Kawhi's Back: What to Look for When Hiring a Salesperson
What's this episode about?
What to look for when hiring a salesperson comes down to competencies, not traits or vibes. A competency is what someone can reliably do once their traits, behaviour, skills and knowledge have been practised into performance. This episode uses Kawhi Leonard, Steph Curry and Kevon Looney to show how to define the role first and then test for the competencies that drive it.
Key takeaways
Traits raise the odds of success, but they don't guarantee performance. In the NBA, height gets players picked, and the tallest players are often the weaker athletes.
In sales hiring, "looks the part" isn't a job requirement, and in Ontario it can become a Human Rights Code problem.
A competency is what someone can reliably do. Traits, behaviour, skill and knowledge are the ingredients, and they multiply rather than add.
Top performers in complex jobs can produce more than double the output of an average performer, and sales shows a similarly wide spread.
When hiring salespeople, define the role before the job ad, pick four or five sales competencies, and test for them with role plays and real scenarios.
Full transcript
Welcome to Hiring Without Regret. I'm Ashley Wesley.
Since this is the first one, a proper introduction. I'm Canadian, I live just outside the GTA, and I'm a Raptors fan... which means I've learned a lot about patience.
For a living, I help companies hire salespeople and sales leaders. Retained search, fractional sales and HR leadership... and a lot of time with owners who just made a hire they regret. I also teach HR strategy, and I write about all of this at ashleywesley.com.
This show is the short version. Five minutes, one idea, no jargon. Like an intermission segment... one opinion, then back to the game.
And the timing couldn't be better, because Kawhi Leonard is a Raptor again.
June 2019. NBA Finals. Raptors against the Warriors. Kawhi... six foot six, wingspan listed at seven foot three, hands so big they call him The Claw. Across from him, Steph Curry. Six foot two. His draft report basically said too small, not athletic enough. He became the greatest shooter who ever lived.
Kawhi won. Finals MVP, first title in franchise history. I will be mentioning this on every episode.
Here's my call for today. Many of the clients I work with struggle to know what type of person they're really looking for. So they end up hiring a vibe.
The oldest fix is trait theory. Great performers share certain traits... find the traits, find the performer.
And in basketball, the numbers back it up. Data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz figures every extra inch of height roughly doubles your odds of making the NBA. Hit seven feet and it's about one in seven. That's a trait with real predictive power.
But here's the twist. He also found the tallest players tend to be worse athletes. Lower vertical, slower sprint, worse at the free-throw line. Height got them in the door without proving much else. The trait raised the odds of getting picked. It didn't guarantee the player.
Sound familiar? That's the salesperson who "looks the part." Except in sales, looks aren't a job requirement. "Looks the part" usually means age, gender, or background, and in Ontario that's a Human Rights Code problem waiting to happen.
So traits matter. They're just not the answer. What predicts performance is what happens when traits meet skill, knowledge, and a whole lot of practice. In HR we call that a competency. Not what you have. What you can reliably do with it.
So let's make you the GM. You've got Steph Curry. What do you need?
You need a big who sets screens. Someone who takes the hit and frees Steph for the shot. That's the role. Now break it down.
The raw stuff... size and strength.
How he behaves. He's happy doing the dirty work. He doesn't need the ball. He cares more about the win than his stat line
Skill. The angle, the timing, rolling to the rim after.
Knowledge. Reading the defence, knowing when to slip the screen instead of setting it.
Practise all of that a few thousand times and you get the competency... getting your best shooter open, night after night.
The Warriors had exactly that guy. Kevon Looney. Thirtieth pick. Nobody's poster. Three championships setting screens and grabbing rebounds, and Draymond Green called him the stabilizing force that let everyone else do their job.
Sales works the same way. Who's your Looney? Someone to open brand-new accounts? Grow the ones you have? Run a long technical sale with six decision-makers? Different roles. Different ingredients.
And the ingredients don't add up, they multiply. Researchers John Hunter and Frank Schmidt suggested exactly that for sales. If one is close to zero, the whole thing collapses. In complex jobs, their numbers had the top one percent producing more than double the average. Sales showed a spread about as wide as doctors and lawyers.
Basketball keeps score too. In 2015-16, Curry was credited with an estimated eighteen wins for his team. That's what one great hire looks like on a scoreboard.
So what do you do on Monday?
First, define the role before you write the job ad.
Second, pick the handful of competencies that actually drive it. Not twelve. Four or five.
Third, test for them. A competency is something you do, so the only way to see it is to watch someone do it. A role play. A real scenario from your business. Same questions for every candidate.
Over the next few episodes, we're breaking each ingredient down in real terms. Next up, behaviour and personality... including why "he's outgoing, he'll be great" can be such an expensive sentence in hiring. After that, skills, and whether the 10,000-hour rule actually holds up. Then knowledge.
Same math, same method, whether you're drafting a shooting guard or hiring an account executive. The only difference is that in basketball, a firm handshake can't fool you.
Hire the player your team needs... not the one who looks like a player.
Quick note. This is general information, not legal advice. Before you change how you hire, run it past an employment lawyer. I'm Ashley Wesley. See you next time.
Frequently asked questions
What should I look for when hiring a salesperson?
Start with the role, not the person. Decide what this hire has to do for your team to win, such as opening new accounts or growing existing ones, then pick the four or five competencies that drive that result and test for them directly.
What's the difference between a trait and a competency in sales hiring?
A trait is something a person has, like drive or quick thinking. A competency is what they can reliably do with it once skill, knowledge and practice are added, like running a strong discovery call. You can only really assess a competency by watching someone do it.
Is it legal to hire a salesperson because they "look the part"?
Physical appearance isn't a legitimate requirement for a sales role, and criteria that stand in for age, gender or background can create Human Rights Code risk in Ontario. Confirm your hiring criteria with an employment lawyer.
References
Hunter, J. E., Schmidt, F. L., & Judiesch, M. K. (1990). Individual differences in output variability as a function of job complexity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75(1), 28-42.
Harrison, R. (2025, April 2). How AI helped Seth Stephens-Davidowitz uncover the NBA's biggest secrets in 30 days. Yale ISPS. https://isps.yale.edu/news/2025-04-02-how-ai-helped-seth-stephens-davidowitz-uncover-the-nbas-biggest-secrets-in-30-days
NBA.com. (2026, September). Raptors acquire Kawhi Leonard from the LA Clippers. https://www.nba.com/news/raptors-clippers-kawhi-leonard-trade
NBC Sports Bay Area. (2023). Green believes Looney deserves Warriors jersey retirement. https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/draymond-green-believes-kevon-looney-jersey-retired/1647703/
Basketball-Reference. (n.d.). 2015-16 NBA leaders. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2016_leaders.htm
Work with Ashley: Ashley Wesley is a Fractional Sales and HR Executive and retained-search partner based in Guelph, Ontario, helping owners hire the right sales leaders. Learn more at ashleywesley.com.
Disclaimer: This episode and page provide general HR and business information, not legal advice. Employment law turns on the specific facts and changes over time. Before acting on anything here, confirm it with an Ontario employment lawyer.
