I was reading a story shared by Steven Bartlett about one of the best hires he’s ever made… a candidate with a two-line CV, no experience, and a set of behaviors that quietly outperformed résumés, credentials, and polish.

She didn’t know the answer to a question in the interview… so she went home, taught herself, and followed up. She thanked the security guard by name. She sent thank-you notes after the interview. Months later, she was one of his strongest performers.

Bartlett described it as learning to hire “the hardest thing to teach.”

Most people stop there and call that character… and yes, character absolutely matters. It always has. Integrity, respect, accountability, follow-through… without those, systems erode no matter how talented someone is.

But when I read the story, something else stood out.

What Bartlett noticed wasn’t just who she was… it was how she naturally moved.

Learning velocity. Ownership. Relational awareness. Pattern recognition. The instinct to close loops without being asked. Those aren’t etiquette details. Those are signals of how someone thinks, where they create value, and how they operate when there’s no script.

And that’s where most hiring conversations
quietly fall apart.

Hiring is a complex art because people are not static, predictable inputs. They are contextual, evolving, shaped by environment, role design, leadership, and expectations. No interview will ever give you a complete picture. No assessment will remove uncertainty.

But that doesn’t mean hiring should be left to gut feel and hope.

It means hiring requires sensemaking.

In my work, I’ve seen organizations hire for skill, screen for culture fit, nod at character… and still place people in roles that slowly drain their best thinking. When that happens, the story leaders tell themselves is usually the wrong one.

• “They’re not motivated.”
• “They’re not proactive.”
• “They’re great, just not right for us.”

More often than not, the issue isn’t the person.
It’s placement.

1. Character tells you how someone behaves.
2. Skill tells you what they can do.
3. But Zone of Genius tells you where they will do their best work without friction.

Zone of Genius isn’t about talent or ambition. It’s about how someone processes information, the kinds of problems they’re drawn to, what energizes them versus exhausts them, and the environments where they self-organize into excellence.

Two people can have strong character and still fail each other completely if their Zone of Genius is misaligned with the role.

That’s why hiring can never be an exact science… but misalignment is not inevitable.

The goal isn’t to predict performance perfectly.
The goal is to reduce avoidable misplacement.

Which brings me to the part most organizations skip entirely: building a hiring framework that reflects how work actually gets done.

Not a generic competency model or borrowed interview questions. And definitely not “culture fit” as a vibe.

A real framework starts with clarity.

Before you hire anyone, you need to be clear on:

1. What kind of thinking does this role actually require?
2. Where does this role add the most value in the system?
3. What problems must this person be comfortable sitting with for long stretches of time?
4. What behaviors are non-negotiable because the system depends on them?

From there, data matters… but only the right data.

• Skills data tells you if someone can execute.
• Character signals tell you if they can be trusted.
• But alignment data tells you if they are positioned to thrive.

That’s where thoughtful assessments come in… not as filters, but as mirrors.

Assessments that surface how someone thinks, what motivates them, how they make decisions, where they feel most alive in their work. Tools that help you see patterns instead of projecting assumptions. Frameworks that make the invisible visible so you’re not guessing under pressure.

And then comes the part that requires the most honesty: designing roles that honor what you say you value.

Because no amount of assessment will save you if the role itself is misaligned, overloaded, or built on fantasy expectations.

Hiring is a complex art not because people are unknowable… but because clarity requires discipline.

When you take the time to clarify before you amplify… when you understand the difference between character, skill, and Zone of Genius… when you design roles that match how people actually think and contribute… hiring stops being a gamble and starts becoming a practice.

Not perfect, but far more humane AND – far more effective.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

Where in your organization are you relying on “hiring is hard” as an explanation… instead of doing the deeper work of clarifying what this role truly requires and what kind of person would naturally thrive within it?

About Giselle

I’m Giselle Hudson — writer, possibility thinker, musician, Organization & People Development Sensemaker™, and MCODE Legacy Coach. I help leaders and soul-driven professionals decode the deeper patterns shaping their business, work, identities, and results especially when it look like a performance issue but it’s really misalignment in disguise.

If something in your life or business feels off and you can’t quite name it, message me. Sometimes one conversation is all it takes to see what’s really going on.