There are four Christmas trees in my kitchen.
Four (well, there were).
Not grand Rockefeller Center showstoppers, but slim, artificial ones; fully lit (there’s even one in the bathroom). It’s festive, slightly absurd, and unmistakably British, which is a fitting entry point for how I think about leadership, hiring, and the real drivers of business value.
Because people decisions compound quietly, relentlessly, and expensively.
Recently, I joined the Maximize Business Value podcast to talk about how human capital builds enterprise value. What stayed with me from that conversation wasn’t theframeworks, but the very human moments where leaders either step up or look away.
I recently joined the Maximize Business Value podcast to discuss human capital. What stuck wasn’t theory, but the moments where leaders either step up, or look away.
The Cost of a Bad Hire
Let’s start with a truth most leaders would rather avoid.
A mis-hire doesn’t just cost money in recruiting, onboarding, severance, and lost productivity; it also leaves a mark on morale and reputation that is hard to measure and even harder to repair.
You can replace the person. Reputational damage is very hard to claw back.
A poorly hired salesperson burns prospects.
A misaligned leader fractures trust across teams.
What bothers me most is how rarely we own the mistake. We celebrate loudly on day one. Six months later, it becomes, “They weren’t a good fit.”
My question is simple: When did they become “not good”? Because you told everyone they were going to be great.
Bad hires aren’t random; they are the logical outcome of broken processes we are reluctant to fix (and a healthy dose of gut feel, because we “just know”).
Gladiator Hiring and the Myth of Gut Feel
Most hiring failures don’t come from lack of effort; they come from overconfidence.
“I have a great read on people.”
Whenever I hear that, I ask: Can you write that down into a process?
Too often, we’re doing what I call Gladiator Hiring: thumbs up or thumbs down based on instinct, chemistry, or social comfort.
Would I grab a drink with them?
Can I see them at the company party?
If the real reason we say no is, “I don’t see them fitting in at cocktails,” that’s not culture fit. That’s bias dressed up as intuition.
And intuition doesn’t scale.
High-value organizations replace gut feel with repeatable, disciplined, data-informed hiring systems, not because people are numbers, but because bad systems hurt good people.
There’s another layer here: if our decisions are subjective and unstructured, we risk drifting into discriminatory territory without realizing it (The EEOC doesn’t look kindly onthis). Process doesn’t just improve hiring. It protects everyone involved.
People Don’t Leave Life at the Door
One of the most important truths in leadership is this: people bring everything with them to work.
Health scares.
Family stress.
Past leaders who broke trust.
Unresolved conflict and quiet triggers.
Now multiply that by everyone you work with. Then layer on scorecards, key performance indicators, reviews, and accountability.
It’s like blended family dynamics all day, except with metrics (and you can’t fire your family).
This is why simplistic, one-size-fits-all frameworks fall apart when applied rigidly. People change. Capacity shifts. Seasons of life show up in performance.
As leaders, our job is to balance empathy and expectation, not choose between them. Grace matters. So do standards.
Care Is Not Soft
When I’m asked for one piece of advice for leaders who want to build real business value, my answer is direct:
Care about your people. Or someone else will.
Care isn’t perks or platitudes.
It’s honesty.
It’s clarity.
It’s courageous conversations.
Give more to your people, and you will get more from them. That’s not soft leadership. That’s strategic leadership.
Because talent is not a line item. It is THE strategy.
And in the end, business value does not walk out the door on spreadsheets. It walks out every evening on two feet, deciding whether to come back tomorrow.
Lead like that choice matters, because it’s the only asset your business can’t afford to lose. Lead in a way that makes it easy for your people to choose you, every single day.
If you want to challenge how your team thinks about hiring, accountability, and real business value, I’d be honored to speak at your next event.
At Titus Talent Strategies, my team and I help leaders build people-first, performance-driven talent strategies that actually work in the real world.
If you’re ready to rethink how you hire, develop, and keep great people, I’d love to connect with you.