I could do your job.

If you’re interviewing a candidate, and you think they could probably do your job, consider that an opportunity, not a threat. Building a team who understands the complexities of your operation will not only make the team stronger but will make your job easier.

For the sake of the conversation, we’ll assume you’re good at your job. If not, there’s a different conversation to be had on how to build your own strengths while sitting in the seat. If you’re good at what you’re doing today and you’re building your team to go farther faster, people who can think about problems the same way you do are an asset. Most senior leaders are multidisciplinary in some regard. You understand your domain well, but also how the finance, operations, or product of your company works too. You’re hiring team members typically with deeper specific knowledge than you in their domain.

You are building your panel of experts. People who can help take the strategy you’re describing and build out their own sub-strategies or tactical plans to accomplish it. As you interview to fill one of these roles, when you find someone who can do this, but also could have set the top-level vision too, you should be excited to bring in someone who could possibly be your peer. Why? Because you know they’re going to be far more self-sufficient than the average candidate. They’re going to understand your strategy with little effort on your part. They may even help you make it stronger from their own experience. And then, they’ll do their piece and ensure their efforts align well with the rest of the team.

If you, on the other hand, are threatened by candidates who could do your job, you’re going to build a team who takes a lot of work on your part. You’re signing up to coach and train your panel of experts to think outside their vertical. You’ll be course correcting more often, as individual plans may build in a direction counter-useful to the overall goal. There will be more reviews, more check-ins, and you may even find yourself falling for the micro-management trap. This isn’t your goal as a senior leader. While it’s great to have some on your team who you are growing into their next level, you’ll be happier if you can even share that load with others on the team.

Hiring someone who can do your job is also great succession planning. It’s a rare leader who believes they’ll be doing their exact job for all the years ahead. Even if you have no aspiration to move higher up the org chart, there will still be new opportunities for you to consider horizontally – either as your company grows or at another company. Or you might just decide to retire or take a month of vacation. Regardless of the reason, building a team of strong candidates to succeed you is good leadership and good stewardship of your organization. Strong leaders build succession plans. They know their vision will be carried forward by their team and their replacement, even in their absence.

If you feel threatened by a candidate, then it’s likely you are worried about your own job. It could be because of performance (yours, the company’s, the market’s) or many other factors. If you’re interviewing a candidate who you think will actively try to replace you, then you have a different problem. One, is your organization a cut-throat, race-to-the-top type of culture? If not, bringing a candidate who is will probably do more harm to the organization than just your own position. Conversely, if you and everyone else is used to this attitude, adding them to your team could be seen as a sign of strength. How you react to their efforts to displace you will show your own strengths as a leader. Are you able to join their efforts and be better? Do you accept their challenges and grow your own strengths? Many people are motivated by the competition – are you?

These are all considerations when you feel your position would be threatened by a candidate. But know, in almost every case, you should not feel threatened. You should be excited. You have the opportunity to build a better, stronger team and company by hiring someone who can do your job.

And that’s almost always the correct leadership decision.

Week In Review

Just when you think you have things figured out, you find out you're wrong. Polls were getting 2-5x better views than any other form of post for me for a while. Until this past week. Guess I wore out my pollster welcome. But there's still time for you to check these out and share your opinions!

• Keep It Simple Social Saturday
• Learn things you can use (A poll)
• Do you know what a "wicked problem" is? (A poll)
• Why didn't McDonald's make an eggplant parm sandwich? My Answer! (A poll)
• Effective executives can translate between business domains* (A poll)
• Scam awareness (A poll)
• This is a good sign! (A photo!)
• Long form content still has a place in the world, right? (A poll)

In Conclusion

Happy Sunday everyone! I appreciate you being with me here week after week.

As for the correct answer to this week's McDonald's trivia, those of you who picked the McNugget are correct.

The story goes that the chicken nugget product was so successful they ran out in many markets. To fill the gap, the McRib was introduced. It wasn't intended to become a permanent part of the menu, but gained a fan following, and is still introduced on the menu as a limited time option.

Thank you to everyone who reads my thoughts and for all the engagement here and on other channels.

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I hope this coming week is exactly what you need it to be!

Thanks, as always!

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About Erik

Erik Boemanns is a technology executive and lawyer. His background covers many aspects of technology, from infrastructure to software development. He combines this with a "second career" as a lawyer into a world of cybersecurity, governance, risk, compliance, and privacy (GRC-P). His time in a variety of companies, industries, and careers brings a unique perspective on leadership, helping, technology problem solving and implementing compliance.

He's available to help you with any of this now too!