Scorch:(skôrch) “To burn a surface of so as to change its color and texture”.
It’s not a fun story to tell. But, that’s pretty much what happened a few weeks ago on a high level VP search we were working on. The search was on final approach and would be closed in a matter of days right after we finalized the references. Most had been done already – but we had a few loose ends to tie down. All of a sudden – out of nowhere, an unknown reference surfaced, quickly torched the # 1 candidate (in less than 3 minutes). The search blew up right before her eyes (and mine). OUCH! The color and texture of the look on her face had to be absolute shock when I informed her that her candidacy was over (KABOOM!). Gone. See ya!
Yep. Ms. Wonderful gave me multiple supervisor references from her “standard list” whom all sang her praises in Technicolor. No surprise – right? Great energy, results oriented, team player…yada-yada-yada. All of the peers checked out and the customer references sang like a bird on her behalf. The offer would be a matter of days away. What could possibly go wrong? SHOWTIME – right? Well – not so much.
This one was going in an entirely different direction…
The venture capital firm that just closed a 2nd round of funding for this company had a board member that knew another board member from one of the companies on her reference list. I got the call and it was not pretty. The outcome, while not ideal, just proves a major point to me regarding references. In healthcare, there may be 2 or 3 degrees of separation (MAX) and a well connected CEO or board member can always fly solo and reach out to their own network to verify a reference that can change the direction of your search in a heartbeat. And…there is very little you can do about it. Brad Smart pontificates about this reference process in his (very large) book Topgrading.
We filled the search a week or so later with one of the other candidate’s in the slate. He is doing great and all is well on the client front. The healing process has started and the 5th degree SCORCHING burn is finally starting to heal. This business is incredibly challenging, fun and full of surprises. Just when you think you have mastered your process – something happens and you are once again humbled by human behavior and this crazy business.
Go figure!
