????身為公司掌門人，你的副手絕不應該通過獵頭來尋找。最好邀請曾與你成功合作的人擔此重任，這樣，他一入職你們就能馬上開展工作了。

????不要把候選人名單局限于過去的同事。客戶、供應商、家族成員和童年玩伴都應該進入你的視野。當初我創建“年輕創業家組織”【Young Entrepreneurs Organization，現在已成為“創業家組織”（EO）】的時候，我的得力助手是自己以前做臨時助教時的一名學生，那時候他的表現給我留下了深刻的印象。早在鮑爾默成為微軟公司（Microsoft）的首席執行官前，他和比爾?蓋茨就曾是大學里的牌友。

????那么你應該注重這個人的哪些素質呢？別忘了在如今這個商業環境中，只有高度關注市場的人才能成功。你的副手得是一位擅長救火，同時能貫徹執行你最佳理念的人。否則，你就會生活在許多企業家必須面對的噩夢里：什么都得親力親為，因為身邊沒人能干得了。你需要的還是一個能在你的宏偉構想和團隊當中發揮緩沖作用的人——否則，你就會像很多企業家一樣，把自己的人給逼瘋。

????一旦在自己的首選候選人中確定了人選，就需要先試著開展短期合作。可能你公司里有個董事會的顧問職位正缺人——埃里克?施密特在成為谷歌公司（Google）的首席執行官前曾是該公司的董事會成員——或是一份付酬顧問的活要人。通過這種安排你就能大概了解，今后真正和這位副手在自己的公司里共事是否會和諧順暢。你得知道，不需要借助拳腳，也能斗得過他。

????當你覺得已經找到人選時，就算你們彼此十分了解，也請做一次詳細的正式面試，可以用一套客觀評分系統來評價這位候選人。問問他對以前的職位和老板怎么看。我就有一次差點聘用一位相識多年、非常合乎要求的副手，直到做了一次這樣的面試后我才打住，因為這個面試讓我意識到，她之所以能跟以前的老上司和諧相處都是因為一個共通的原因——他們都可以輔導她。但我因為經常出差，沒法如此頻繁地輔導她，所以我最后認定她不是最佳人選。

????要找一個合適的副手耗時費力，但一切都是值得的。哈佛大學（Harvard）教授諾阿姆?瓦瑟曼在其著作《創始人的窘境》（The Founder's Dilemmas）中曾經探討過，創業公司實現了團隊領導后，往往能表現得更出色。不是每個企業家都有幸找到完美的聯合創始人，但如果日后能找到一位出類拔萃的副手，你就能獲得許多同樣非凡的回報。（財富中文網）

????譯者：清遠???

????Your deputy is the one position at your company that you shouldn't head hunt. It's best to bring in someone you've worked with successfully in the past, so you can hit the ground running from day one.

????Don't limit your list to past colleagues. They can be clients, suppliers, family members, and childhood buddies. When I founded the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (now EO), my right hand was a former student from an adjunct teaching gig who had impressed me. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were poker-playing buddies in college, long before Ballmer became CEO at Microsoft (MSFT).

????What should you look for in this person? Remember that in today's business environment, you've got to stay market-focused to win. For your No. 2, you need someone who's good at putting out fires and executing your best ideas. Otherwise, you'll be living the nightmare many entrepreneurs face: Doing everything yourself, because there's no one around you who can. You also need someone who can be a shock absorber between your grandiose ideas and your team -- or, like many entrepreneurs, you'll drive your people crazy.

????Once you have an idea of who's available among your top candidates, look for short-term opportunities to collaborate. Maybe there's a board of advisers position open at your company -- Eric Schmidt served on Google's (GOOG) board of directors before he became CEO -- or a paid consulting gig. This will give you a feel for how well you will work together in your current company. You need to know you can fight with this person without resorting to fisticuffs.

????When you feel like you've found the right person, even if you know each other well, do a detailed, formal interview, where you use an objective scoring system to evaluate candidates. Ask what they liked about their past positions and bosses. I once got very close to hiring a highly qualified right hand I had known for many years until I did an interview like this and realized that the common thread among the past managers she'd loved was their availability to mentor her. I wasn't going to be available to do that much, because I travel a lot, so I decided it wasn't a good fit.

????It can take time to find the right deputy, but it's worth it. Entrepreneurial companies tend to do better when they are team-led, as Harvard Professor Noam Wasserman discusses in The Founder's Dilemmas. Not every entrepreneur is lucky enough to find the perfect co-founders, but if you later pick an amazing No. 2, you'll be able to reap many of the same rewards.