Recruit "constructive" no-men

I recently reviewed an old note book (when I did this by pencil and paper pre-digital and social media!) and came across this great quote.  A wonderful reminder that 1. you should not surround yourself with "yes-men", but 2. a no-man who is just a no-man is a no-no!  (And a reminder that recruiting is perhaps the most important task you will undertake if your business is to be successful!)

"I do not wish to hire yes-men.  Yes-men come cheap . . .what we are looking for is what I call constructive no-men.  My own personal rule for very many years has been that anybody is free to criticise me, to criticise the company, to question or argue against anything that we are trying to do - provided they will satisfy the one criterion that they will tell us what I or the company should do differently."

Source: Harvey-Jones J (1988)  Making it happen.  Fontana, London.  P.89

(posted also to: http://www.youngstapreneur.net/blogs/item/recruit-constructive-no-men)