Your New Hire Isn't "Awesome." You Just Have a Crush.
It’s 2 AM.
You’re wide awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering why you feel less like a CEO and more like the world’s highest-paid babysitter.
The Itty Bitty Shitty Committee is running laps in your brain. It’s whispering:
“No one cares like I do.”
“If I don’t do it, it won’t get done.”
“Why can’t anyone just take ownership?”
You assign a task.
Three days later, it’s a mess.
So—you fix it. Again.
You tell yourself: “I just need to find the right person.”
But you’ve already said that. Five hires ago. And every time, it ends the same way.
You don’t have a people problem.
You have a honeymoon problem.
The Halo Effect: “Measuring Awesome”
I got a call from a client last month. He was buzzing.
“Todd, I hired this guy—Bob. He’s amazing. Total rockstar. I think I found my soulmate.”
I asked, “How long has Bob been with you?”
“Two days.”
I can tell you after owning my recruiting firm Diversified Industrial Staffing and placing over 6,000 employees in 24 years:
He didn’t hire a rockstar. He hired a fantasy.
This is what Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman calls the Halo Effect—a cognitive bias where we take one positive trait (like charm or confidence) and use it to justify every other assumption about someone’s performance.
You’re not measuring “awesome.”
You’re projecting “relief.”
Bob isn’t crushing it.
You’re just exhausted—and falling in love with the idea of Bob.
And because you never defined clear success metrics, Bob defaults to whatever’s easiest.
Month 1? He’s high-fiving everyone.
Month 10? He’s on a PIP.
The “Dr. Evil & Mini-Me” Trap
The Halo Effect doesn’t just show up in romantic hires. It shows up in mirror-image hiring—what I call the Dr. Evil and Mini-Me trap.
I sat in a leadership meeting recently. The founder had hired his right-hand person—a near carbon copy of himself. Same thinking. Same style. Same fast-twitch ideas.
Guess what they spent 90 minutes doing?
Brainstorming 50 ideas.
Starting 6 new projects.
Ignoring all the operational fires behind them.
It was Visionary to Visionary—with no brakes.
What was missing?
An Integrator. A finisher. A drum-beater.
This founder hired a friend, not a counterbalance.
And it cost him real results.
As Gino Wickman reminds us in Traction:
“Every Visionary needs an Integrator. Without one, you’ll create chaos—fast.”
The Three Archetypes Killing Your Culture
If your team isn’t taking ownership, it’s not just their fault.
It might be your pattern showing up on repeat.
Here are the 3 common archetypes I see:
1. The Firefighter (The Rescue Complex)
You say you hate chaos…and…you’re addicted to it.
You swoop in. You fix it. You save the day. The hit of dopamine is intoxicating and
it’s faster that way, right?
Wrong.
Dr. Susan David calls this the “false help loop”—when we rescue people not for their growth, but for our own control.
You’re training your team to wait for you.
Because every time you pick up the broom, they stop learning how to sweep.
2. The “We” Trap
Founders love using inclusive language.
“We need to fix the sales script.”
“We should clean up the process.”
But here’s the problem:
“We” = no one.
As Patrick Lencioni puts it:
“If everyone is accountable, then no one is.”
Ownership is a name on a line—not a good vibe in a meeting.
3. The Integrator Void
If you’re trying to be both the Visionary and the Integrator, it’s only a matter of time before you burn out.
When you try to be “good cop” and “bad cop,” your team doesn’t see balance. They see confusion.
And that confusion breeds Sustainable Misery.
The Fix: Design > Default
You don’t need another team speech about “stepping up.”
You need a system. One that rewards ownership, defines accountability, and shows you—fast—who’s in or out.
Here’s where to start:
Step 1: Ban “We” from Your Vocabulary
Default: “We need to get that report done.”
Design: “Sarah will have the Q3 report uploaded by Friday at 2 PM.”
Specific WHO. Specific WHAT. Time-bound.
Step 2: Let the Ball Drop
The next time a non-critical ball is about to drop?
Don’t catch it.
Let the deadline miss.
Let the small mistake happen.
Let the client get slightly annoyed.
Only then will your team feel the actual weight of ownership.
Pain drives accountability. Not pep talks.
Step 3: Use a “Rubric of Awesome”
Stop deciding someone’s a superstar based on vibes.
Design a Rubric of Awesome:
- What does success look like in 30 days?
- What does it feel like to manage them at 60 days?
- What does 90-day excellence measurably look like?
If you don’t define it, don’t be shocked when they drift.
As Dr. Tasha Eurich writes in Insight:
“70% of people believe they’re self-aware. Only 15% are.”
Don’t test confidence. Test curiosity. Test follow-through. Test alignment.
Is Your Growth Ceiling a Person—or a Pattern?
You can keep scanning LinkedIn for another “Bob.”
Or—you can look in the mirror and ask:
- Am I hiring clarity or charisma?
- Am I building culture—or just filling seats?
- Am I the bottleneck—or the architect?
If you’re not sure where your standards are slipping, don’t guess.
Let the data tell you.
