1. Maybe “Very Good” Is Good Enough
We are used to looking for something special. Products, companies, restaurants, and services are all supposed to have a USP—something that makes them distinctive and sets them apart from everyone else.
I have often wondered why that always has to be the case. My favorite Italian restaurant around the corner, for example, has no USP. The food is very good, the prices are reasonable, the atmosphere is pleasant, and I enjoy going there. There are hundreds of Italian restaurants like it across Germany that you could describe in exactly the same way. But this one happens to be mine.
I see my own work in much the same way. My ambition is not to do Executive Search completely differently from everyone else. I simply want to do it as well as possible, while perhaps paying more attention to personality and cultural fit than some others do. But that is not a USP either. Maybe “very good” is sometimes good enough.
2. The Candidate We Could Barely Remember
We recently completed an Executive Search for the CEO of a smaller company. After a somewhat difficult start to the process, we suddenly had several very strong candidates in the running.
As a result, my client and I both conducted numerous interviews within a relatively short period of time. When we sat down afterward to decide who should move on to the next round, we paused at one particular candidate.
My client said, “To be honest, I can barely remember the interview.” She had conducted three other interviews that day, and somehow nothing about this particular person had stuck with her. My own conversation with him had taken place a few days earlier, but I felt much the same. I could not remember the interview particularly well, nor could I immediately think of anything that clearly distinguished him from the others. Our first instinct was: perhaps we should eliminate him.
3. But Why?
Fortunately, we stopped for a moment. What exactly spoke against this candidate? The fact that he had not left a particularly memorable impression. But were we looking for someone who would stand out in a one-hour interview? Or were we looking for an empathetic, capable leader who understood the business, could bring people along, and move the company forward?
So I went back to my notes, his résumé, and our assessment of how well he met the individual requirements. And the candidate was an excellent fit. He moved on to the next round and eventually to the final stage. In person, he made an excellent impression, the team responded very positively to him, and the references we obtained were outstanding. In the end, he prevailed in a genuinely strong field of candidates.
He got the job.
4. Standing Out Is Not a Competency
Looking back, what stays with me is how close we came to rejecting him. Not because he lacked an important competency. Not because we had doubts about his leadership experience. But because we could not think of anything particularly distinctive about him.
People who are especially charismatic, tell an unusual story, or express themselves in particularly memorable ways are easier to remember. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. It becomes a problem when we confuse memorability with suitability.
Especially when we meet several people within a short period of time, we quickly start attaching mental labels to them: the particularly strategic candidate, the candidate with the international career, the charismatic one. And then there is someone for whom no such label comes to mind.
That does not mean they are any less good.
5. When People Become Products
Perhaps there is a broader social trend behind this. You could describe it as a form of cultural capitalism: the logic of the market has long since entered areas of our lives that once had little to do with products.
We build a “personal brand,” position ourselves, optimize our profiles, and think about what sets us apart from everyone else. On Instagram, LinkedIn, and elsewhere, people increasingly present a clearly defined version of themselves. From a market perspective, that makes sense. If you are selling something, you need to attract attention and differentiate yourself.
But a person is not a product.
Perhaps we should consciously push back against that logic. An excellent CEO does not have to be particularly good at marketing themselves as a distinctive CEO. And a person does not need a USP to be exceptionally good at what they do. Sometimes quality consists of something far less spectacular: simply doing many things very well.
6. My Impuls
Perhaps we should ask ourselves more often what we are actually looking for: quality or distinctiveness?
Which people do we underestimate because they fail to make a spectacular first impression? And how often do we search for that one defining characteristic when the combination of many good qualities would matter far more?
I am certainly glad that we spent a little more time thinking about this particular candidate. Because perhaps, in a world where everyone is expected to appear as distinctive as possible, we need to remind ourselves of something:
People don’t need a USP
