Hire for values, and not just competencies

Our English professor in college would say it was the hamartia, the Greek word for 'fatal flaws' of the hero, that made Shakespeare's plays so fascinating . Othello was jealous. Macbeth was ambitious.He would then add with a twinkle in his eye that we all have the ability to achieve greatness provided we did not let our hamartia take over in a moment of weakness. This week's brouhaha about Phaneesh Murthy brought up the same question. How can someone with degrees from IIT and IIM not manage himself better? A high-profile leader can become almost synonymous with the organization. Steve Jobs was the public face of Apple.His personality impacted Apple's culture. His obsession for design became an integral part of the brand. The private life of a leader is always under a microscope. The lines between the public persona and private self blur with success.Phaneesh is not the only senior leader to have been charged with inappropriate behavior. Nor is he going to be the only one. Sometime back, the CFO of Reebok was accused of financial fraud. Dominique Strauss-Kahn , the former IMF chief, was known to be a capable economist. But what people will remember him for is that he had to step down from office for sexually assaulting an employee in a hotel. When these indiscretions happen, they leave a permanent stain on the organisation and most certainly on the office.The snide remarks on Twitter, jokes on late night television and cartoons in the daily newspaper become inevitable. If you think failure is hard to handle, wait till you learn how to manage success. That is even harder. From sports icons to film actors and media stars, we have numerous examples of people who frittered away a lifetime of achievements because of a temporary lapse of reason.Roles at the top get more complex and the time available to react becomes shorter. With each successive step up the leadership ladder, there is an increase in the role that personality plays in success. As assignments become more difficult, leaders must react more frequently on instinct, and instinct is driven by personality.With coaching and feedback, people become conscious of their derailers and learn to manage them. Fatal flaws never go away, they can only be managed. While assessing candidates for leadership roles, it is important to evaluate their values , motivators and preferences . High IQ gets people hired. Yet the people who succeed are ones who show better skills in managing their emotions and understanding others' emotions.More CEOs have lost jobs because of lapses in conduct and because of not poor business judgment. Yet, while hiring leaders, very few firms assess the personality of the candidate before making him or her job offers. The personality of the leader also affects the culture of an organization . Leaders are role models for employees.A leader who yells and hurls abuses in meetings will soon discover the rest of organization mimicking that behavior. While people at the junior level have rules, regulations and their managers to keep them in check, the people at the top don't have guardrails to remind them that they are human.There is an ever willing group of admirers and sycophants who make it hard for the leader to remember that the rules that apply to the others also apply to them. They discover that only after they have shown us their fatal flaws.-------------------------Join me on twitter @abhijitbhaduriFirst Published: Economic Times May 28, 2013