(By Chris Stonick) If you ask yourself this question, you may be breaking the Libby Sartain rule and not even know it. Who’s Libby Sartain? Libby is the former Head of HR for Southwest Airlines and Yahoo. She’s also a great speaker and author.
She was speaking in Dallas one time talking about all the great things making Southwest an awesome company: The pay, the benefits, the culture, the advancement capabilities, etc. At the end, like any good speaker, she opened it up for Q&A.
After a few questions, a person near the back asked a question. “Libby, you’re based in Dallas. We’re in Dallas. I know you have a great company because I have friends that work for you. But from an HR perspective, how do you run a company this well?”
Without hesitation, she simply replied, “At Southwest, we don’t hire people that suck.” At first the room laughed, but she wasn’t joking. Think about it. How many people have you hired over the years that when they said “yes,” your gut said “oh no.” You got someone in a chair, but it’s not someone you think will be a game-changer. If you want the sales team to be great, take your time and hire great.
For more than three decades, Chris Stonick has helped thousands of organizations across the country with recruiting and retention while generating well over $100,000,000 in billing for his client radio stations. Contact Chris at 863-397-5615 or by email. Read Chris’ Radio Ink archives here.
