4 Reasons You Dont Want to Hire a Rockstar - Workology

4 Reasons You Dont Want to Hire a Rockstar - Workology 4 Reasons You Dont Want to Hire a Rockstar Your startup just secured a new wave of funding. Congratulations!  Youve outlined your plans for expansion, your cool new office and now you just need to bring on some new staff. I know what youre thinking. You want a Rockstar. A superstar employee who has talent, charisma and loads of energy. Someone who will take your organization to the next level. 4 Reasons You Dont Want to Hire a Rockstar But you know what? A rockstar is the last person you should hire. Heres why: Divas Dont Play Well With Others You want a superstar to round out your team, right? Wrong! Superstars rockstars dont play nice with others because theyre used to being the most important person in the room. Not only are they used to the attention of stardom, theyve also grown accustomed to being, well, coddled. Swag bags, tour riders and samples that rockstar you think you want to add to your team is used to having a free lunch every day of the week. Ok, fine. You just got that new wave of funding and youre flush with cash. Perks you can handle. Free food is no problem. But for your rockstar only the best will do, and only the best in comparison to everyone else in the room. You cant just give him a free lunch, its got to be a better lunch than every other member of the team. If you dont feed that ego,  your sweet break room is going to see some flipped tables, broken pool cues and appliances inconveniently embedded in the walls. A rockstar doesnt want to be a good team player. He wants to lead it and have his name on the door. That might sound great now, but remember,  to him youre just a backup singer. They Arent Built for a 9 to 5 Rock stars are used to three working modes: touring, recording and desperate unemployment. What they arent used to is showing up five days a week for a 9 to 5 gig. Lets say you convince a rockstar to join your organization and commit to regular hours. Maybe you throw in two days of flex time a week, so long as they get their time sheets in on time. Sounds great, right? Youve got all the energy and creativity of a musical superstar working on your software! But wait. Rockstars are notorious for starting concerts late, getting thrown out of hotels and venues for bad behaviour, and (dammit Frank Ocean) turning in their albums months, years and even decades late. So they get you a great piece of software in the end can you afford to wait five years for it? Theyll  Be High All the Time Ok, Im going to be totally honest with you for a second. Drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. Theyre a core part of the rockstar lifestyle and one thats not easy to give up. Even if your rockstar has managed to avoid becoming an addict, hes still used to being able to kick back after a long day and sometimes even in the middle of the day with some weed or cocaine. Hes  also used to having to beat drug tests when necessary, either by paying off a key official or through even less savoury means.  Youve got a drug policy? Your rockstar does not care. As far as hes concerned, getting high and going to work is normal; its what fuels his studio binges, his energy for endless tours and what chills him out when he finally decides to sleep. And hes more than happy to share with his new friends: your team. I get it, you want someone who will push the boundaries of what you think is possible for your product. Someone brimming with creativity and drive. You think you want a rockstar. But when your employees max out their sick leave thanks to hangovers, your nice new office gets trashed and your product becomes a jumbled mess of missed deadlines, code to nowhere and mystically-inspired user design well, youll get it then. Theyre Old Fashioned Face it: the music business has moved on. Its not a rock world anymore so why are you trying to hire the star model of yesteryear? The very fact that youre looking for a rockstar means that you too are behind the times. Maybe what youre looking for is a K Pop girl group in your HR department, or a socially conscious Broadway musical cast on your sales floor. But a rockstar? Thats the last thing you or your organization needs.