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Zuckerberg's Hiring Rule: Only Hire Someone You Would Work For

By Mark Zuckerberg · Leadership · 1 min read

When your organization is growing fast — do you hire the person in front of you, or hold out for someone better? Zuckerberg's rule: only hire someone you'd be happy working for in an alternate universe.

Key Points

Only hire someone to your team if you'd be happy working for them in an alternate universe
Apply this at every layer of the organization — you'll have a pretty strong organization
Zuckerberg built his team this way — in an alternate universe where any of them ran the company, he'd be happy

You should only hire someone to be on your team if you would be happy working for them in an alternate universe.

The Alternate Universe Test

Zuckerberg: When an organization is growing quickly, one of the big questions teams face is — do I hire this person who's in front of me because they seem good, or do I hold out for someone even better?

The heuristic I always focused on — you should only hire someone to be on your team if you would be happy working for them in an alternate universe.

Only hire someone if you'd be happy working for them in an alternate universe.

Apply It at Every Layer

Zuckerberg: That's how I've tried to build my team. I'm not in a rush to not be running the company. But in an alternate universe where one of these other folks was running it, I'd be happy to work for them. I'd learn from them. I respect their judgment. They have good values.

You can apply that at every layer. If you do, you'll have a pretty strong organization.

In an alternate universe where any of them ran the company, I'd be happy to work for them.