We Hire the Best, Just Like Everyone Else
Also: Give the "not-the-best" people a chance to develop.<p>The CEO of one of my past clients, a consulting company, always said: "You can teach everyone to be a great programmer". And he put his money where his mouth was: He hired people with no programming experience (even with no university education) and personally trained them for <i>several months</i>. Also, senior people in the company were encouraged to also help them and guid them.<p>He had to fire some of those people later, mostly because they were not a good fit for the company. But some of them became great programmers and software consultants.<p>"Hire only the best" is really only half of the battle. Give people an environment where learning is encouraged and failure is expected. And help them wherever you can. Most will learn and enjoy it.