The Perfect-Hire Trap

A challenging decision for small businesses to make is the hiring of an internal financial leader. This could arise out of necessity if a key internal person leaves your company, or it could be an intentional action if you have outgrown what you have in place at the moment.

In all the businesses we have worked with over the years, one theme is that small businesses tend to under-invest in some areas, particularly the financial function. And given the limited resources compared to much larger companies, small businesses have to have multi-tooled players—they don’t have the luxury of deep specialization.

The temptation can be to try to thread the needle, to find the unicorn hire. This approach can be fraught with a variety of issues. I have heard many CEOs say something to the effect of wanting someone who can nail down week-to-week and month-to-month accounting, plus forecast and be strategic. These CEOs want all this but don’t want to pay very much. This mindset can lead to disappointment and set the new hire up for failure. So what should you do?