S. 2 Ep. 37 - Beyond Resumes: How Dr. Michael Neal Creates True Team Players

In this episode, Dr. Michael Neal takes us from the five-star rigor of Four Seasons and the magic-meets-operations world of Disney to a practical, modern blueprint for hiring. We get into how to redefine your hiring process, automate candidate assessment without losing the human touch, and stack your roster with true A-Team players—the ones who raise the bar for everyone else (and don’t need a motivational poster to do it).

Dr. Neal’s Mic-Drop Quote:
“If you don’t define what great looks like before you post the job, you’re gambling—and the house is turnover.”

What You’ll Learn

• Hospitality-level hiring standards you can steal for any industry: clarity, consistency, and candidate experience.
• How to automate assessments (skills, values, and behavior) so managers spend time with the right finalists.
• The difference between nice teammates and true team players—and how to test for it in interviews.
• Why average performers quietly stall culture—and how A-Players multiply performance.
• The five must-haves in your selection process: success profile, structured interviews, work sample, reference triangulation, and a 90-day scorecard.

Practical Takeaways (Managers: steal these)

1. Write a Success Profile, not a Job Ad. Define outcomes (90-day and 12-month), core behaviors, and “non-negotiables” before you recruit.
2. Automate early, human late. Use short skills screens + values checks first; invest real time with the top 10–15%.
3. Use a Work Sample. A tiny project beats a thousand opinions.
4. Team Fit ≠ Same As Me. Fit means complementary strengths and shared standards, not clone wars.
5. Reference Triangulation. 2 past managers + 1 peer. Ask about outcomes and rehireability.
6. 90-Day Scorecard. Three to five measurable outcomes, reviewed at days 30/60/90. No guesswork.
7. Protect the Standard. A slow hire is a headache; a bad hire is a culture tax.

Sample Interview Prompts (save these)

• “Tell me about a time you elevated a teammate’s performance without positional authority.”
• “Walk me through the first 30 days you’d plan in this role—what would you measure and why?”
• “Describe a miss you owned publicly. What changed in your process afterward?”
• “Give us a work sample: how would you approach [real task] in 48 hours? Outline your steps.”

Resources Mentioned & Helpful Extras

• Books to Go Deeper:
  • Topgrading – Bradford D. Smart
  • Who: The A Method for Hiring – Geoff Smart & Randy Street
  • Work Rules! – Laszlo Bock

Connect with Dr. Neal

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-michael-neal
• Website: buildmyteam.com

Call to Action

If this episode made you rethink your next hire (good!), rate & review the show, share it with a manager who needs an A-Team, and tag me with your favorite takeaway. Bonus points if you retire one interview question that should’ve been cancelled in 2012. (Looking at you, “What’s your greatest weakness?”)