As he was introduced as the Cubs’ new president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer and Cubs’ owner Tom Ricketts preached steadiness.

That doesn’t mean, though, that they’ll accept stagnation.

“I really do value fresh ideas and new ideas,” Hoyer said Monday. “I think that’s important. Continuity is a wonderful thing but bringing people in from the outside can really benefit.”

That’s why, when Hoyer begins his search for a new general manager in the next coming days, he expects for the candidate to be from outside the Cubs’ organization and he won’t be afraid to look for candidates that will push him and test him.

“I kind of encourage that,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer is well aware that the ideal candidate will test him but will do it with the best interests of the Cubs in mind. There’s no sense in creating friction for friction’s sake. It’s about striking that balance to make the Cubs better when they take the diamond.

It’s the dynamism that made the relationship with he and his former boss, Theo Epstein, thrive.

“You guys have no idea which decisions I was in favor of or Theo was in favor of,” Hoyer said. “I think we made that a really concerted effort over the last nine years that we were in this together and we would go forward together and we wouldn’t talk about who was in favor of what or who’s idea a trade was.

“To me, that’s critically important in these roles. I want all of the input I can possibly get, and I want differing opinions, but ultimately, when we go forward, we have to go forward as one.”

So, don’t expect a hire for the role immediately. Finding that person won’t be done immediately. But it might be just what the Cubs need. The Cubs have struggled in their last two playoff appearances and a new look could help overcome that hump.

“Obviously the playoffs have not gone as we hoped in 2 of the last 3 years,” Hoyer said. “But ultimately the goal every year is to give ourselves a chance and that’s not gonna change.”

At the end of the day, the next general manager for the Cubs will have some fresh looks for the Cubs, will ask questions of Hoyer and the Cubs and will improve the team. That task may seem a bit jarring at first glance, but it won’t be. That’s because Hoyer will be sure to do his homework and find the right person.

“For me, the most important thing I’m gonna be trying to find is a sense of trust,” Hoyer said. “That’s probably the part of the relationship with Theo that I value on top of everything else is that these are high-pressured jobs and you make a lot of tough decisions and things are gonna go wrong and you have to know that that person is with you 100% and that there’s no dividing the two of you.”