Your “perfect hire” won’t save you.

Welcome back to the 110th edition of Nord Media

You finally made your first few key hires.

On paper, it looked perfect:

• A head of marketing with startup experience.

• An ops manager to clean up the backend.

• A designer who “gets it.”

You thought: Now we can finally move faster.

But instead…

• You’re still stuck in the weeds.

• You're still the bottleneck.

• And when priorities shift, no one knows how to step up.

You didn’t hire the wrong people. You built the wrong kind of team.

Most founders build teams like org charts. Box by box. Role by role.

Leverage doesn’t come from job titles.

It comes from capabilities. Adaptability. Initiative. Decision-making.

This week, we’re unpacking the real difference between team construction and team development and giving you the framework to fix it before your culture calcifies.

Let’s dive in:

Role-Filling Looks Smart Until Everything Starts Breaking

Most founders build teams like checklists.

• Marketing Manager

• Ops Lead

• Designer

• Support

But here’s why that approach backfires, fast:

1. People operate by title, not by outcome.

“That’s not my job” becomes the default mindset.

2. You optimize for today’s tasks. Not tomorrow’s challenges.

So when priorities shift, the team stalls.

3. No one knows who owns what.

Handoff issues, duplication, and gaps multiply.

4. You get doers, not problem solvers.

Execution is solid, but there's no initiative.

5. You become the glue.

The founder gets pulled back into every fire.

Filling roles feels productive, but it builds rigidity, not resilience.

Which is the exact opposite of what an early-stage or scaling company needs.

Instead of asking "Who do we need to hire next?"

Start asking "What capabilities do we need to strengthen?"

This mindset shift changes everything. Capabilities are the skills, behaviors, and instincts your business needs to grow.

They're not tied to job titles. They're tied to outcomes.

For example:

Instead of “We need a Head of Marketing,”

You might need someone who can generate demand, test fast, and lead cross-functional launches.

Instead of “We need a Customer Success Manager,”

You might need someone who can reduce churn, improve NPS, and build feedback loops into the product.

Capabilities are fluid. They evolve with the business.

When you hire around them, you build a team that adapts instead of breaks.

If someone leaves, you don’t scramble to replace a title.

You look at the gap in capabilities and decide whether to hire, promote, or shift responsibility.

Reader Framework: The Team Capabilities Audit for Your Current Organization

If your team feels stuck, it's probably not a people issue.

It's a capability gap.

Here’s a simple audit to help you spot where you’re relying too heavily on roles and missing key strengths:

1. List your top three business priorities for the next 6 months. 

What absolutely needs to happen for the business to grow?

2. For each priority, identify the capabilities required to execute.

Think in terms of outcomes, not departments.

Do you need strategic thinking? Customer insight? Fast iteration? Paid growth expertise?

3. Map those capabilities to people. 

Who owns each one today?

Do they have the bandwidth, skills, and confidence to deliver?

4. Spot the gaps.

Where are you over-relying on one person?

Where is no one really owning the outcome?

Where are you mistaking a title for a strength?

5. Rebuild your hiring and development roadmap around capabilities.

Instead of defaulting to "we need a new marketer," ask "what capability are we missing, and how should we fill it?"

This framework helps you get clear on what your business actually needs, not what your org chart says you should hire next.

Final Thoughts

Hiring mistakes aren't about the who. They're about the why.

You hired for a title when you should have hired for a capability.

You built for stability when you needed adaptability.

This week, pick one role on your team.

Reimagine it completely around capabilities instead of tasks.

Ask yourself:

• What outcomes do we actually need from this seat?

• What strengths would make this role a multiplier, not just a doer?

• If this person left tomorrow, what capability would we be missing most?

You’ll start seeing your team not as boxes to fill, but as strengths to build around.

Want to learn more? Connect with me on social 👇
LinkedIn • Instagram • Twitter 

Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.

Sincerely,
Kody

Disclaimer: Special thanks to Customers.ai and Marpipe for sponsoring today’s newsletter.