I have been doing a good bit of research on hiring practices for CEO’s in the nation’s top corporations, particularly as I continue to learn how to best execute searches for the churches we work with. There’s a lot the church could learn from what has and hasn’t worked in the business world, and I’ll be sharing some of those questions and thoughts in the future.

Here’s a statistic that recently caught my eye:

“At the 1,000 largest American companies (by revenue) in 2008, 80 new CEOs were appointed, and only 44 of them–55%–were promoted from within.”

Frankly, I was shocked that almost half of the top CEO’s in the country came from outside the hiring company (and those were hires made before the recent economic downturn. But then I remembered something I heard through Willow’s Leadership Summit: while hiring from within has advantages, bringing an outsider onto the team can sometimes be the healthiest thing an organization can do.

After letting that thought settle in my soul for a while, I realized that perhaps the healthiest “hire” the apostles made in the early church was allowing the outsider named Paul to join the group, even though he wasn’t with them from the beginning. You probably recall that his onboarding was more than a little unusual, and came with controversy. But imagine what a change, and what growth came from allowing him on the team!

This whole idea has challenged my thinking. Maybe it challenges yours. Many, if not most, of my clients have done a good bit of hiring from within. After all, people from within know your DNA, know your vision, and you know them.

But maybe God is calling you to consider an injection of a fresh voice.

What’s your preference on hiring?  What have you found to be the advantages and disadvantages?

Let’s have a conversation.