The Hiring Mistake I Made Over and Over (Until It Cost Me Years)
Everyone loves Ted Lasso.
He’s kind. Optimistic. Empathetic. A leader people want to follow.
And yes, there’s a lot to admire.
But if you actually hired like Ted Lasso?
Your team would fall apart.
I Should Know. I Hired Like Ted.
Early in my career, I was Ted.
I hired on optimism. I believed in people. I gave chances because I wanted to be the good guy.
But the truth?
I wasn’t doing anyone a favour.
Not the person I hired. Not the team I dropped them into. And definitely not the business I was trying to grow.
They floundered. The team lost trust. I lost time, money, and momentum.
It took me years to figure this out.
When Optimism Becomes a Liability
Ted believes in people. That’s admirable. But belief without structure? That’s a blind spot.
Founders fall into this trap all the time:
You meet someone and feel a spark
You connect over shared values
You see yourself in them, or who you used to be
And you start projecting what could be instead of validating what is.
You Can’t Scale on Good Intentions
Optimism feels good in the moment. But it doesn’t build teams that perform under pressure.
This is how you end up:
Ignoring red flags because you “see potential”
Trusting gut feel over behavioral evidence
Mistaking likeability for actual competence
That’s how you get hires that feel good but fall short.
What I Wish I Knew Then
The best leaders I work with today don’t stop believing in people — but they back that belief with structure.
Here’s how:
Define the mission — What’s this role actually here to achieve?
Set outcomes — What does success look like in the next 6 to 12 months?
Use structured interviews — STAR, PARLA, anything that ties to evidence
Train your team — Everyone assessing must know what great looks like
And if you’re working with recruiters or agencies?
Make them pitch the role back to you. If they can’t sell it to you they’ll never sell it to the person you actually want to hire.
Final Thought
Belief is a beautiful thing. But it’s not a hiring strategy.
If you want to stop relying on good vibes and start hiring with confidence:
👉 Book a Hiring Clarity Call with me here.
Let’s turn your optimism into outcomes.
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