Lessons Learned from Hiring Friends & Family with Wing Lam of Wahoo’s Fish Tacos

CEO campfire horror stories often start with “In the beginning, I hired a few friends of mine”... then the story digresses from there. Sometimes the situation works out but most of the time it is a disaster resulting in a severed relationship. 

Today we are discussing lessons learned in hiring from your inner circle and how hiring for growth lands great talent. 

Our guest today: Wing Lam, Owner of Wahoo’s Fish Tacos

Wing Lam is the eldest of the three founding brothers and the enigmatic character widely recognized as the face of the iconic Wahoo’s Fish Taco brand. A 30-plus-year restaurant industry veteran, he is often in the public eye participating as a panelist and speaker at global events such as the IEG Conference and guest lecturing for MBA programs at Yale, UCLA and USC. 

Wing is Prolific & “rich in the currency of social good”!

Today we discuss:

• The pitfalls & benefits of hiring friends & family
• Two key components to hire successfully

Challenge in hiring friends & family?

• Setting precedence
• People did not take it seriously
• Stealing
• Can't allow people to take advantage of your generosity
• Corporate hires-
  • Hired from headhunters for store managers (⅖ stayed over a year)
  • Moved to growing from within

Why is this important to the company?

• Mistakes cost the company money, time & morale

Rick’s Nuggets

• Expectation Alignment
  • Where we fail is in agreeing on expectations up front 

How do we build into your company?

• Understand culture first
  • Fit is more important than skills
• Up Hire
  • Too much experience is good
  • Opportunity to allow the person to do what they want to do
  • Others intimidated by credentials
  • Didn't feel like the person would take the job
• Personality, integrity, passion
  • Translates to a good hire

Rick’s Nuggets

• Positioning determines the cultural fit
• Cultivating growth is what captures & retains talent
• People want to learn, grow and tackle new challenges

Key Takeaways:

• Referrals & dig deeper
• Really understand your culture & what fits

Links:

LinkedIn: Wing Lam

Website: Wahoo’s Fish Tacos

Organization: California Love Drop

 

This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Corp 

TAGS : #californialovedrop #wingdash #wahooswing #giving