Hiring someone who’s your doppelganger can feel like the easy option. It’s familiar, low-friction, and feels less risky. But if you’re building a business with long-term goals, not just short-term harmony, you’ve got to look beyond that. Strong teams aren’t made up of people from the same backgrounds and experiences, who all think and work the same way - they’re made up of people who bring different strengths and perspectives to the table. If you’re hiring someone with the same skill set or outlook as you, you’re not filling a gap; you’re just repeating what’s already there. And that only gets you so far.

Let’s be clear, culture fit is important. You don’t want to hire someone who totally jars with your values or makes every team meeting feel awkward. But culture fit should never mean the same background, same opinions, same preferences. True culture fit is about shared values, not shared personalities. It’s about how people work, communicate, collaborate, show empathy, handle feedback etc. 

If you’re serious about building a team that’ll take you through 2026 and beyond, start by looking inwards.

• What’s actually missing in your current team?
• Where are the skill gaps?
• Do you need deeper technical expertise, better comms, stronger operations, fresh creative thinking?
• Do you have the diversity you need to succeed long term?

Hiring people from different backgrounds, whether that’s culture, class, industry, education, or life experience, leads to stronger, more adaptable teams. People with different perspectives see problems differently. They challenge each other’s assumptions. They spot risks and opportunities others might miss. When you’ve got a team full of people who’ve walked different paths, your problem-solving becomes richer. Your creative thinking stretches further. Your blind spots get smaller.

If your company is aiming to do something new, fresh or future-focused, then hiring people who don’t think like you is exactly what you need. Run a proper skills audit and involve your existing team. Look at performance trends and be honest about what’s holding you back. Then, hire for what you don’t have, not what feels easy.

One of the boldest, smartest moves you can make is hiring someone better than you in a certain area. Not just slightly better, miles better. So good it makes you slightly nervous. That’s leadership, and it’s how you grow. Hiring someone more experienced, more innovative or more technically savvy doesn’t undermine your position; it elevates your whole team.

You don’t need to be the best at everything. You need to build a team that is.

Another common pitfall we often see is hiring someone just because you know them. Yes, of course, trust matters. Yes, shortcuts feel good when you're busy. But hiring someone straight away purely because you know them can land you in hot water. Ask yourself: are they really the right fit? Do they challenge your thinking? Are they bringing something new? Or are they just...safe? Safe doesn’t always scale.

2026 isn’t that far away, and the teams that will thrive in the next few years won’t be the ones stacked just with “culture fits” or polite replicas of the founder.

They’ll be:

• Diverse by design, not default
• Clear on what good looks like for each role - not just in output, but behaviours and values
• Comfortable with being challenged, because fresh thinking is a feature, not a flaw
• Hired strategically, based on current gaps and future goals - not who just happens to be looking right now.
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So, think about who you really need to grow the business you actually want in 2026.

It might not be someone like you. And that’s the whole point.