The All Star Illusion

We are building great things at Sagan - high quality, low cost global talent hiring. We’d love to have you.

Back when I was building our first home improvement company, I was consumed by a sense of urgency.

I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up…. a “crisis a day”.

When a problem hit my desk, it was always… I DON’T HAVE TIME TO SOLVE THAT… and try to do everything possible to keep moving quickly.

So when the problem of “Hiring more sales people” hit my desk - the solution was seemingly simple.

Hire experienced, all-star salespeople who could jump in and make an immediate impact.

I believed that by paying up for sales reps with impressive resumes in the home improvement industry, I could bypass the time-consuming training process.

I didn’t have TIME to build training… I didn’t have TIME to onboarding correctly… I didn’t have TIME to support these people… I needed a solution, and I needed it YESTERDAY.

How wrong I was.

These supposed "all-stars" often arrived with excess baggage—bad habits, negative attitudes, and a stubborn resistance to embracing our system, process, and technology.

Despite their track records and tales of past successes, they consistently failed to live up to expectations.

Instead of pushing the company forward, they became wet blankets, consuming even more of my precious time.

The very thing I had sought to avoid—wasting time—had become my reality.

It was a painful lesson, but one that fundamentally shifted my perspective on hiring.

I realized that the qualities I truly needed in my team members weren't the ones that could be easily quantified on a resume.

With rare exception - specific skills or years of experience weren’t required.

The key traits—energy, intelligence, and coach-ability—were the ones that couldn't be taught.

These soft skills were and are the foundation upon which true all-stars are built.

Why these three?

Energy - I don’t want to have to kick them in the ass. I want them to energetically pushing the ball forward. Can’t teach this.

Intelligence - They can connect dots, and learn new things. “Hey go watch some Youtube videos and figure this out” - is all they need.

Coach - ability - As they encounter challenges and obstacles, I can help shape their thinking, and they welcome it. They just want to get better.

So, I changed my approach.

Instead of chasing after elusive, “ready-made superstars”, I focused on identifying individuals who possessed the right soft skills.

I learned that it was far more effective to mold a coachable, energetic, and intelligent person into a top-performing salesperson than it was to try and teach an old-school rep new tricks.

The latter often resulted in frustration and failure, while the former opened the door to incredible potential.

At Sagan, I have a bird’s eye view of a LOT of hiring.

I see many of our members falling into the same trap I once did.

They believe they're the only business owners who had the idea of HIRING SOMEONE GREAT OUT OF THE BOX, who can singlehandedly transform their business.

But they've yet to grasp the importance of developing talent… from a basis of soft skills.

They don't realize that with the right foundation, building an all-star is not only possible but can happen remarkably quickly… and repeatedly.

——————

I often think back to the journey of my (former) assistant, Germaine… who now is rockstar with Sagan.

If I were to show our members a video of her initial interview or god forbid her resume, they would have likely dismissed her without a second thought.

“Oh I need someone who has 5+ years of working with an American company”

“Oh I need someone who has experience building SOPs in Notion”

BULLSHIT I say, BULLSHIT!

She happens to be INCREDIBLE at those two things now - but she developed that skill set with us!

We saw her soft skills in her first call with us.

Energy, intelligence, and coach-ability.

Now our members request talent like her… without realizing the journey she has been on.

They would have missed out on an exceptional talent, all because they were blinded by the allure of the ready-made all-star.

The moral of this story is simple: hire for soft skills.

The notion of finding a pre-packaged all-star is a seductive one, but it’s a sugar high.

Find smart people with great soft skills.

Develop & support them.

Work with them forever.

A killer team that is built, not bought.

So, my fellow entrepreneurs, don't fall victim to the siren song of the ready-made all-star.

Embrace the power of potential, hire for soft skills, and watch as your team blossoms into something truly extraordinary.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

Passage of the Week:

“Indeed, the capacity to tolerate uncertainty is a prerequisite for the profession.

Though the public may believe that therapists guide patients systematically and sure-handedly through predictable stages of therapy to a foreknown goal, such is rarely the case: instead, as these stories bear witness, therapists frequently wobble, improvise, and grope for direction.

The powerful temptation to achieve certainty through embracing an ideological school and a tight therapeutic system is treacherous: such belief may block the uncertain and spontaneous encounter necessary for effective therapy.

This encounter, the very heart of psychotherapy, is a caring, deeply human meeting between two people, one (generally, but not always, the patient) more troubled than the other.

Therapists have a dual role: they must both observe and participate in the lives of their patients. As observer, one must be sufficiently objective to provide necessary rudimentary guidance to the patient.

As participant, one enters into the life of the patient and is affected and sometimes changed by the encounter.”

― Irvin D. Yalom, Love's Executioner