The right fit vs. the qualified candidate
My son is in his final year of reg-league baseball. This fall season is his next-to-last season, with his last being in the spring. It’s a bittersweet time.
The bitter part of that equation is obvious—what if he never plays baseball again? What if this is all she wrote? What if the fat lady isn't just singing, but she's absolutely belting at the top of her lungs? This is a real possibility, because, for him, baseball is more about hanging out with his friends. If he gets on base or comes home, that’s just a bonus.
The sweet part is that he lucked out and got to play with his favorite (and the best) coach he’s had yet, a man we’ll call Coach C.
Coach C is the man who led my son and his friends to a league title a few seasons ago.
On paper, Coach C doesn’t look like a championship-winning coach. As far as I know, he’s just a guy. He’s kind of puny. Maybe he played baseball in high school, but other than that, he’s just a father who volunteers his time to encouraging young boys to do their best and have fun while doing it. And he gets the best out of the kids, fulfilling every parent’s dream.
My son’s also played for a guy you’d expect to win a league championship. This other coach grew up playing baseball. He made it all the way to the minor leagues. Impressive resume, right? But his results weren’t.
This more qualified coach was hard on the boys, to the point that after one game, his assistant coach had a verbal tiff with him and told him to back off—They’re just kids.
Rec-league baseball isn’t the only time I’ve seen this contrast in candidates.
I once worked at a company that had a unique job position open up. The position was a hybrid position: The company wanted someone to perform one job while mentoring others performing a different job. This place I worked at was very cliquish, and a person who was liked by one group probably wasn’t liked by another group. But everyone I talked to agreed on who was the best internal candidate for the job. It seemed like a no-brainer that he’d get the job. He was good at the primary job and had previously excelled at the other job he'd be mentoring in. And why wouldn’t you hire someone who can unify the people working under his or her leadership?
But the job went to an external candidate, someone with some impressive employers on his resume. Only a few months later, that internal candidate quit for obvious reasons. Morale went into the crapper. The external candidate isn’t exactly inspiring others to do their best work either.
Humans are complex creatures, and so relationships are complex as well. You never know how people will mesh. Cohesion is crucial for high-functioning teams. So sometimes the best fit is the one that the team will listen to. The one they’ll gladly follow into battle.
Sometimes the proper magnetism is the best qualification a candidate can have. And anyone with such qualities is likely someone who can learn the rest of the job. But that kind of influence—that’s hard to teach.
