How many times have you read about a big hitter approaching the twilight of his or her career joining a smaller firm? The trade press print stories reporting the big hitter's appointment and they are quoted in the articles talking excitedly about their plans for the future.



But what happens next is often not reported.

Naturally, we are all familiar with the theory of the experienced executive with the big company background and fabulous contacts joining a smaller firm to help it develop. In a lot of cases it's a perfectly sound and sensible idea.

The big hitter duly joins the smaller company and quickly gets on with the job. Their ways of doing things are invariably a touch smoother and more sophisticated than those of their new colleagues. Their ambitions, even though they are reaching the end of their career, somehow still manage to be in line with the most ambitious at their new workplace, even the young men and women in the first flush of youth trying to make their way in the world.

Their style may be smooth, but over the years the hitter has developed many techniques for getting things done. Within a short time of arrival, they have almost invisibly been able to set the wheels in motion at their new firm. And years of skilled diplomacy means that they can introduce new and better ways of working without ruffling colleagues' feathers. It's obvious that the appointment is a great success and everyone has benefited.

But sadly, more often than not, the appointment fails to live up to expectations in the longer term. In a personal career spanning comfortably over 30 years, time and again I've witnessed the failure of the big hitter to make a positive contribution when he joins a smaller organisation.

Note the careful use of the word 'positive'. Far too frequently, the former star from the well-known firm arrives with a bang and exits with a whimper, having failed miserably to bring in the new clients and boost profits in the way they were expected to.

Not only this, soon after joining they have also royally upset the apple cart, bringing immense damage to the delicate balance of the organisation.


Why is it that in too many instances the big hitter's arrival does more harm than good? The answers may vary from firm to firm depending on their particular circumstances, but there are usually a number of common causes.

The first, and classic mistake, is that new employers have put far too much confidence in the brand name from where the superstar comes. This person may have enjoyed a successful career working for the largest firm in its sector, but this is no guarantee of individual excellence.

The smaller firm doing the hiring has failed to find out about the hitter's personal contribution before offering the contract. Did they do enough digging to find out if they were really instrumental in the firm's success or if instead they were just a figurehead with a talent for self-publicity? Or was it that they were under-pinned by talented colleagues, any one of whom might have made better hiring choices for the smaller firm?

Further, did the new employer work hard enough to establish if the hitter is still hungry for success? It may well be that in their later years they were just coasting along. And because they had become metaphorically part of the furniture, their bosses never really felt able to tackle their lack of effort and employment laws made it difficult and expensive to remove them.

Worse still, they may have played a devious political game in their rise to the top, deliberately riding on others' coat-tails while climbing the career ladder. But in making it, perhaps they never had a good idea of their own, or never went that extra mile on behalf of their firm.

Let's be clear, distinguishing between the real achiever and the myth is no easy feat. These people interview extremely well and very few people feel able to provide warts 'n' all job references, even when asked to provide discrete feedback. In today's HR world, you should expect to get only the blandest of responses.

Bearing this in mind, the prospective employer should interpret answers carefully. If soundings produce very anodyne comments from the hitter's current colleagues, this can ring alarm bells. Normally people love to give effusive and positive remarks; therefore any reticence or obvious 'holding back' should be treated with some concern. If there is even a slight doubt, err on the side of caution. The real possibility exists that these diplomatic comments and very factual answers belie the story they would really like to tell.

A better source of information is the market sector as a whole. Invest time in speaking to as many people as possible. Try and talk to others in the broader market, not just the person's immediate colleagues. It's very revealing to find out if your prospective new employee is still on the circuit and has kept their contacts constantly topped up. The advantage of this approach is that these people may feel freer to speak, and what they have to say may be closer to the big hitter's real work performance.

But remember, recruiting the right person is more about how they are going to fit into your current organisation than how they fitted into the firm they are seeking to leave.

Inevitably, large firms require employees to fill more specialist roles, while smaller ones call on all staff to be much more rounded. If your prospective hire hasn't had to dictate anything longer than a letter for years, is this what your firm really needs at this point in its development? For example, do your existing senior managers do their own paperwork and administration? Also, do they do their own marketing? Will your big hitter be prepared to be similarly self-supporting?

If they demand that you also hire their current secretary or PA to look after them, ask yourself what effect this will have on your happy managers who are currently content to look after themselves. Because if you have to agree to other special favours to secure the big hitter's services, be ready to put up with a certain amount of jealously and envy from existing colleagues. In my experience, if the privileges are too generous and the new arrival is given too cushy a number, the bitterness this stokes up will be more trouble than its worth.

That said, you may well want to shake things up a bit. Don't go over the top, and be sure to avoid the mistake of disrupting routines for the sake of just one individual new member of staff, no matter how senior. And of course don't forget to calculate what their support staff's salary will do to your bottom line.

If your big hitter has never worked for a smaller company be cautious about his flexibility. Adapting to new circumstances is easier to accommodate when younger, and the hitter may have reached an age when some of their work habits are too ingrained to be easily changed, no matter how much training you are prepared to give.

It may well turn out that you have asked around broadly, and you discover that your target checks out well in their references, and learnt that they are also a pragmatist who is willing to accept an interesting new job that swaps perks and status for the thrill of a genuine challenge. Home and dry? Not by a long way.

For all their best intentions, big hitters can be surprisingly naïve. Coming from such a protected corporate environment, they fail to appreciate just how difficult it will be to adapt to an organisation where they humbly have to make their own travel arrangements or to contact a computer helpline themselves to troubleshoot a problem with their laptop.

They may have no real experience of the SME world, of having to beg, steal or borrow to get the results they need because at their previous large firm they had the resources at their disposal to do this detailed "devilling". Before long, they become a little dispirited when they realise that many of their favoured business contacts have secretly crossed their name off their lists because the move to a smaller firm means they can no longer dispense those big company favours or take them out to fine restaurants or upmarket events.

In a matter of months, the honeymoon period is well and truly over. New colleagues have come to realise that the big hitter is no better at the job than themselves, yet through the grapevine they hear they're on a much higher salary. Without thinking, they cease to extend their goodwill. Our big hitter is left abandoned trying to send a fax or work the copier, and their effectiveness is in steep decline.

Naturally this isn't a nice scenario, but how often have you seen it played out in your business or at a competitor? Probably more than you'd like to think.

This means hiring a big hitter comes with plenty of risks. It is good on paper but often disappointing in reality. As an alternative, it may be better to look for new staff who have succeeded in smaller organisations. If these people have secured proven results by working for companies that most haven't heard of, they are probably the most talented and hard working staff. And your firm doesn't have to lose face by dispensing with the fallen star who failed to light up the commercial sky for you.