The Fresh Blood Fallacy

Organizations that don’t cultivate a positive, inclusive, and accountable culture will often fall prey to the fresh blood fallacy when it comes time to do something hard. 

“We need to hire someone new,” they say. 

It’s a subtle admission that they don’t think their current team can take on the challenge. 

“Maybe we can hire from this competitor,” they say. 

What they really mean is that their competitor has a culture of taking on, and succeeding at, difficult things. 

It’s really easy to hire. There’s a defined process, it’s clear how to get approval. 

But any new hire will need to exist in your company’s culture. No one person can overcome a culture that is exclusionary, unaccountable, or hostile to change.