self-discipline, people can become more effective managing their triggers and patterns of counterproductive behavior.

Another way to understand the emotional reactivity process is to use the A-B-C framework: