Self-made billionaire Mark Cuban has created and invested in many profitable companies — and one of his secrets to success is hiring the right people.
“You want the best,” Cuban, investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said on a recent episode of the “Starting Greatness” podcast. “You want the people who can accelerate you and really know what you want to accomplish, that fit the vision.”
This is important, he said, because hiring the wrong person can lead to unnecessary “headaches.”
When deciding who to hire, Cuban recommends asking yourself whether the candidate’s personality, goals and aspirations align with your company’s “core competencies.”
These kind of employees will be “stress-reducers,” he said.
“You don’t want to necessarily pay for somebody that’s going to cause a lot of stress. You still need 9-to-5-ers — you need people where, if you tell them to do A, B and C, they do A, B and C perfectly,” Cuban explained. “Those are stress reducers.”
Some employees want to go above and beyond to accomplish “D, E and F” tasks, he said. “You want some of that, but you don’t want too much of it, because they may not get the A, B and C done.”
There also may be employees who are “visionaries,” Cuban said, who jump to “G, H and I” tasks without being asked.
“Unless you’re trying to put them in a visionary position, they’re a problem. They’re not a culture fit, because you can’t have conflict on what the vision of the company is,” he said. “You’ve got to hire the right people for the right roles.”
To offer an example, he refers to the importance of having “glue guys” on a basketball team. According to Cuban, those are the people “who know their role.” They’re important because they’ll “die for the ball and rebound.” While they may not get all the credit for wins, they’re the ones that “you can’t live without,” he said.
“Those are the people that you’re giving raises to, even though they may not have asked for it, because you know and you recognize very quickly that you can’t live without them.”
The “glue guys,” he continued, “seek out your pain points just solve to them.”
So “hire slow and fire fast. Once you realize that somebody is a stress creator,” he warned, “you have to get rid of them.”
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
Check out: Use this calculator to see exactly how much your third coronavirus stimulus check could be worth
Don’t miss: