Summary
Look for people who are explicit learners. This means people who care an unusual amount about improving their performance and their behaviours. Generally, these people have thought about how they learn and have built systems to optimise it. They ask for feedback from others. As well as feedback, they reflect on their own and try to gather insights from this. They try to extract learnings into broader teachings that are more broadly applicable. It’s useful to test for this in interviews. For example, on a given project ask, what did you learn from that? What would you tell someone else ding the same thing? (Those Who Teach, Can Do).
How to solve hard problems? Talk to people. People can give you time-sensitive advice. They can tailor it to your situation. People know things that aren’t on Google. Knowledge gained from people can be a significant advantage. This is called network intelligence. In networks, who you know is important than what you know or have read. But also, think about people you don’t know directly. As a company, you can become more network oriented by engaging your 2nd and 3rd connections. For example, HubSpot encourage lunch and learns with external people as long as they share their learnings with others. By helping your employees to network, you form an Alliance with them. They help your company, you help their career (Network Intelligence).