I HAVE always said the smartest thing I have done as a manager is hire people smarter than I am. And I am constantly advising managers to hire the best. As some people have pointed out, that is good advice if you can afford it. But what do you do when you are a start-up company, or when you are not the market leader, or when your competitors have a pay scale that dramatically out-scales yours? What do you do when you can't afford the best? Writing a big cheque is not the only way to hire good people. It should be your last resort. If money is your only selling point, you are only assembling a cast of talented mercenaries. They may be professionals who do an excellent job, but what is stopping them from jumping ship when a better offer comes along? If you ask talented people why they left a seemingly good job for another, they will often say: ''The old job wasn't fun anymore.'' If there is one compelling reason why good people leave or stay at a job, it boils down to this: Talented people want to get paid for doing a job they would be willing to do for free.
We all have our definition of ''fun on the job''.
To an engineer it might be the chance to work with cutting-edge technology.
To a computer wizard it might be working with people as smart as he thinks he is.
To a veteran manager it might be the challenge of a hopeless turnaround situation.
To a middle manager with a young family it might mean relocating to a more attractive lifestyle.
