Cancel the Job Posting — The $250K Mistake | Gary Johnson
The hire can wait. The fix can't.

Cancel the job posting.

You're about to pay someone $250K+ a year just to find out what's broken. The other way: Gary finds the real problems — sometimes in minutes — puts them in order, and starts fixing. The first wins come fast, and they show you exactly what to hire for. You only pay while it's working. No contracts, ever.

The mess → gold data, in weeks

The $250K Mistake — a 10-minute read. Free.

Time to first result 12–18 monthsweeks
≈ 15 months back
0369121518 mo
Hire first: the grey wait. Diagnose first: it collapses.
Exhibit A

Your job ad already admits it.

These lines are in almost every data-leader posting. Tap one — here's what each really says.

Head of Data & Analytics — draft excerpt

You will establish a single source of truth across the organization, wear many hats in a fast-moving environment, clean up legacy data, and drive our AI strategy from day one.

↳Translation: your systems don't agree on basic numbers.

Read this before
anyone signs an offer.

Written by Dr. Gary Johnson, former Chief Data Officer. His method inside companies and government agencies from startup to Fortune 50: find it, prioritize it, fix it — and hire when hiring is part of the fix, for the role you actually need. You only pay while it works. No contracts, ever.

© 2026 Gary Johnson