A Wise Search & Online Marketing Insider Tells All…

So much has been written about the ever increasing cost of hiring good talent in this seemingly crazy market of online advertising.  We must strive to find that balance between industry relevance, functional experience, and cultural fit within your organization.  I personally have narrowed it down a list of a few attributes for senior management that have treated my organization well…  

• People who have the confidence to make educated, autonomous decisions… all the time!
• The art of being humble is incredibly important to me
• Be willing to roll up their sleeves and get dirty when needed:  we cannot afford to have people where the job is “beneath me” or ”I did that job 5 years ago…”.   We are creating a new industry all over again… get with it and ride the wave!  
• Hire motivated people whose job will be a a bit of a reach for them… they tend to work their way to prove they deserve to be at that level  (I was fortunate to have been the person who got the stretch job many times over my career)
• Intelligence– common sense and street smarts go a long way these days 
• Extremely motivated and hard working people.  This often trumps IQ intelligence.
• Analytical… everything now has an ROI, marginal costs, measuring cause/effects, and understanding diminishing returns.  Must be analytical these days. 
• The last piece, and my most important one is PASSION.  I consider myself a sound family guy, yet I spend more time with the people I work with than I do my wife and kids.  If I am not passionate about my work, I consider it a complete failure and waste of time.  I look for the fire in people.  I like to argue out and debate material decisions.  Passionate people can always add something to any decsision-making process.