What Matters More Than Competency

0:00Alright, so we're going to talk about what actually is more important than competency. And Neil is probably going to call BS here. But Neil, do you want to know what's more important than competency? I don't know what's more important than competency. In what context are we talking about? Like hiring someone. Dude, if they're not competent, what would you even hire them? Well, no, you still need competency, but what's more important? I don't know what's more important than competency. All right. If they're not competent, they're not going to be able to do their job. Let me share a story. Let me share a story.

0:26So remember a couple of weeks ago, I went to that MIT thing to finish off the third year, right? So Neil always - Congrats on your MIT degree, by the way. It's not an MIT degree. It's like a certificate of some master's program. But thank you. Same thing. I won't ever be one of those. Better than me. I went to MIT when I really did it. Yeah, that's funny. Dude, so many people get those certificates from MIT and Harvard. And then they put it on their LinkedIn that they're a graduate. I'm like, you're not a graduate. You just paid for a certificate and anyone can pay for it. It's okay if you put it there.

0:54If it's very specific on the program that you went through. Yes. Don't try to fool people. That's not the point. The point here is, so basically it's an entrepreneurial master's program. And we had the gal that was the chief people officer at Southwest. And she was employee number six at JetBlue. So she knows the thing, one, about culture and two, about planes. I like planes. So she's like, well, not the type that you like. But anyway, Neil likes Gulfstreams, by the way. But point is, she was like, look, competency is important. Like you need to have competency, right? But if you don't have a culture fit and are competent, it's a C player automatically, right?

1:30So she's saying cultural fit is more important than competency. Correct. But you need both, right? And so let me give you an example of this in real life. So earlier this week, let's flip this on. I do a lot of recruiting. I interview for cultural fit. If someone doesn't look competent based on their resume, I don't even interview them. I'll cross them off right then and there. I mean, knowing you for a long time, you're a much better gauge of someone's competency than their cultural fit. Yeah, that is true too. Yeah. So here's what I'll say. Usually I'll sit at the end of a recruiting process, right?

2:01Just to say yes or no to someone. And so these people, oh my God, this person's like, yes, yes. Like we call it an F yes, right? Without cussing on this podcast, call it F yes. And F yes is a very intense phrase, right? That means you hire them or something like that? F yes is like, oh my God, this person's smarter than me. I admire this person. I would work for this person, all these things, right? So this person gets to me. So that's a solid yes, as in like you love the Canada. Correct. All right. And so our core values are be improvement obsessed, be open-minded, be honest, and be reliable.

2:29And so the key thing is when I was talking to this person, did I think they were competent enough to do the job? Yes. But when I got down to it, I was like, hey, Neil, tell me how this is for an SEO role, right? Hey, Neil, tell me how you're improving obsessed with SEO. I was like, well, I like following these people on Twitter or whatever. I was like, okay, who do you follow? It's like, well, there's a CEO, but I don't remember his name. I was like, oh, okay. I like Neil Patel stuff. I was like, oh, have you heard of his podcast before? He's like, oh, no. Yeah, I didn't know he had a podcast, right?

2:53I always do like a trick question there because everyone thinks marketing school is Neil's podcast, but no, you know, most people tell me it's your podcast. What? Okay. Anyway, it's our podcast, guys. But point being, so then I asked this question, which by the way, does not bother me. I don't care what people think. As long as they like the content, I'm happy. That's what matters. Get this. Neil, I asked this question, SEO, right? I was like, Hey, what do you think about black hat SEO? So yeah, I'm just really against it. I'm like, so you've never tested it on your own stuff and tried to understand like what torches your website and what does.

3:22Yeah. I'm just really against it, blah, blah, blah. So very not open-minded and very, the improvement obsession wasn't there, but you can spot these things. But it depends also what they're interviewing for. If they're interviewing for a large corporation like Apple, I think that's the right answer. I'm very against Black Hat SEO. I won't test anything that goes against the guidelines. But what I would have liked to hear is I will never do it on major stuff or for my client or whatever. I would have liked to hear, Hey, I've tested this on my own stuff in the past. And, Or I at least read something about it, not just straight up like, I'm not open-minded, I'm closed off.

3:55Yep. Right. So anyway, that's my point. It's, I think competency, you have to have that. That's table stakes to me, but the cultural fit has to stick. What are your core values? Think big, own it. There's quite a few others, but those are the two big ones that I'm all about. And that's how you live, literally, right? And so that's what it is. I thought you meant core values of the company. Those are the two main ones that I make sure I follow with everything. But you define the company kind of, the core values. Yeah. So anyway. And over the time, people added tons more values, but think big and own it.

4:23Because it's like, I'm a big believer that if you work with people who can't imagine something much larger, five, 10 years down the road, then you're never going to achieve it. And the big thing for me is when I work with others, if you're going to do something, own it and get it done. And if you don't get it done, you better own it and figure out why and explain why and figure out a solution for it. No one really wants to deal with people who just keep making excuses. That's actually the first time I heard Neil's values. So maybe this is why we've gotten along for so long because our values are very similar.

4:52Because if I correct you, you won't care. If you correct me, I don't care as long as there's data behind it. Even if there's not data, in most cases, you or I don't care. But you and I are really open to feedback. Yeah, I love feedback. So anyway, if you want to come work for MP Digital or Single Grain, we want people that are improving, obsessed, or think big, open-minded people, and people that are reliable. So that is it for today. Please don't forget to rate, review, subscribe. Five stars, please. And we'll see you tomorrow.