Anupam Mittal, the founder of Shaadi.com and a judge on Shark Tank, recently emphasized the vital role of leadership in a company’s success on LinkedIn. While acknowledging the importance of innovative products, dedicated teams and a thriving market, Mittal underscored how poor leadership can ultimately result in a company’s downfall.
“How do you kill a company? By hiring the wrong leadership! You can have a revolutionary product, a passionate team, and a booming market – all brought to their knees by a few bad decisions at the Leadership level," he wrote.
He further highlighted the challenges faced by founders in hiring senior talent. Despite new recruitment tools and advanced interview methods, he questioned their effectiveness.
“Founders & CXOs today are bombarded with fancy recruitment tools, psychometric evaluations, and interview techniques promising the perfect hire. But, most of them are only marginally effective. Unlikely that a smart senior individual will fail an interview, no?" he added.
In a later section of his post, Anupam Mittal shared his strategy for hiring senior management, highlighting three key principles. His first point stressed the significance of multiple informal meetings with candidates, preferably in a relaxed environment.
“Everyone has their guard up during office hours and official interviews. The key is to be in a more relaxed environment and the best setting is over a meal – saves time too. Also, one such meeting won’t do. You specifically need 3 and here is the brilliant hack -> If every meeting gives you more confidence, you got your hire. If you get more doubtful, move on," he wrote.
Secondly, Anupam Mittal proposed a unique approach to reference checks called “Unnamed Ref Checks." He explained that traditional “named" reference checks are often ineffective. Instead, he utilizes his own networks to find common connections and requests a confidential 15-20-minute reference check. Mittal also outlined his “PEARL" reference check theory, consisting of five elements: P – Promise reciprocity, E – Ensure confidentiality, A – Ask targeted questions, R – Retrieve critical insights and L – Learn rehire potential.
In his last point, Mittal emphasised the importance of hiring “Builders." He outlined the key qualities to look for in a leader: “High learning agility + Strong ownership + Outcome orientation + High degree of candor." Mittal explained “Builders" possess these qualities as they take action to get the task done. He cautioned against hiring “Preachers & politicians" as they can “create toxicity" in an organisation.
He concluded his post with, “Building a winning leadership team takes time, but hire correctly and you will cut down half your workload."
Anupam Mittal’s post amassed a multitude of reactions from online users. A reader stated, “Totally agrees with your points, hiring the wrong leaders can kill any company, it’s better to train your existing leaders and promote them to this position."
What are your thoughts?
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