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Jeff Stevenson's avatar

So much of your advice for picking a great leader applies to all kinds of hiring, even entry level. I look for people who can talk openly about their own strengths and weaknesses, what they bring to the team and where they still want to grow.

I really like your “Bob Questions” because they help dig into whether the other person can reflect on their own decisions and if they have a growth mindset.

I once read that maturity always goes from dependence to independence to interdependence. I think you see a lot of extrinsic motivation with dependent and even independent people. They might want to be taken care of, or they might want to prove to someone else they are good enough on their own. It’s only at the later stages of maturity that someone recognizes the world is bigger than them, and the best rewards come from taking care of something larger than yourself.

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Bob Gilbreath's avatar

You got it, Jeff. Also works for romantic partners, friendships, and any business relationships.

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Love this! I am excited to listen to the show. The golf coach is particularly interesting to me; i don't play golf but often find sports psychologists to be very insightful. *The Inner Game of Tennis* was also quite profound to me, i expect you'd enjoy that if you haven't read it, nice quick book

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Bob Gilbreath's avatar

OK, that's the 3rd or 4th time I've heard that book reco, so on it!

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Top 1% of books that have stuck with me! And I barely play tennis

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Rick Lewis's avatar

Along with Jeff I found this post and its insights to be a swiss-army knife that could do all kinds of work. But most immediately for me as an entreprenuer and the founder of my own business it serves an excellent self check in. The whole thing was exceptionally useful, and especially the superb Bob questions. You say that only 15% of the population has the emotional intelligence qualities that are needed to lead in the way you've described. I would imagine the percentage of VCs who ask these questions of potential leaders are an even smaller minority. Or is that so? Do you know other VCs who operate like this?

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Leonora Polonsky's avatar

So much wisdom here, Bob, and very relevant as I am expanding the LPA leadership team.

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Bob Gilbreath's avatar

Thank you! So great to see you continue learning--and hiring :)

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