Domain Knowledge, an Over-rated, Irrelevant factor in Leadership
More from Jeff Christian …
“Be prepared to hire from outside your industry. One obstacle I run into constantly is that my clients insist on hiring from within the same industry. It can be a huge mistake. Why not hire someone who is just plain talented? Believe me, in six to eight months a talented marketing person, or manager, or strategist, will be able to learn everything there is to know about your business - and then there’s the bonus that your new executive is actually talented. IBM’s Lou Gerstner came from RJR Nabisco. Home Depot recently filled their CEO position with the head of GE Power Systems, Robert Nardelli, whose name had been mentioned as a possible successor to Jack Welch. Another loser in the Jack Welch sweepstakes, GE Aircraft Engines boss James McNerney, Jr., won the big job at 3M. Did IBM worry whether Gerstner would be able to switch from selling cookies to computers? Did Home Depot test Nardelli’s skill with a jig-saw or hanging a screen door?”
I have to say, I have worked on an unusually large number of industries from fashion to semiconductors, and lack of domain knowledge has not exactly been a hindrance to getting things done! And yet, a miserably large number of people in our industry are obsessed with domain knowledge. To quote a friend of mine from dinner a few days back: “If you take the knowledge away, I am not sure how much raw smarts remain!”
Well, raw smarts are tres important, because most likely, things will change, what will need to be called upon is the power and the ability to learn and to think, beyond what is already known, and decisions will need to be made quickly with inadequate and limited information.
Sramana,
Thanks for sharing your writings. On this particular point, and after 20 years in early stage software companies, I believe there is an important role for domain knowledge - at the early stages of growth. However, the importance of that domain knowledge diminishes very quickly especially the higher you go in the org structure. Even from a sales management perspective, my key hiring criteria (beyond the normal sales superlatives) are “intellect, aptitude and attitude”. With those somewhat untrainable elements, everything else, including an appropriate level of domain knowledge, can easily be learned. I have also seen repeatedly the cross-pollenation of ideas and approaches across industries as being the critical element in break-through innovation.
Very true, Jeff. Well put: “Intellect, aptitude and attitude” are untrainable attributes.