I answered a LinkedIn question the other day on the topic of what’s more important: that they have knowledge or talent.
The answer to this drives to the heart of your group’s culture. Some groups are driven by the sheer intelligence of their members, such as startups founded by several PhDs that simply can move quickly through topic to topic. Others are driven by experience often selling their pasts and successes as the foundation of who they are and who the company is. Both paths offer possible success.
However most companies fall somewhere in between. It’s not all about knowledge or talent – in fact it may be all about fit. To throw out a sports cliche, the clubhouse is a very temperamental place. If you bring in someone that doesn’t belong or fit you may suddenly find yourself in a swarm of misfits that have lost motivation or desire. That single new addition may send a message that you weren’t intending to send.
Messages are big. They are the translation of your actions into something that people get. If you build things your quality, uniqueness, design or simplicity is the message taken away. You don’t have control over which message is taken either.
So be careful with your choices. Culture is fragile and can be hard (if not impossible) to recover once damaged.