For a manager, the right answer to the question “What is the single most important thing you do at work?” is hiring.
What many interviewers—whether they’re recruiters or hiring managers—don’t consider is that once a culture is established, they have to hire the right people to maintain and improve it.
Interviewers aren’t just interested in your skills; they also want to know what sort of perspective you’ll bring to your organization. If you can show the interviewer how your unique take on the industry can help advance the company’s broader mission, you have a much better chance of landing the job.
We have three general suggestions about hiring: (a) don't do it if you can avoid it, (b) pay people with equity rather than salary, not just to save money, but because you want the kind of people who are committed enough to prefer that, and (c) only hire people who are either going to write code or go out and get users, because those are the only things you need at first.
One cannot hire a hand; the whole man always comes with it.
The best way to hire people is through experience — to actually work with someone on a small project where you can experience firsthand their abilities and qualities.