EP04 - Why Hiring People Better Than You Builds What Lasts
One of the most common questions I get from founders and leaders is simple on the surface, but deep once you sit with it.
How do I hire people who are better than me? It usually comes with a second layer.
What if I lose control?
What if I become less relevant?
What if I am no longer the expert?
I understand those fears. I have felt them myself. But over the years, across hospitality, corporate environments, and venture building, I have learned something very clear.
If you do not hire people better than you, you are not building a company. You are building a bottleneck.
Leadership Is Not About Being the Best at Everything
In the early stages of a company, it is normal to do everything yourself. You sell, you hire, you invoice, you manage, you clean up the mess at the end of the day. That phase teaches you responsibility. It teaches you reality.
But staying in that mode for too long is dangerous.
The moment your identity as a leader becomes tied to being the smartest, fastest, or most capable person in the room, the company stops growing. Not because of lack of ambition, but because of lack of space.
Real leadership starts when you shift from doing the work to designing the system that allows the work to happen.
That requires humility. And honesty.
Start With Your Weaknesses, Not Your Strengths
When I hire, I do not start with a job description. I start with myself.
I look at my week and ask where my energy drops.
Where things get delayed.
Where decisions pile up.
Where I start avoiding tasks.
For me, admin is a clear one. I hate it. Detailed, repetitive, operational work drains me fast. If I try to push through that out of discipline or pride, two things happen. The work quality drops and my mood follows.
So instead of fighting it, I design around it.
I look for people who are genuinely good at those things. People who enjoy structure, details, and follow-through. People who feel calm, where I feel restless.
Those people are not supporting me. They are strengthening the system.
This mindset shift is critical. You do not hire to protect your ego. You hire to protect the business.
Better Than You Does Not Mean Louder Than You
There is a misunderstanding around hiring people better than you. Many think it means hiring dominant personalities or people who want to take over.
That is not what I mean.
Better than you means better in specific competencies. Clearer in execution. Stronger in areas you lack. More consistent where you are chaotic. More patient where you move fast.
It is about complementarity, not competition.
When you get that right, something interesting happens. Trust grows. Decision-making improves. The company stops depending on one person’s energy and starts running on a shared rhythm.
Systems Matter More Than Talent Alone
Hiring great people is not enough. Without systems, even the best talent burns out or leaves.
I have seen this in large corporations and startups alike. Smart people drowning in unclear roles. Talented operators are blocked by founders who cannot let go. Teams stuck because everything still needs one person’s approval.
If you want people better than you to succeed, you need to give them structure.
Clear responsibilities.
Clear decision rights.
Clear expectations.
Systems are not bureaucracy. They are respect.
They tell people where they own things and where they do not. They create safety and speed at the same time.
The Role of Tools and AI
There is another layer today that did not exist when I started.
Tools and AI.
I see them as part of the same philosophy. If something is repetitive, operational, or purely administrative, it should not sit in a human’s head if it does not have to.
I use AI to support tasks I am bad at or do not enjoy. Not because I want to replace people, but because I want people to focus on work that actually needs judgment, context, and care.
The goal is always the same. Reduce friction in the system.
When people spend their time on what they are good at, the whole company moves faster with less noise.
Letting Go Is Not Losing Control
One of the hardest parts for founders is letting go, especially if you built something from nothing.
It feels personal.
It feels risky.
It feels like you might become irrelevant.
The opposite is true.
The more capable your team becomes, the more strategic your role gets. You move from reacting to shaping, from fixing problems to preventing them.
Control does not come from holding everything. It comes from clarity, trust, and rhythm.
When people know what they own, they do not need micromanagement. When systems work, you do not need heroics.
The Real Measure of Leadership
I judge leadership by one simple thing.
Can the system run without you for a while?
If the answer is no, you are not done building.
If the answer is yes, you are finally leading.
Hiring people better than you is not a luxury for later stages. It is a discipline you need from the start. It forces you to confront your limits. It forces you to build properly.
And it creates something far more valuable than control. It creates resilience.
Build teams that are stronger than any individual.
Build systems that serve the people inside them.
That is how meaningful companies are built.
Timecode:
00:00 Introduction: Hiring People Better Than Yourself
00:12 Identifying Weaknesses and Finding Strengths
00:18 Delegating Administrative Tasks
00:24 Leveraging AI for Support
Links:
Uniprisma: https://uniprisma.com/
Meijer & Co.: https://meijerandco.com/
Personal Website: https://www.thijmenmeijer.com/
Transcript:
So how do I hire people that are better than me? In early stages and also, later stages, it's key to hire people that are better than you, because it will elevate yourself and it'll elevate the company itself. I look for my weak skills, my weak competencies, and I look for people that are, thriving in this. I hate doing admin, so I look for people that are, much better in this kind of, detailed orientated tasks. Or I connect with an AI to help me with this.