We've been having the wrong hiring conversation. 

"Does this candidate know our industry?" is often the first filter. But is it the right one? McKinsey research suggests it might be costing you — hiring for skills is five times more predictive of job performance than hiring based on education or industry background alone. Yet here we are, still leading with "did they come from our world?" 

The answer changes dramatically depending on where in the organization you're hiring. 

Line Staff — Capabilities Win 

At the execution level, the ability to learn, adapt, and follow refined processes matters more than industry pedigree. Your best process documentation, your tribal knowledge systems, your onboarding — these exist precisely to close the gap. Hire for curiosity, reliability, and coachability. The industry knowledge comes. A bad attitude doesn't leave. 

Supervisory Roles — You Need Both, But Not Equally 

This is where the tension gets real. Supervisors need enough industry context to earn credibility with their teams and enough operational capability to actually develop people and manage workflows. Industry experience without leadership capability creates the expert who can't teach. Leadership capability without industry context creates the manager who can't earn trust. Weight capabilities slightly higher here — but don't ignore domain fluency entirely. 

Senior Leadership — Stop Hiring Your Mirror Image 

This is where organizations make their most expensive mistake. The World Economic Forum projects that two-fifths of today's workforce skill sets will be transformed or obsolete by 2030. 

Read that again. 

The industry knowledge your senior leader is bringing through the door today has a shorter shelf life than their employment contract. 

Defaulting to "they came from our industry" at the senior level produces leaders who are great at maintaining the status quo and terrible at seeing around corners. The disruption in your industry isn't coming from inside your industry. Senior leaders need strategic thinking, change leadership, and the ability to ask uncomfortable questions — especially the ones that industry insiders have stopped asking because they've accepted the assumptions. 

The Outdated vs. Modern Leadership shift is real: old style hires from known companies in known industries. New style hires people who can learn quickly and adapt to what's coming — including the 40% of the job that doesn't exist yet. 

Your industry knowledge has a shelf life. Capabilities compound. 

Who's the best hire you've made that broke the "industry experience required" rule? 

For me I have always felt like compass, enjoying learning a new industry, the business model and practices and bringing what worked really well elsewhere into the role. I started in banking, then moved into services industries, fiber optic, then fire alarm manufacturing, ERP implementation consulting, broadcast and news media, consumer product distribution and manufacturing, ecommerce marketing and reselling, technology marketing and reselling, and then professional association. I brought the best of each and used it to guide the organization in my new industry. 

What about you?