Skills or Fit?

Do you hire or promote? It depends.

Do you need skills or fit?

During Domino’s Pizza’s 2009 turnaround, they wanted fit. CEO Patrick Doyle aimed for about three out of four moves to be internal moves.

"If you trust the people you work with,” Doyle said, “you can get twice as much work done."

Fit was important because people grew with the company. Drivers became managers, managers become owners. Domino’s Pizza has a culture. They have a way to think, do, and react. They needed people who understood that.

But skills are important, too. Internal promotions are easy, but that doesn’t make them right.

The disadvantage of internal promotions is the same as the advantage: the skills and culture are what they are. Is that what a business needs?

There’s no single answer but this is one helpful question: Hire or promote?

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