I ended a recent blog with this statement: "I’ve got my superstar list. Who’s on yours?"
A superstar list includes people that you’d love to have on your team in some capacity. They could become employees, partners, advisors or part-time consultants. I believe you should have a list of 12 that you constantly cultivate. Keep them each up to date on what’s going on in your business with regular communication. Get them excited by sharing the inside scoop on your successes and especially your vision for the future. Think like a college football coach recruiting high school star players. You’ve got to get them excited about what’s going on with your team. I even suggest that you assign a month of the year to each of your 12 superstars. Meet in person with one star each month. That way you are certain to have some quality recruiting time with each one during the course of a year.
Now here’s the bonus tip: every single member of your current team should have their own superstar list. If all of your team members are cultivating relationships with 12 people they feel worthy of adding to the team at some point, you will likely never have to run an ad and interview unknown people whenever you need to make a hire. The best hires are the ones that we know well enough so that we don’t have to make guesses about their fit and contribution potential.
Here’s a quote from page 222 of the book StartupNation: Open For Business, "Share Superstars: Every person in your business should develop their own list of 12 superstars and share them with the rest of your team. The busier you are, the more important this network will become. The less able you are to get out there and meet potential superstars – especially people who might be younger than you or less experienced – the more the ‘sharing’ will play a factor. By hiring people your employees like and respect, you’re also building a stronger team culture."
One of the superstars on my list is Tom DeMay. Tom is an entrepreneur and owns a graphic design business, Octane Design. Who knows if Tom will ever be in a chapter of his life where he would join the StartupNation team? But if that opportunity arises, I would jump on it in a heartbeat. If you want to learn why I think so highly of Tom, join us for tomorrow’s online seminar on The Power of People: Grow and Keep Your Team of Stars. Tom will be our special guest for this event! I told Tom that he is on my superstar list at a wine bar on Friday night. (his wife Jen is the Executive Director of the Detroit Wine Organization) I can cross July’s superstar off of my list. Maybe I’ll go to a baseball game with August’s superstar. Cultivating superstars is Fun!
What is your strategy for bringing superstars to your team? I’d love to hear them. Add your comment below.
