d false proxys
They are toxic, wasteful, and a trap.
My new book covers this topic in great detail.
Here’s the latest podcast about it.
We need proxy. You can’t read a book before buying it, or taste ketchup in the store before leaving. Labels and cultural cues give us an idea of what to expect. We judge books (and condiments) by their covers all the time.
Hiring and managing people are far more important, and much riskier than buying ketchup. We look for proxy indicators that can give us an idea of how someone is likely to contribute to the project.
False proxy indicators include: height, race, gender and attractiveness in meetings.
We may think that we are not influenced by these signals. But a look at the heights of our elected officials shows that we are.
Billy Beane, who was building the Oakland A’s to be a contender for a championship, discovered that other teams were using these types of proxy scouts to determine which players would be worth selecting. He was able to build a talented team on a tight budget by finding a good proxy.
It doesn’t matter if someone is friendly, has a good interview, or even looks like you. They may not be able to do the job.
We should use the fact that we are able to measure so many different things. Attitude and skills are good proxy measures, while easy-to measure stuff is just an expensive distraction.
