[alexhawket]

Yup their stregths are also their weaknesses. Big opportunity for a contrarian to go in and do the exact opposite of one or more of their hiring strategies.

Avoid the elite schools completely and radically cut the cost of acquiring talent (with presumably less competition for said talent). Pick out promising talent that may have been overlooked by lack of pedigree. Pick out outliers with unconvential ideas. Increase the diversity of personalities and backgrounds to increase the odds of radically new ideas. Ignore grades and come up with your own methods for testing candidates.

Many possibilities.

[pnathan]

That was the lesson I was drawing from the essay; it seems as if they hire in a monoculture. That implies to me that hiring more freaky people with as much weird as can fit into a job is likely to produce some pretty wild stuff.