Potential-Specialization Hiring Matrix
Match roles and candidates by growth potential and breadth of expertise.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 97%
The matrix uses growth potential on one axis and skill breadth on the other. Potential asks whether a person can keep learning and expand beyond the role's current requirements. Breadth distinguishes specialists with deep capability in a defined discipline from generalists who can work across many functions. Plot the role before assessing candidates: a strategically important technical discipline may require a high-potential specialist, while a fluid program role may require a high-potential generalist. Early-stage companies often depend heavily on adaptable generalists, whereas larger organizations increasingly need specialists. The tool makes the desired talent mix explicit and keeps recruiters from selecting candidates without first defining what kind of capability the organization needs.
Origin
Kit Bodner and Kieran Flanagan developed this hiring example on Marketing Against The Grain.
Core principles
- 01Potential determines whether a person can grow beyond today's version of a role.
- 02Specialists and generalists create different forms of organizational value.
- 03High-potential generalists provide adaptability in early-stage environments.
- 04High-potential specialists build depth in strategically important disciplines.
- 05The desired mix should change as the organization scales.
How to run it
- 1
Define the role's future
Describe both today's responsibilities and how the role is likely to expand or deepen.
Pro tip Look beyond the immediate vacancy.
Watch out Hiring only for today's task can create a near-term ceiling.
- 2
Set the potential requirement
Decide whether the role requires high learning potential or can remain stable at its current level.
Pro tip Tie potential to expected change rather than prestige.
Watch out Do not label every position high potential by default.
- 3
Set the breadth requirement
Classify the work as specialist, generalist, or close to the boundary between them.
Pro tip Use the job's recurring decisions to determine breadth.
Watch out A long responsibility list does not automatically make a role generalist.
- 4
Plot the role
Place the job in the matrix before interviewing candidates.
Pro tip Plot the full hiring plan to inspect the overall team mix.
Watch out Do not redefine the quadrant to fit a favored applicant.
- 5
Evaluate candidates
Test learning capacity and breadth or depth against the quadrant selected for the role.
Pro tip Use work samples and evidence of prior growth.
Watch out Potential should be supported by behavior, not intuition alone.
- 6
Rebalance with scale
Review how the generalist-to-specialist ratio should change as the organization matures.
Pro tip Preserve some generalists to bridge emerging gaps.
Watch out Excessive specialization can create silos and coordination costs.
In the wild
Email is a strategically important discipline that demands deep expertise, but its tools and practices will continue to change. The company plots the role in the high-potential specialist quadrant and screens for both current depth and continued learning.
→ The hire can improve a critical specialty rather than merely maintain it.
A program role must coordinate varied initiatives and adapt as priorities shift. The company places it in the high-potential generalist quadrant and evaluates candidates for rapid learning across unfamiliar domains.
→ The selected person can serve multiple evolving needs over time.
Common mistakes
Plotting people before roles
Starting with a favored candidate encourages the team to distort the role's requirements around that person.
Confusing experience with potential
Knowing today's job does not prove that a candidate can learn and grow beyond it.
Keeping an early-stage talent mix forever
A company that never adds specialists can struggle to develop world-class functional depth.
Is it for you?
Best for
High-growth organizations designing roles and evaluating whether to hire versatile generalists or deep specialists.
Not ideal for
Rigid, stable roles where future learning and changes in scope are not important selection criteria.
From the transcript
“The things that are most important to me about hiring somebody is potential. Are they high potential or low potential?”
“And then I would say the other access to me is probably are they a specialist or are they a generalist?”
“early stage companies have high potential generalists and over time shift a lot of that into high potential specialists.”
From the episode
Are You a Simplifier or a Complexifier? (The Power of a Great 2x2)