Why You Should Stop Hiring Big Company Industry Experts with Forrest Derr

2025-02-17

The classic blunder I have seen hundreds of times during my career is the “vanity hire”. Pulling out all the stops to get someone from a name-brand company who, in your mind, is the answer to all your prayers. The reality is that that person turns out to be the cause of future nightmares. Not fitting in with the culture, pace, or the expectations of the team. This happens because your little entrepreneurial venture is not truly what that person desires. Guest Bio: Forrest Derr is the COO & Integrator at Sexton Lawn & Landscape. Forrest began his journey in the working world as a small business owner,...

The reality is that that person turns out to be the cause of future nightmares. Not fitting in with the culture, pace, or the expectations of the team. This happens because your little entrepreneurial venture is not truly what that person desires.

Guest Bio:

Forrest Derr is the COO & Integrator at Sexton Lawn & Landscape. Forrest began his journey in the working world as a small business owner, managing a paper route in his neighborhood. He obtained a business management degree from University of Mobile and worked for an office furniture company for 18 years which provided experience in sales, operations, technology, and customer satisfaction. He also honed his skills in inventory management, team scheduling, and technology integration. He ascended to the level of VP of Operations and while there built and sold a tech consulting business.

In 2015, Forrest joined Altaworx, broadening his expertise in data-center management, finance, and marketing as President. Now, as part of Sexton Lawn & Landscape, He is leading their team into the future, leveraging EOS as their guiding business framework.

Challenge today?

Hiring for Skills & Network for people from major organizations does not translate to small businesses

Story:

Tried to talk him out of taking the job at a small company
Could not adapt to a small company environment
In large organizations it is easy to hide in the corner,
Not doing the work. Got real estate license while on their payroll
Kept him for 9 months.

Why is this important to the company?

Did not identify if he was a fit for the culture
Highly paid farmer not a new business dev person
Would not engage with the other employees
Big business culture person
Did not understand the metrics that were required
Thought they could save them from a corporate life
Inside industry hires were expensive

Rick’s Nuggets

The vanity hire will kill you every time
Your company is not the destination

How do we solve the problem?

Fired them
Stopped looking for people from the industry
Stayed away from people already in the industry
Focused on people skills, not industry skills
- Non-industry-specific skills
- People who developed complementary skills
Tell everyone interviewed to Join the company not take a job
- Team members have to be Flexible and willing to move around as need to fill gaps
- We leveraged the leadership team as part of the interview process
- Evaluated core values and culture fit over skills
- Disguise the core value in the question (around the value)
Retention improved as a result. Before they were terminating people quickly.
***Not a fit and why
Profit margins went up? Productivity dropped while wrong hires were working