Sam Altman: “Hire for values first, aptitude second, and skills third.”

You want to hire for values first, aptitude second, and skills third. And I think the problem with most executive recruiters is that they reverse that order. If you say I need to hire a CFO, they will go bring you people with, you know, 20 years of experience as a CFO at vaguely similar companies. But unfortunately it's usually like 20 years of the exact same year of experience over and over again. Things are really going to change if you're trying to scale fast. You really need someone who is align with the values of the company so that when things change or when they have to make a decision, they'll make the one you would make if you can't be in there or they will be a good team player and go do that thing. You need someone who has high aptitude because the role is going to constantly shift and the rate of learning, the rate of improvement dominates skills and then, you know, skill specific skills, experience obviously matter, but for me it's third on the list. And the very best companies take this exceptionally far in how much they're willing to hire a non traditionally qualified executive.