Written by Sandor Kovacs: CEO and Co-Founder of DorWay
I hear people often say all this is obvious. Hire for character. Build for culture. Look beyond the resume. If it’s so obvious, why does Gallup report that 85% of employees globally are disengaged, with engagement dropping again just this year? Why is it costing businesses $438 billion in lost productivity?
Because what’s obvious isn’t always practiced. And after three decades of leadership development, executive coaching, and sitting and participating in hundreds of interviews, I’ve seen exactly where it breaks down.
Most companies hire for what a person can do. They rarely hire for who that person is willing to become. That’s why they end up with busy managers, low-trust teams, and cultures that quietly corrode from the inside out.
According to Gallup’s latest 2025 report, global employee engagement just dropped from 23% to 21%, only the second decline since 2009. What’s that actually telling you about how leaders hire, train, and hold people accountable? Is your organization fueling this statistic or fixing it?
Even more alarming, manager engagement fell from 30% to 27%, driving an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity. If your managers are disengaged, what exactly do you think their teams are learning from them? What culture are they modeling?
In the U.S., employee engagement is now at a 10-year low, with 3.2 million fewer employees feeling enthusiastic about their work. If engagement is enthusiasm in action, are your people showing up engaged in what is possible or just showing up?
Only 37% of employees strongly agree they are treated with respect, a return to record lows. If respect is absent, how long do you think performance and trust will stay intact?
Gallup also found that 42% of turnover is preventable, yet organizations consistently fail to address it. If nearly half of your people leaving is preventable, what conversations are you not having?
I ask these questions because at DorWay, we don’t just look at these statistics, we build everything we do to directly impact them.
Beyond Busyness: What You’re Really Hiring For
In a previous article, we dismantled the myth that busyness is a badge of leadership. It isn’t. It’s often a smokescreen, hiding the absence of systems, strategic thinking, and capacity building.
Because real value isn’t about being the busiest person in the room. It’s about being the person who builds what scales when you’re not in the room.
That’s why, when you’re hiring, you can’t just look for productivity. You have to look for alignment. For people who protect their calendars. Who negotiate their “no’s.” Who own their word, manage their capacity, and think critically about what truly moves the needle.
Why This Matters More Now Than Ever
When Gallup talks about engagement plunging, especially for managers, what they’re describing is the byproduct of organizations that hired for what people could do, but not for who they were committed to being.
They hired performers addicted to busyness, who measured worth by how slammed their calendars were. It is time that this habit is broken.
They brought on high-output managers who never learned to build capacity or lead with integrity, and who now quietly drain trust and alignment.
They failed to screen for people who take ownership, think strategically, and drive alignment even under pressure.
If you don’t change how you hire, this is where it leads. Disengagement. Attrition. Cultures that tolerate low trust and high drama because they never built standards that demanded anything else.
Hiring for High Performance and High Alignment from Day One
This is why at DorWay, we don’t teach leaders to hire for just talent. We teach them to hire for:
High Performance: Can they execute, deliver, think critically, and produce outcomes? High Alignment: Do they act with integrity, communicate transparently, listen powerfully, and build trust by how they relate, not just by what they produce?
Because technical skills can be taught. But alignment, how someone operates, listens, collaborates, and manages agreements, requires a different level of willingness and character.
The Questions Most Managers Don’t Ask (But Must)
In decades of sitting through interviews, often shadow coaching leaders to observe how they actually engage with candidates, I’ve seen and heard it all.
So many intelligent, right-minded managers stick to safe questions about experience and credentials. But they avoid the ones that reveal character, ownership, and integrity. Why? Sometimes it’s discomfort. Sometimes it’s fear of scaring off the candidate (Especially in remote areas). But here’s a truth: You get what you interviewed for.
And you are then tasked with leading that person to success.
So, ask the questions that matter. And pay attention to how they answer.
The Questions (and Why They Matter)
1. Tell me about a time you broke your word at work. What happened, and how did you handle it?
Why it matters: It surfaces their relationship with accountability and integrity. What to listen for: Do they dodge blame or take full ownership? Do they use language that speaks to ownership or excuses?
2. When was the last time someone gave you direct, uncomfortable feedback, and how did you respond?
Why it matters: Reveals coachability and emotional maturity. What to listen for: Do they get defensive or genuinely recalibrate?
3. What’s a conflict you created or escalated and what would you do differently now?
Why it matters: Shows their skill in emotional regulation and empathy under stress. What to listen for: Blame language is a red flag. Accountability is gold.
4. How do you want people to experience you when you walk into a room? How do you think they currently experience you?
Why it matters: Tests self-awareness and impact on culture. What to listen for: Vague answers = limited self-reflection. Specific, intentional responses show leadership readiness.
5. What’s something you used to tolerate in your leadership that you no longer accept?
Why it matters: Reveals personal evolution and rising standards. What to listen for: Concrete examples of growth.
6. What’s a way you’ve made someone else better recently without needing credit for it?
Why it matters: Shows if they build people, not just results. What to listen for: Are they invested in others’ success or just their own resume?
Here at DorWay, we say:
“You don’t just get what you tolerate. You get what you interviewed for.”
If you want a culture of strategic thinkers, of people who add value by building capacity, not just completing tasks, you have to hire for it from day one.
Final Word
The engagement crisis Gallup highlights isn’t abstract. It’s the compounded outcome of thousands of hiring decisions that prioritized skill over alignment, busyness over ownership, and short-term metrics over long-term trust.
So be unreasonable in your standards. Hire people who protect their calendar because they protect the integrity of their commitments. Hire people who will say no, who will negotiate their no, because they’re serious about doing work that matters. Because they understand what it means to manage the integrity of their agreements, their projects, and what they’re accountable for.
That’s how you build a culture of high capacity, high value, and alignment that actually scales.
At DorWay, we don’t teach leadership as a checklist of tactics. We challenge how people see, think, speak, and act so leadership becomes a natural self-expression, like love or courage. Not because circumstances disappear, but because who they’re being is unmoved by them. And they take action anyway.
Because that’s real leadership. And it’s what this moment in business demands.
So, ask yourself: Are you building a culture of integrity and transformation, or quietly making excuses for dysfunction?
You don’t just get what you tolerate. You get what you interviewed for.
Only one of those will lead to an unprecedented future. And it all starts with what you’re willing to no longer accept.
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