Hire Slow, Fire Honestly

The cliché is “hire slow, fire fast.” It’s almost right. The actual lesson, after several painful repetitions, is hire slow, fire honestly.

Speed is the wrong variable. What matters is honesty — with yourself, then with them.

Every wrong hire I’ve ever made announced itself within ninety days. I knew. My ops lead knew. Often the person themselves knew. The question was never whether it was working. The question was whether I was willing to say it out loud.

The cost of the delay is rarely the salary. It’s the team learning that the bar isn’t really the bar. It’s your A players quietly recalibrating their effort. It’s the project that was supposed to ship in Q2 now slipping into Q3 because the wrong person owns it and nobody wants to say so.

The fix isn’t speed. The fix is the conversation. Honest, direct, kind, and on time.

You owe people that conversation — even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.