Readers Respond about Hiring Superstars and Paying Big Bucks

I wrote a quick article a couple of days ago titled What If You Hired Only the Best People and Paid Them Like Superstars?. The big idea: Get great people and pay them like it. Forget paying at the 50th percentile. I feel strongly about this issue and about hiring for mediocrity. (Okay, people who make the market average aren’t mediocre by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m talking about break-through thinking here, not just doing what everyone else is doing. Wasn’t copying what everyone else is doing proved to be a losing proposition years ago?)

That article didn’t go far enough. It was a poke at an emotional issue. Fortunately, there are smart people who read and comment on KnowHR. And rather than bury the comments on Superstar Pay or make you work to find them, I brought them up front here so that more people can get the benefit of that wisdom. Here’s what they said.

There’s One Company Already Getting the Best and Paying Big Bucks for Great Talent
Albert Yee, Philadelphia photographer extraordinaire and author of Dragonballyee, says they pay for performance at a certain company whose stock price has soared from $85 to $675 in three years:

One word: Google. (And they’re not just hiring top execs for big bucks, it’s the people on the ground actually coding.)

Don’t Hire “Cheap” Employees; Know What Makes a Great One
Rick, author of the thought-provoking 48Facets and a top-notch executive compensation consultant, says paying big bucks won’t work if companies don’t know what defines a superstar.

I generally agree with your basic concept. I have worked with far too many people who were hired because they were ” cheap” and it was reflected in the quality of their work.

Before larger companies go paying at the high end of the market they need to know what qualities make a quality employee for them. Many do not. Pay cannot substitute for good selection, training, environment, etc.

Hiring a Team That Works as a Team is Essential
Leadership guru Wally Bock of Three Star Leadership makes a point about a team full of superstars and the issue of having too many ball hogs on the team. Great point.

There are two issues here. The first is: Can a team of all superstars win? The answer is “probably not.”

The idea is that you want the best team possible. That usually includes a few special-purpose tools and a few support staff who aren’t superstars. For the baseball angle on this, read Moneyball about Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics.

I was a passionate playground basketball player growing up. I wasn’t ever the best play on the schoolyard. But I found that if I was willing to hustle and play defense and pass a lot, I kept getting picked to play by the schoolyard superstars.

When we say we want “the best people,” what we should mean is that we want the people who will fit together in talent and temperament to make the best possible team. That leads us to the second issue: “warm body” hiring.

Don’t do it. Don’t settle. I’ve seen individual managers do it and I’ve seen whole companies do it.

What always happens is that you’re filling in or checking on the “warm body.” It ups your stress level and trashes your productivity.

There’s a lot more to say on the topic of pay-for-performance. And it’s this kind of thinking and perspective that make that discussion so much more substantive. Many thanks to all who read KnowHR and add to the discussion about HR practices.

About the Author

Frank Roche

Frank started IFRACTAL over 7 years ago with Sarah Chambers. Together, they've created HR communications and HR software for some of the world's leading companies. Frank is also studying Flamenco guitar and origami.

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