Organizations Hire Skills.
They Gain Enthusiasm.
One of the things I've learned over the past two decades is that organizations often believe they're hiring skills alone. I don't think they are.
I believe they're also hiring enthusiasm.
When experienced professionals chooses to join an organization, they've made a conscious decision. They're investing their knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm because they believe they can make a meaningful contribution.
Organizations spend weeks, sometimes months, evaluating prospective candidates. They assess technical skills, experience, certifications, and references because those things are measurable. Enthusiasm is different. It doesn't appear on a résumé, and it's much more difficult to assess through the interview process. Yet it may be one of the greatest assets they bring on their first day.
That energy inspires people to ask better questions, challenge conventional thinking, share ideas, mentor others, and look for ways to improve the organization. It's the spark that transforms knowledge into innovation, collaboration, and positive change.
Leadership has a profound influence on what happens next.
In my experience, it begins with listening. It doesn't end there. It also requires acknowledgement.
During the interview process, we spend time getting to know candidates. We ask about their experience, their perspectives, what excites them, and how they hope to contribute. When we decide to hire them, we're saying something much more important.
"We believe you can make a difference."
That shouldn't be the end of the conversation. It should be the beginning.
Great leaders continue to listen. They acknowledge what people bring to the table and create opportunities for them to contribute in meaningful ways. When people feel heard, acknowledged, and valued, enthusiasm grows. When it isn't recognized or encouraged, it rarely grows on its own. Over time, if it isn't nurtured, it begins to fade—one conversation at a time.
The hiring process isn't one-sided.
People aren't simply looking for a job. They're also evaluating the organization. They're asking whether this is a place where they can grow, make a difference, and do their best work.
That evaluation doesn't end when they accept the offer. In many ways, it's just beginning.
During those first few months, they're asking themselves two important questions.
Did I make the right decision?
Is this an organization where I can bring my whole self and openly share my experience, my ideas, and everything I've learned over the course of my career?
People don't simply bring technical skills with them. They bring years of lessons learned, fresh perspectives, hard-earned judgment, and ideas shaped throughout their careers. Whether they choose to share all of that depends largely on the environment leaders create.
When people believe what they bring is welcomed, they contribute generously. When they don't, they begin to hold back. Not because they've stopped caring, but because they're still deciding whether the organization is ready to receive everything they have to offer.
When organizations lose talented people, they often focus on replacing the technical skills they've lost. From my perspective, that's rarely the greatest loss.
Technical skills can often be replaced.
Enthusiasm, not so easily.
When that energy walks out the door, it takes curiosity, fresh ideas, different perspectives, and a genuine desire to make the organization better. That's a loss that rarely appears on a balance sheet, yet it may be one of the greatest hidden costs of employee turnover.
I've come to believe that one of the greatest responsibilities of leadership isn't simply attracting talented people. It's preserving and building on the enthusiasm they brought with them when they chose to join your organization.
Organizations hire skills.
People bring far more than a résumé can ever reveal.
Great leaders create the conditions where all of it can flourish.
Reflection Questions
- What are you doing to preserve and build on the enthusiasm your people brought with them on their first day?
- When was the last time you asked someone what excites them about their work, or what might be preventing them from contributing at their full potential?
- If one of your most experienced professionals left tomorrow, would you simply be replacing a skill set, or would you be losing enthusiasm, ideas, and the desire to make your organization better?