Hiring for potential and mindset leads to stronger long-term performance and greater innovation than hiring for credentials alone.
.png)
A 2023 Harvard Business Review study found that hiring for potential results in 33% higher long-term employee performance, and 68% of those hires contribute to organizational innovation within their first year. As Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler, said: I hire people brighter than me and then I get out of their way. The most expensive hiring mistake isn't bringing in the wrong credential, it's bringing in the wrong mindset.
Brandon's counterintuitive insight: talent without context is just a claim on paper. Potential, by contrast, is observable in real time. Give a candidate a task, then ask them to revise it based on specific feedback. Their ability to shift, absorb input, and improve in the moment is a far better predictor of long-term performance than any certification or resume line. That's why Brandon's interview process is deliberately challenging, he's not screening for correct answers, he's screening for how candidates respond to the unexpected.
Brandon's framework: align candidate traits with your practice's mission and vision first. Identify must-have credentials versus preferred specialties. Define role-specific competencies tied to your patient population and service model. Create a specific candidate persona, not a generic job description, and use it to write your posting and screen every application. Include practical tool experience like SimplePractice or your EMR as listed competencies. Then make the application process deliberately rigorous, candidates who can't follow clear directions in the application are showing you exactly who they'll be on the job.
The most important distinction in Brandon's hiring philosophy: skills are teachable, mindset is not. You can train a new hire on your EHR, billing procedures, and documentation standards. You cannot train resilience, curiosity, client-centered accountability, or the drive to grow. When you find a candidate whose values and orientation match your practice's culture, functional skills can be developed. When you hire the impressive resume and ignore the mindset, you end up with technically capable employees who quietly erode your culture. Attract the type of worker your practice actually needs, and be completely honest in your job posting about what that looks like, every day.
