CEOs are often grilled in boardrooms on innumerable challenges: achieving financial targets; reviewing acquisition candidates; managing in an unsettled economic environment, just to name a few. But one topic is discussed far less frequently: “Are you hiring the best talent?”

Perhaps the board assumes that by the time one becomes a CEO, one has developed the skills to instinctively select the best candidates. Trust me, instinct is useful, but it is far better to know the specific characteristics you’re looking for when bringing on a new entrant into the field or an established veteran who is changing firms.