Recruitment lessons from a legendary teenage poker champion

What happens when a teenage poker player puts tape over her computer monitor so she can’t see her own hand? If you’re the legendary Annette Obrestad you win the entire 180-person event without looking at your cards once.

When I first started reading about Anette’s career I wondered how this was even possible. I learnt that she used her superior bluffing techniques and ability to read her opponents. She outlasted the other 179 players by playing a different game entirely.

They were playing poker, she was playing them.

By age 18 she won £1 million at one of Europe’s largest ever tournaments, which was the best ever for a female player in a single event. Ironically the event had been marketed with the tagline, "Who will be the King of Europe?"

The QUEEN of Europe was only 18 but there is an important lesson here. People who truly outperform are often doing so because they’ve found entirely different ways to approach whichever “game” they are playing.

It applies to the business world too. When recruiting I typically look for people who bring something unique or special to the party. I’m hoping they will infuse the team with some alternative approaches to problems which gives us a higher chance of outperforming our competitors and the market over the long term.