Warren Buffet once said “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first one, the other two will kill you.” Clearly integrity is the first requirement when hiring, but right behind it, is intelligence. Unfortunately, intelligence comes with its own baggage.

Intelligence is essential when hiring into a fast growing company. Intelligence enables quick problem solving and brilliant, innovative ideas. Intelligence allows people to work autonomously when they need to cut through to the solution at a faster pace while still arriving at a great result. Smarter employees take less time to train and less time to positively impact your business.

However, smart people can also have a hard time learning. Chris Argyris‘ 1991 article in the Harvard Business Review, “Teaching Smart People How to Learn” outlines the basic dilemma and ways to think about solving it (It’s a must-read in my opinion). The dilemma is, the smartest people in the organization who are often assumed to be the best at learning, may actually not be very good at it. Read more…

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