The reason why the pictures are distracting is because it turns, what arguably is the best blog article I've read in years about hiring, into a glamor post. The pictures changes the tone from "it's about our business" to "it's about me."
There's a easy way to adjust the tone: Keep the headshot at the beginning, and crop the ones in the middle of the article to just the ice cream.
After the conclusion, include a blurb that says something like, "hiring is like choosing an ice cream cone; you can't have all the flavors," and then put in a ton of face shots with ice cream.
Keeps the focus in the article and still allows personal expression!
I think an important theme of the article is that there are human beings making the decision. A list of hiring procedures under a banner is a very different article.
There's a easy way to adjust the tone: Keep the headshot at the beginning, and crop the ones in the middle of the article to just the ice cream.
After the conclusion, include a blurb that says something like, "hiring is like choosing an ice cream cone; you can't have all the flavors," and then put in a ton of face shots with ice cream.
Keeps the focus in the article and still allows personal expression!