But for most people, making great appointments is difficult, time-consuming, and even scary. Few have received any formal training in it, and there are very few resources available to make up for that lack of training. This book fills that gap. It provides the conceptual background and the practical, everyday tools needed to make consistently successful hiring decisions. Great People Decisions is a comprehensive resource for managers who want to improve their personal competence at hiring and promoting people, and also for students interested in the field. Yes, hiring is difficult, but it isn\'t a mystery. It\'s a discipline that you can master—to help your organization, and to help yourself.

Author Claudio Fernández-Aráoz has been in the business of finding and growing great people for two decades. Now, in Great People Decisions, he provides simple but sophisticated guidelines covering the entire range of issues inherent in the hiring, promotion, and delegation of significant responsibilities to high achievers.

Great People Decisions meets the needs of leaders at every level in complex organizations. Are you a member of a team that is looking to build its skills in a particular direction? A member of a board that\'s looking for the next CEO? A manager who needs to fill a critical slot in the middle ranks of your division? Great People Decisions is for you. It tells you how to know when a change is needed, what to look for, where to look—inside and outside your own ranks—how to appraise people, and how to persuade them to join and stay with your organization.

Anyone can fill a position. The real trick is getting the right person in the right job. Filled with invaluable insight and practical guidance on getting it right, Great People Decisions is the ultimate reference for any manager concerned with personal development and organizational achievement. '

"Fernández-Aráoz has captured the essence of building great teams with a masterful and entirely practical study of what goes into getting people selection right."

—JACK WELCH

"Fernández-Aráoz does a great service with this wonderful book, teaching us how to accomplish the first task of any exceptional leader: get the right people on the bus, and into the right seats. His enduring passion, deep practical experience, and analytical methods make his approach refreshing and powerful."

—JIM COLLINS, bestselling author of Good to Great

"No matter your business or product, your service or strategy, it's all done with people. Great results only come when great people fill the right roles. In Great People Decisions, Fernández-Aráoz clears away the fog of myth and fad that has long clouded people decisions, bringing passion, sound experience, and wisdom to these all-important questions."

—DANIEL GOLEMAN, bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence

"Great People Decisions is a groundbreaking, myth-busting, and standard-setting work. To prepare yourself for the dramatic workforce changes that are expected in the next decade, the first thing you should do is read this book. The second thing you should do is put Fernández-Aráoz's advice into practice immediately."

—JIM KOUZES, bestselling coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and A Leader's Legacy

"Too many people say 'people are our most important assets' but then don't act on it. In this important and eloquent book, Fernández-Aráoz provides compelling evidence for why making great people decisions is essential for anyone who aspires to become a great leader or build a great company. If you follow the sage advice he offers in this book, you are sure to make great people decisions."

—NITIN NOHRIA, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, Harvard Business School, and coauthor of Paths to Power and In Their Time

Great People Decisions is an expert’ s guide to helping managers and human resources professionals improve their competence and success at finding, assessing, attracting, and integrating great people, whether through external hiring or internal promotion. Anyone can fill a position; the real trick is to find the right person to fill that position, do an excellent job, and go on to achieve the kind of personal and professional success that helps the organization as well as the individual. Great People Decisions argues that filling every position with the perfect person for the job leads to organization-wide success. Executive search consultant Claudio Ferná ndez-Ará oz offers his expert insight into every aspect of the search for great people– from casting a wide net when searching for candidates (inside and outside of the organization) to avoiding emotional traps when interviewing candidates.

Claudio Ferná ndez-Ará oz is a partner and member of the global executive committee of one of the world’ s largest executive search firms, Egon Zehnder International. His articles have appeared in the MIT Sloan Management Review, Global Agenda, and the Harvard Business Review, for whom he wrote the bestselling Hiring Without Firing.

Chapter 1. Great people decisions: a resource for you. .

Chapter 2. Great people decisions: a resource for your organization.

Chapter 3. Why great people decisions are so hard.

Chapter 4. Knowing when a change is needed.

Chapter 5. What to look for.

Chapter 6. Where to look: inside and out.

Chapter 7. How to appraise people.

Chapter 8. How to attract and motivate the best people.

Chapter 9. How to integrate the best people.

Chapter 10. The bigger picture.

Appendix A. The Value of Investing in People Decisions.

Appendix B. Selected Bibliography on Assessment Methods.

Notes.

Acknowledgments.

Index.