Don't Hire Yourself, Hire the Right Person

When I first started leading design teams, I did what many people do: I hired people who reminded me.... of me. Same way of thinking, similar backgrounds, a similar approach to solving problems. It felt safe, fast, and efficient — we spoke the same language, moved in the same rhythm, and didn’t need to do much explaining to each other.

But over time, I realised that "safe" and "efficient" doesn’t always equal better. In fact, it often meant we missed perspectives, overlooked creative alternatives, or reinforced the same biases we already carried.

My Approach after 20 years of hiring

Over my career, one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned as a product design director is this: hiring people who think differently than you, who see the world through another lens, creates richer teams and better outcomes.

That doesn’t just mean ticking boxes for diversity of background or demographic (though those matter, too). It means intentionally seeking out people who bring:

• Different craft strengths — motion designers, service designers, researchers, and technologists all bring different ways of seeing the same problem.

• Different career journeys — someone who started in customer support or teaching may see user needs very differently than someone with a “classic” design degree.

• Different personalities — introverts, extroverts, planners, improvisers. It’s the mix that makes the team resilient.

Why It Works

Every time I’ve leaned into building teams unlike me, the benefits showed up quickly:

• Depth of perspective: we caught blind spots earlier.

• More creative friction: respectful debate sharpened our ideas instead of dulling them.

• Better resilience: diverse skills meant when one approach hit a wall, someone else could bring a fresh angle.

• Stronger culture: people felt freer to bring their full selves, because the team wasn’t shaped around a single mold.

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The Hard Part

It’s not always easy. Teams with a Diverse set of skills take more effort to align, and sometimes conversations are uncomfortable. But that’s the point: discomfort often means you’re growing. As a leader, the challenge is creating the psychological safety and trust that lets different voices thrive, rather than be drowned out.

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Looking Back

If I could go back and give my younger self advice, it would be this: don’t hire for “fit.” or just because you really got on well with the candidate. Hire for stretch. The people who challenge your way of thinking, who bring a new discipline into the room, who make you explain your assumptions — they’re the ones who will make you, and your team, better.

And the truth is, 25 years in, I’m still learning. The best leaders I’ve seen aren’t the ones who have the smartest answers, but the ones who surround themselves with people who think in ways they never could on their own.