Sager: Hiring solely for domain expertise fails as domain advantages erode in 18 months
Eric Sager · Why great leaders make themselves obsolete | Eric Sager (COO, Plaid) · Jul 16, 2026 · at 57:06
Eric Sager, COO of Plaid, explains why hiring leaders purely because they have 'done it before' leads to underperformance compared to hiring high-ceiling builders.
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“But I think if that's the main reason you hire someone. I think that oftentimes doesn't work out because you end up overlooking like all these other things that are far more important in terms of like what that person's ceiling is. You know, I was a consultant myself, so I don't mean this as a diss, but it's, I think it's like, they're more suited to be like a good consultant for a short period of time to kind of help you deliver, like, than somebody who's actually gonna help you build the business. Because again, anybody that you put into that situation for the next 18 months is going to end up sounding just like that person at the end of that 18 month period, except now they have all these other amazing qualities, right? That make them awesome versus this person. It's like, if they don't have the rest, it like that advantage that you perceived when you first made the hire erodes actually over time because it gets replicated by whoever's in the role anyway.”
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