Hire for character…

nuggetsoflearning • January 13, 2014

Business thinker Dov Seidman recently wrote an article saying that “You don’t need a people strategy – people are the strategy”.

He explains that HR typically recruit for skills whereas now with the market changing they need to hire for character and match to the character of the organisation.  His point is that everyone can hire a genius they will be everywhere but to match characteristics, principled behaviours you will see a culture, a mindset for the long-term.

However what he does not say in his article is how to find the character of your organisation.

Start with a really simple exercise with your existing team.  Create the table below on a flipchart and ask your existing team to complete.  Good to start with unrelated learning first, so ask them to complete it initially on the culture of the UK and then ask them to complete on the culture of your organisation.

Symbols Heroes
Rituals Values

Example answers for the UK might be:-

Symbols = Union Jack flag

Heroes = Winston Churchill

Values = family

Rituals = Sunday roast

Please contact nuggets to run a character culture workshop for 90 minutes – bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk

By bev February 16, 2026
Coaching and AI—a partnership you didn’t know you needed.
By bev February 11, 2026
How to stop procrastinating?
By bev February 3, 2026
Practical tips:-
By bev January 26, 2026
No. 1 The Opening Ceremony & The Closing Ceremony
By bev January 15, 2026
"Ask not Tell"
By bev January 5, 2026
Reset, refocus & restart
By bev December 4, 2025
Getting the transition right...
By bev November 24, 2025
"Leadership is plumbing and poetry" James March
By bev November 3, 2025
Regret is universal...
By bev October 29, 2025
Do you connect mind and body?
By bev October 20, 2025
How looking back moves us forward...
By bev September 29, 2025
Get into a rhythm...
More Posts