My 7 Principles for Recruiting and Managing Talent

Whenever we discuss issues in business management, the conversation always seems to circle back to the topic of talent recruitment and management.

In my experience, 90% of an organization’s challenges stem from people-related issues. I’ve made two major mistakes early in my entrepreneurial journey in this area, and they cost me dearly.

People are the foundation of a business.

If you have the wrong people, nothing else will work.

As the year comes to an end, I’ve summarized my 7 principles for recruiting and managing talent, and I’d like to share them with you.

1. Recruitment is more important than development

Which is more critical: selecting the right people or training them? Selecting the right people is 100 times more important. If you hire the wrong person, training them is a waste of time and energy.

Early in my career, I believed I could train anyone to perform well, but I learned that some employees are impossible to coach. No amount of incentives, evaluations, or development can change the fact that they’re not the right fit.

Bradford’s Top Grading Handbook states: “A bad hire costs an additional 300 hours of work. Most companies spend 25% of their energy on recruitment and 75% dealing with the consequences of hiring mistakes.”

You can’t motivate or develop someone who lacks ambition. Hiring is like choosing a life partner—you wouldn’t casually pick someone and hope to build feelings over time. Similarly, in management, hiring the right person is key to achieving success.

2. Character comes before capability

What qualities should you prioritize when hiring? Character or competence?

For me, character always comes first. A person with poor character, no matter how capable, can cause significant harm to an organization. Their influence may spread negativity across the team, undermining your culture and goals.

While skills can be taught, character is much harder to change. Often, it’s a person’s integrity, not their intelligence, that determines the heights they can reach.

I once had an employee who was highly skilled and full of potential. However, he fabricated performance data out of vanity, which violated our company’s core values.

For a company, lacking talent sets you back to zero; lacking integrity brings talent to zero.

3. Leverage strengths, tolerate weaknesses

As managers, we often obsess over fixing an employee’s weaknesses, trying to mold them into a perfect "all-rounder."

This approach is not only unrealistic but inefficient. Peter Drucker once said: “The purpose of an organization is to enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things by leveraging their strengths.”

Your job as a leader is to maximize each person’s strengths. Hire people whose strengths surpass yours in specific areas. If you surround yourself with individuals who are weaker than you in every aspect, you’ll end up doing all the work yourself, no matter how capable you are.

However, tolerating weaknesses doesn’t mean unlimited acceptance. If a person’s flaws are critical or harmful, they cannot remain on the team.

4. Trust with caution

You may have heard the saying, “Don’t use someone you doubt, and don’t doubt someone you use.” I believe it should be: “Doubt those you use, and use those you doubt.”

Everyone has flaws. Even highly capable individuals may have personality quirks. The key is to evaluate whether their flaws pose a risk to the organization.

On the other hand, even proven talents can fail in a new environment. For instance, if someone joins your company from elsewhere, their past success might not guarantee future results. As a leader, you must provide guidance and direction, especially during the first six months.

5. 80% group training, 20% individual coaching

As a manager, your role is to empower your team, not to do their work for them. To achieve this, apply the 80/20 rule:

• Spend 80% of your time on group training to address common challenges.
• Dedicate 20% to individualized coaching for specific needs.

Avoid overcommitting to one-on-one coaching, as it’s inefficient and risky. Employees might leave or lose interest, rendering your effort futile. Instead, establish a competitive environment where everyone’s strengths are tested in a fair system.

When it comes to individual coaching, follow a simple process:

1. I do, you observe.
2. I explain, you listen.
3. You do, I observe.
4. You explain, I listen.

Repeat and refine—effort yields results.

6. Let go of expectations for return

Managing people can sometimes be disheartening, especially when your efforts aren’t reciprocated. Over time, I’ve learned to let go of the need for return and focus on doing my best.

Once, I personally mentored an employee, investing significant time and effort. Yet, they eventually left. Initially, I was devastated. But I soon realized that people and circumstances are fluid. The key is to embrace the process and move forward.

Interestingly, some of my former employees, now in high-ranking positions, still remember my guidance and express gratitude years later. When you let go of expectations, the rewards—though unanticipated—can be truly fulfilling.

7. Be kind at heart, sharp in action

Let’s talk about terminating employees. There are two criteria for evaluating team members: performance and values.

A high-value, low-performance employee deserves a second chance, but repeated underperformance should result in termination.

As a manager, if you’ve never had to let someone go, you’re not fulfilling your role. When it’s time to act, do so decisively. Be kind in your heart but quick with your actions.

Dragging out the process does no favors for the employee or the organization. Clarity and decisiveness show respect and responsibility.

In conclusion, talent is the greatest asset of any organization.

The wrong people will lead to failure; the right people make success possible.

Mastering the art of recruiting and managing talent is a lifelong journey for every manager！