So, I am reading Alan Meckler’s blog last night.  Mr. Meckler is the CEO of JupiterMedia and definitely a gorilla in the online media space.

He is frustrated because Shutterfly just went public and their IPO valuation was higher than Jupiter’s.  Keep in mind, that Jupiter’s business model is proven, they make money and have enormous traction in several niches on the web.  They are huge.  Shutterfly has yet to demonstrate that their business can generate profits.  Alan laments this and wonders if it is yet another signal of another 1999-2000 dot-com crash.

Here is the leap I made reading his blog:  it is the same with jobseekers and new hires.  It has been called the shiny penny syndrome too…and it is alive and well in companies.

This is the way it works.  Any new hire looks great.  They interview perfectly.  They look good in their suit and they mill around smartly.  We are impressed.  This person is the salvation, just what we need.  In short, the message we send to all the others in our company, who have toiled, slaved and sacrificed…is Ah-ah, here is the one person WE really need to get this thing going.  By being too excited about this person, we end up setting too high expectations on them…and worse, send a message to the current employees that our “love” for them was only superficial.

Same-same with companies who are IPO candidates.  Failing to deliver results yet (just like our new hire), each company looks great on paper.  The future is bright and promising—with no actual results to mar  overly optimistic views.

Meckler says it will be interesting to see what happens in a year or so to Shutterfly. 

Next time, you are tempted to pronounce a new hire today’s Shiny Penny—remember Jupiter vs Shutterfly.  Or, as another old philosopher told me once,  “Dance with the one you brought to the Ball.”