Comment by giovannibonetti

This article is very insightful and applicable in many areas. For example, this paragraph explains why hiring is broken:

> Whether we realize it or not, we’re always making calls like this. Whenever we demand certificates, credentials, inspections, professionalism, standards, and regulations, we are saying: “this is a weak-link problem; we must prevent the bad!”

Small companies have an advantage when it comes to hiring since they often don't have a very formal process and can go about it strong-link style. Specially if the company is a startup pursuing product-market fit, going after people with outstanding skills can be very rewarding.

On the other hand, once the company grows there will be an HR department with a structured process. It operates in the weak-link style, which is aligned with the incentive structure, given that the HR personel will be remembered for bad hires, but probably won't get extra points for finding rough diamonds.