QuoteProject
You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.
Herb Kelleher
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Attitude is more important than skills when hiring new employees.

Herb Kelleher emphasizes the importance of attitude over skills in the hiring process. While skills can be taught and developed over time, a positive attitude and the right mindset are essential for fostering a productive and cohesive team culture.

Themes

HiringAttitudeLeadershipSkillsTeamworkMindset

In practice

Example use cases

In a job interview, refer to this quote to highlight the importance of a candidate's mindset.

More from Herb Kelleher

To be an excellent leader, you have to be a superb follower.
Herb KelleherRead
You [the employees] are involved in a crusade.
Herb KelleherRead
If you're crazy enough to do what you love for a living, then you're bound to create a life that matters.
Herb KelleherRead
We will hire someone with less experience, less education, and less expertise, than someone who has more of those things and has a rotten attitude. Because we can train people. We can teach people how to lead. We can teach people how to provide customer service. But we can't change their DNA.
Herb KelleherRead
The business of business is people.
Herb KelleherRead
If the employees come first, then they're happy. A motivated employee treats the customer well. The customer is happy so they keep coming back, which pleases the shareholders. It's not one of the enduring green mysteries of all time, it is just the way it works.
Herb KelleherRead

Similar quotes

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
John F. KennedyRead
A country of a thousand war-chariots cannot be administered unless the ruler attends strictly to business, punctually observes his promises, is economical in expenditure, loves the people, and uses the labor of the peasantry only at the proper times of year.
ConfuciusRead
To get important work done, most leaders organize people into teams. They believe that when people collaborate toward a common goal, great things can happen. Yet in reality, the whole is often much less than the sum of the parts.
Adam GrantRead
If a President of the United States ever lied to the American people, he should resign.
William J. ClintonRead
The fact is, employees cannot make breakthroughs if they can't openly and honestly disagree with their peers and their leader. Indeed, great leaders don't just permit conflict; they actively try to elicit it from reluctant employees as well.
Patrick LencioniRead
The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
Warren G. BennisRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.