What Have You Done?

Isn't this the first question we ask someone in the business world we don't know? "What have you done, and where have you done it?" If their answer is insufficient, you will probably reject them without further consideration.

Why do we do this? Mostly because we assume that past success is a predictor of the future. This applies well to the real estate field, where the number of transactions one does measures their worth. An important factor to this is that the details don't matter; if your father was a successful developer, and you his assistant, you will be credited with being a real estate magician. No questions asked.

Another reason for the tendency to rely on past "success" is that it's a quick filter. Are you a hiring executive, combing through resumes in search of the right fit? If so, I can imagine that in the job description, listed first is the amount of experience that is required for the given field. If an applicant does not meet your stringent criteria, their resume will be banished from the pile and burned, never to be seen again.


Just recently, when the 2013-14 NFL regular season came to an end, a number of head coaches were fired immediately on the day now known as "Black Monday." This is done for a variety of reasons, ranging from the lack of the teams' success to the organization would like to start over. The Cleveland Browns fired their coach after only one season, citing their own mistake for having hired him in the first place.

While Cleveland hasn't hired a replacement yet, other teams began to hire as quickly as possible, mostly because of the amount of work required between now and next season. The Washington Redskins hired Cincinatti Bengals' former offensive coordinator Jay Gruden as soon as the Bengals were eliminated from the playoffs. The Bengals won their division, but despite the home field advantage, they grossly underachieved in the playoffs.

The Houston Texans fired head coach Gary Kubiak after a disastrous season, and then appointed former Penn. St. head coach Bill O'Brien. What is the premise for the belief that Bill O'Brien can succeed in this position? He took over a program at Penn. St. that had more stigma than Alex Rodriguez, but somehow, had two winning seasons while being heavily sanctioned.

So is past success always a predictor of future success? Definitely not. We need to look beyond the surface to determine whether or not someone is right for the job. I am not saying that either of these coaches doesn't deserve their positions, but I wonder how many candidates didn't make it past the initial sniff test?