I hired a professor/lecture speaker for a highly critical role. It was not a mistake in the short term because we had the attention span and bandwidth for that person to contribute, but longer term, their inclination to accept every invite to speak at a conference, to write every forward to every friend's book really started to diminish their effectiveness in the enterprise.

What was the worst interview you ever conducted and why?

I did an interview with a person who was highly intoxicated once. Also, I interviewed a candidate at a previous company who, during the interview process, was very clear that he was not interested in that particular job but was interested in upward mobility.

Do you have any pet peeves during an interview?

Do not chew gum. Do not recite your . Your résumé gets you in the door and your personality, experience, style and character gets you the job. I've already looked at your résumé, now I want to look at you. I have already looked at your experience and education, now I want to hear about your tone, style, personality and leadership ability.