Do I need to analyse personalities before hiring?

Learn personalities of those you want to hire to know people who can best fit in your organisation. Photo/FILE 

By Dr Frank Njenga

I recently quit a high-flying job and I am keen on going into private business. I have sufficient capital to invest but I must admit that I am green when it comes to identify high potential businesses ideas that would yield high returns for my money.

I plan to form an advisory board to help identify business opportunities, but friends have warned me to watch out for the type of personalities I intend to bring on board. Does personality matter in this case?

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You have mixed at least three ideas in your question, and I would suggest that you first go back to the drawing board before you set up a business.

 

On the one hand, you do not seem to know what type of business you want to start. You tell us you left a good job to go into private business. Were you working for a bank, airline, import-export or government? Do you want to set up a spare parts business or are you considering starting off with a small airline?

It is important for you to define clearly where you intend to put your capital. Depending on your intended direction, the routes are many.

You tell us you have capital, and that you are green when it comes to setting up high potential business ideas. I sympathise with you because capital without ideas can be lethal in business. Be careful before you touch your hard-earned capital or did your family give it to you? Define at the outset why, not how you want to go into business.

Do you want to be like your friends who seem to be doing well? Is it your wife or husband pushing you or is it that you are bored with your job? Is this yet another in a long series of adventures by a rich man’s son or daughter?

Are you going into business to become very rich, to help others or is it both? How will you know when you are rich? What is your target? Are you going into business to become rich or happy?

Many people get caught up in the Hedonic treadmill in which richness is but a mirage that one keeps chasing. The more money one makes, the more he feels he has to make to be “at least a little happier”.

For them, life becomes a never ending chase for more money, much like the heroin addict has to get a fix to stay “normal”. They need a few more millions in the bank account to be “normal”, chasing the next million (or billion) becomes like an addiction.

Having defined the goal, you are then able to move to the next stage which is how. At this stage you might decide to consult your mother who might already be doing well running a petrol station. It could also be your aunt who runs a private school. Either will explain to you in a language you might understand why it is important to start small and build on success.

She might tell you her plans for the next five years which would include a taxi business, school bus service as well as a side business for training house staff, including gardeners, watchmen and other domestic staff.

She might alternatively have a word or two to tell you about rapid, unplanned expansion. Relevant to your question, she might have an opinion on the type of personalities you could work with.

Start with those close to you who may have walked the same path you now wish to tread and see what they think. You do not have to take their advice, but seek it. That way you have the chance of either taking or rejecting it.