Justin GordonFounder, The LA Grind & The SF Grind

Why Philz Coffee Hires for Who You Are

2 May 2025 · 1 min

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1:22

In this monologue, the speaker explains Philz Coffee’s hiring philosophy, emphasizing that character is far more important than competence because character is difficult to change while competence can be taught. The speaker outlines how the company identified two core character traits that predict success: kindness—demonstrated by proactive, considerate actions toward people and the environment—and drive—a strong desire to improve one’s life. By prioritizing these traits, Philz aims to build a team whose intrinsic qualities align with the company’s culture and long‑term goals.

Chapters

Character is who someone is, and that's hard to change. You can't really change someone's character. They're just, you know, they're a collection of the genes, the experiences, the upbringing they had, and maybe there's incremental change over time, but you can't really change someone's character. Competence is more malleable. It's a skill set, right? I can train you how to make a cup of coffee. You can train me how to code. So Then what that meant was that competence was also a little bit less of a, you know, we weighted it less than character. So then we put all of our energy into character. So then we had to define what does that really mean? What are the 2 or 3 characteristics that overwhelmingly correlate to someone who's going to do a great job at the job? And it turns out that the things that we found were people who were kind and driven. Kind means that I see something on the floor and I pick it up without someone asking me. Like there's a wrapper on the floor, I'm just being a good, kind person. Kind not always just to people, but kind to environment, all those things. And then driven is I want something better out of life. I really, I mean— Yeah. I want something better.