The Pomegranate Principle

CHAPTER FIVESTOP DOING THIS: Focusing Too Much on Culture Fit in Recruiting

Another philosophy that companies have to abandon is putting too much emphasis on culture fit in hiring decisions. Culture fit is a powerful rallying cry for hiring managers. It is a way of ensuring new hires do things the way that existing professionals do within the organization. A company could be highly data‐driven and make no decisions without first gathering and analyzing a considerable amount of data. Another organization might be consensus‐driven and only make important decisions if a sufficient number of need‐to‐know executives have rendered their opinion on the matter. Another organization might have a command‐and‐control culture where hierarchy is deeply respected, while another might have a veto culture where someone from outside a business unit or function can opine on a new process or product without penalty.

When we recruit for companies, sometimes I find companies nervous about discussing culture fit. I think culture fit is a reasonable, if incomplete, framework for predicting success, but I also think it is a shortsighted and unrealistic notion to overrely on culture fit. The goal of DEI is to bring people from diverse backgrounds who have innovative ideas, new relationships, and different vantage points to solve problems and advance the organization's mission. Adapting to the dress code, the preferred technology platforms, and communication modes of the company is to be expected. What ...