Would You Hire Yourself?

Think you have what it takes? Can you be replaced? Or duplicated?

“monkey looking at mirror” by Andre Mouton on Unsplash

We are our own worst critics. We look at what work we have done and sometimes just shake our heads or giggle nervously with the thought of “what the heck was I thinking?” As you think about your performance at work or at home, and you are required to hire somebody to help you get your work accomplished, would you hire yourself?

Make a list of all the things you are strongest and most capable — the things that you can do as part of unconscious competence. Unconscious competence means you can do the action or activity “in your sleep,” and there are probably very few people anywhere within your circle that can do the work that you can do with the same sort of expertise or perfection. What is amazing is that you don’t even have to think about doing it, you are running on autopilot.

After you’ve populated the unconscious competence list, then create one for conscious competence. These are the items that you know that you are good at, yet you have to think about them as you complete the actions. These are not something you can do in your sleep, but it is an action or activity that people would recognize as you being the go-to person for those actions.

Now the last thing that you need to list is conscious incompetence. This is a list of things that you know you are not very good at or you are incapable of creating any sort of functional work that resembles your profession or even professionalism. You struggle with the steps and actions needed to complete that work. You know you are not good and there is no disguising it.

Now compare these three lists and use them to develop the profile of who you are professionally. Imagine it like a skills-based inventory in a binary sense — good and bad. As you develop that persona from these lists, focusing on those skill sets you are strong and weak, look at it from an outside view, mapping those skill sets that you think are important and help identify the persona you are creating. How does this persona align with your future goals? Are these the skills required to get you to where you see yourself in five years? Ten years?

Now check your ego for the next paragraph.

Photo by Jørgen Håland on Unsplash

Imagine that you are the hiring manager, the one that is making the decision to hire your doppelganger. Of those capabilities and incapabilities that are on those lists, what are the items on the list that you recognized would, without a doubt, help you increase your effectiveness, increase your productivity, and move your organization to the next level? Would you hire him/her/yourself?

Now let’s twist this up.

You likely ignored my statement about checking your ego at the door. How many of you responded to yourself…

Oh no doubt, I would hire myself in a heartbeat.

Depending on your level within the organization, think about the stereotypical “Yes Men” mentality and you can probably picture who they are. As you look around at the leadership teams you are close to, step back and look at your list again.

Does it make sense for you to hire yourself?

We are unique humans, yet also very alike, such as having opposable thumbs, heart, and brain. The fact that we are unique, distinctly different, molded from our experiences and our knowledge. However we allow ourselves to be influenced by those that we surround ourselves with — usually, those we surround ourselves with are those that are like us.

Wait, Mike, you said we were unique and distinctly different — which is it?

If you had a room full of people that were exactly like you, do you think you would solve problems uniquely or in a novel manner? Do you think you would become more efficient because you have people exactly like you, working on the same exact problems in the same exact manner at the same exact speed? How long do you think your team would survive if you had a team full of you?

Look at your list of conscious incompetence skills again. Of those things on that list, where do you see yourself needing the most help at? What are your biggest weaknesses? What are those areas that you can honestly say “yeah, I could use some help there.” By “fixing” those weaknesses, would it make your organization leap forward? Look at the list of conscious competence items, of those items do you see any of those that you would delegate or task? Is it far-fetched that somebody else has a different knowledge set, a different education, a different background than you, can probably do that work, the work you are weakest at, in an unconscious competence manner? We need to hire those that are not like us. Make the conscious choice of looking for the experts and surrounding yourself with them. The ones that are NOT like your persona developed out of the list of conscious and unconscious competencies. The ones that will up your game.

Do not make the mistake of hiring yourself.

Go forth and be brilliant.