I want to hire my neighbor

Kimberly Green | 2024-07-28

I’ve either found a future Sam’s List employee or my perspective on hiring has just changed. Here’s why: Sam will frequently call me to talk about hiring a team for Sam’s List, and I always brush it off. Why? Well, to be brutally honest, I’d rather keep my attention on making Sam’s List a vetted it can be instead of spending hours filtering through applications and scheduling interviews. I just don’t see it as a need right now. And to be even more brutally honest with you, we always have a new product update or bug we’re trying to push out, so it already feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day for that! So it wasn’t until a couple of nights ago that my perspective on hiring changed a bit. For the better, might I add. A couple of nights ago, I was coming home from dinner here in San Diego, and on my walk from the car to my little back house, I ran into my neighbor who lives in the main house. He was enjoying some late night IPA’s with a friend of his. As I was walking past them, they told me they were having their “Strategery” meeting. I had no clue what they were talking about, but they seemed to be having fun and really wanted me to participate in tonight's Strategery meeting. (It’s 10:30 p.m. by the way) It doesn’t take much to convince me to join in on someone else’s fun. I’m in, I said. They gave me the lowdown on Strategery, and boom! I’m in my first Strategery meeting. I don’t know how accurate this is, but the definition shared with me is when you brainstorm on a topic or situation in hopes of finding some sort of solution. (It’s from an SNL skit if you want to watch it here .) I haven’t fact checked them on it, so I’m going to roll with the definition they shared with me. Tonight’s topic: Should my neighbor withdraw his name from a promotion and lose out on a salary increase of $20,000? My neighbor, a husband and father of two, was ready to willingly walk away from TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. He’s one of two finalists for a promotion at his company, and he really wants the job. But oddly enough, more than wanting the promotion, he wants to make sure the other finalist won't quit if he doesn't get the promotion. He knows that the other finalist will only stay if he gets this promotion; otherwise, he’ll leave, and my neighbor will lose his vetted-performing employee. As the night went on, we spent the next hour deep in Strategery, discussing this dilemma. It immediately reminded me of how I brush...