Hiring with the PSD Principle

In recruitment, there’s a well-known principle called PSD: poor, smart, desire. That is: humble origins, sharp intellect, and fierce drive.

This principle is gaining wider institutional acceptance.

For example:

  • Jorge Paulo Lemann, co-founder of the famed 3G Capital, rigorously enforces PSD in hiring.
  • In investment banking, PSD has become one of the most influential hiring filters.
  • Huawei explicitly adopts PSD as a core selection criterion—especially for frontline talent.
  • A friend’s company, after onboarding several thousand livestream hosts, concluded that host partnerships must follow PSD.

Why does PSD work? Because from an organizational standpoint, individuals meeting all three criteria are statistically far more likely to deliver results.

Your Partner Is Your Shadow

The person you choose as a partner is, in essence, another version of yourself.

If a woman hesitates about marrying you—offering vague excuses, delaying decisions—the rational move is to walk away without clinging. Her hesitation usually means one of two things: she doesn’t like you, or she doesn’t see you as her equal—or both.

If you lack qualities she genuinely admires, forcing the relationship creates inherent imbalance—and plants seeds for deeper conflict down the line.

Conversely, if you’re fixated on someone who clearly isn’t interested, the reason is often simple: either you’re not yet compelling, or your pool of meaningful options is extremely narrow.

So the highest-leverage strategy isn’t persuasion—it’s self-development. Become someone worth choosing. Lasting love emerges not from pursuit, but from mutual recognition.

The Lucky T-Shirt

I came across a case from Tianya Forum (a once-popular Chinese online community). During a period of widespread uncertainty and existential chatter—“ghosts and demons” debates, as users jokingly called them—a self-proclaimed “mystic” launched a “Lucky T-Shirt.”

It sold remarkably well. Comments flooded in: “Wore it to my job interview—got hired!” “Put it on before my exam—aced it!”

When collective anxiety rises—whether among ordinary people or elites—the hunger for hope becomes urgent, almost physiological.

The Double-Edged Sword of Judgment

Judgment has a built-in bias: once you form a view, your brain starts hunting for evidence that confirms it—and discards or distorts facts that don’t fit.

A classic illustration:

  • When you dislike someone, their flaws loom large; their strengths vanish from view—leaving you frustrated.
  • When you like someone, their virtues shine brightly; their flaws fade into background noise.

Neither state supports objectivity. And from distorted perception, flawed decisions inevitably follow.

Yet judgment remains indispensable—in moderation.

For instance:

  • If you must collaborate closely with someone, consciously adopting a positive initial stance improves both cooperation and your own emotional resilience.
  • When facing temptation—say, a “too-good-to-be-true” deal—cultivating a hard rule like “never chase small gains” can shield you from costly scams.

How to Receive Evaluation

First, understand this: others’ evaluations of you are rarely about you—they’re projections of their own inner landscape. Seeing others is like looking in a mirror: if you’re kind, you’ll tend to see kindness around you; if you’re insecure, you’ll spot insecurity everywhere.

Second, respond decisively to negativity:

  • If it comes from someone close—decline engagement firmly.
  • If it’s from a stranger or troll—mute or block, no explanation needed.

Third, cherish those who appreciate you—even if their praise feels light or occasional. Genuine admirers are rare. Their words, however imperfect, nourish confidence.

Fourth, distinguish negative evaluation from constructive feedback. Criticism that points to specific, observable issues—not just feelings—is valuable. Being told “You missed the deadline twice this month” is actionable. Being told “You’re unreliable” is not.

“Tea Cools When People Leave”—That’s Healthy

A friend left his company—and suddenly, his WeChat feed went quiet. No more group chats, no shared updates. He felt invisible. Unneeded. Sad.

That’s “tea cools when people leave.” Many feel this pang.

But I believe this cooling is healthy—for the organization. If tea stays hot long after someone departs, something’s wrong: perhaps dependency, blurred boundaries, or unresolved emotional entanglement. A well-functioning system flows forward—not backward.

Focus Training: Brute-Force Discipline

How to rapidly upgrade your concentration? Try this “brute-force” method:

Lock yourself in a room—alone—for seven consecutive days. Commit to completing one major output: e.g., drafting a full book manuscript.

If you resist writing, push through. Aim for 10,000 words per day—no editing, no perfectionism, just raw output.

At the end of seven days, your ability to focus will have leapt. Small tasks will feel trivial.

Later, I realized why my first boss kept quoting this ancient line: “Aim high—you’ll land mid; aim mid—you’ll land low.”

Anxiety thrives when your mind drifts—when thoughts wander, loop, or spiral. The antidote isn’t willpower alone. It’s immersion: anchoring attention fully in the present moment.

Benchmarking Beyond Copy-Paste

When Huawei studies competitors, it uses benchmarking—not imitation.

The method: break your business into modules (e.g., supply chain, R&D, customer service), compare each against industry leaders, identify their best practices, then adapt and transplant—not copy-paste—those practices internally.

Sounds simple. But doing it well demands five non-negotiable conditions:

  1. You know exactly what your business does—and why.
  2. You know who your real competitors are—not just who you imagine them to be.
  3. You know who the true leaders are in each domain—not just the loudest names.
  4. You’ve identified what makes their solution best—not just that it works, but why and how.
  5. You’ve mapped how to adapt and embed that solution into your own context—without breaking your culture or systems.

Prioritize Growth—Not Just Output

Shift your focus to growth, and many frustrations dissolve.

Start with your own growth: reading, reflection, honest self-review.

If you’re building a startup, I track growth across three layers:

  1. Myself: Am I learning faster than yesterday?
  2. The company: Is revenue growing sustainably? Without growth, even “profitable” businesses stagnate—and decay.
  3. The team: Do we attract better people over time? Growth fuels growth: strong individual development + healthy business momentum = magnetic pull for top talent. Team growth happens through both performance and thoughtful turnover—not just retention.

Spotlight Thinking

You manage 10 livestream hosts. Monthly revenue: ¥500,000. Goal: lift it to ¥800,000.

The default playbook? Performance reviews, firing the bottom 10%, motivational speeches—exhausting, demoralizing, and often ineffective.

There’s a sharper path: spotlight thinking.

Among those 10 hosts, 1–2 likely generate 30–40% of total revenue. Instead of fixing “weaknesses,” study what they do differently: their scripting rhythm, timing, audience engagement triggers, post-stream follow-up habits. Identify the replicable behaviors—not charisma, not luck. Then systematically share, model, and reinforce those practices across the team. Track metrics weekly.

Most people aren’t resistant to change. They’re just unclear on how. Give them a concrete, proven action—and watch capability rise.