7 Filters That Protect Your Culture

Culture feels fuzzy - until the wrong hires tank momentum.

For their sales hiring, Anis, Co-Founder / CEO of Series A funded Attention runs 7 negotiable yes / no tests to stop that slide:

1/ Abundance vs. scarcity mindset

• Question: “Tell me how you think about your competitors – both internally and externally.”

• Positive: Sees competition as fuel to improve, speaks about learning from rivals, and cares about growth for everyone.

• Negative: Zero‑sum language (“I hate losing”, “we need to crush them”) that betrays scarcity thinking.

2/ Blame orientation

• Question: “How did you perform vs. quota in your last job?” If the answer is “110%”, immediately follow up with “Why wasn’t it 150 %?”

• Positive: Accepts personal responsibility (“I missed X”), talks about what they changed. Talks about “we” for wins.

• Negative: Externalizes / excuses (“the territory”, “pricing”, “they didn’t give me …”).

3/ Driver vs. passenger

• Question: “Give me your three biggest failures and how they shaped you?” Listen carefully to the nuances of the answers

• Positive: Self‑initiated action, resourcefulness, references to leading without being asked.

• Negative: “My manager told me…”, reliance on others for next steps.

4/ Work ethic

• Question: “Hour‑by‑hour, walk me through your ideal work-day?”

• Positive: Day naturally runs well past 6 p.m.; mentions reading/learning after hours; fast weekend replies.

• Negative: Day ends early; delayed replies; strong “work‑life‑balance” language.

5/ Quest for excellence

• Question: “Imagine you’re retiring and looking back - what would you call the peak of your career?”

• Positive: Very high personal ceiling, specific mastery goals, constant self‑improvement habits (reading, coaching).

• Negative: Modest goals, vague ambitions, little evidence of deliberate practice.

6/ Slope strength

• Question: Anis puts candidates through two rounds of AI cold calls. Round 1 reveals raw selling instinct. Instant coaching follows. Then they do round 2.

• Positive: Visible jump between run 1 and run 2 – incorporates guidance, asks clarifying questions. Proving real-time coach-ability and slope.

• Negative: same mistakes, no inquisitiveness, defensive posture.

7/ Political extremism

• Question: “What makes you mad about the world right now?”

• Positive: Apolitical or nuanced answer, quickly pivots to work topics.

• Negative: Strongly partisan/woke or anti‑woke rants – any ideological extremity is a red flag.

What’s your culture dimension sheet and how do you test for it at your startup?

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Enjoyed reading this?

Then check out my conversation on the focal podcast with Anis Bennaceur, Co-Founder and CEO of Attention (Series A, backed by Eniac and Alven)

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