Hiring for Character Sounds Great—Until It Backfires
🚀 New Episode Drops Tuesday, May 6 🚀
Companies love the idea of hiring for character. It sounds like a great way to build a strong, values-driven team. Assess someone’s integrity, culture fit, and leadership potential, and you’ll end up with an all-star lineup of employees who work well together. Right?
Not so fast.
In our latest episode of Leadership Explored, we break down why hiring for character isn’t as simple as it seems—and why it often backfires in ways leaders don’t expect.
The Hiring Myths That Need to Die
❌ Personality tests predict success. (They don’t.)
❌ Culture fit creates better teams. (It actually increases bias.)
❌ High performers = great hires. (Not if they erode trust.)
The truth? Many hiring processes prioritize the wrong things—choosing likability over trust, sameness over diversity, and rigid assessments over real-world behaviors.
What We Cover in This Episode
🎙️ Why hiring for character is harder than it sounds
🎙️ The “high performer, low trust” problem that destroys teams
🎙️ Why traditional hiring methods fail—and what actually works
🎙️ How to balance character, competence, and long-term adaptability
Sneak Peek:
👉 "A toxic high performer might boost short-term results, but they’ll erode trust, morale, and team cohesion in the long run. No level of skill is worth that cost." — Ed Schaefer
So, Can We Actually Assess Character?
Some leaders swear by values-based hiring, while others think it’s just corporate astrology. The reality? There are ways to make better hiring decisions—but most companies aren’t using them.
We’re breaking it all down in Leadership Explored—dropping Tuesday, May 6 on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe now so you don’t miss it!
💬 What do you think—can we truly assess character in hiring, or is it all just wishful thinking? Drop a comment and let’s discuss!