Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
Like dipping into the summer water of Northern California (Wow! Pretty cold!) if you’re teaching someone to swim in the San Francisco Bay, I spend time for the executive and career coaching part of my work with recruiters, executive search consultants, and sometimes applying for jobs.
How else to know how the job market works if you don’t experience it first hand?… Read the rest
Getting and keeping great talent is one of the biggest jobs any CEO may have.
So why (the subject of this post) can the getting part be so tough?
It’s hard for any number of reasons. Here are some of them:
Caveat Emptor – something Stephen Colbert translates as tuff tittie – should be the motto for any buyer.
Looks like it should be the same for any job hunter using social media to find their next gig.
While many a job hunter has seen the Craiglist Scam Alert (“affiliate scammers are posting bogus ads promising (nonexistent!) employment, paid research trials, or other compensation, but then notifying repliers that they’ll need to jump through a hoop first.… Read the rest
The lure of “A” players – that “can’t miss” man or woman that so many companies claim to recruit and land – has taken another beating.
It’s not the first time that topgrading and the “A” Player strategy as a hoax has been exposed – and it won’t be its last. Like instant diets and get rich schemes, the attraction of the easy and instant talent fix never ceases to fascinate.… Read the rest
Four data points hit my brain this week. All intersected at the same point.
Choose you!
Point 1: Seth Godin started the theme with a blog post titled Reject the tyranny of being picked; pick yourself.
His point? Don’t succumb to the fantasy that gatekeepers (his word) like book publishers, record producers, and HR recruiters will choose you. … Read the rest
Malcolm Gladwell had Sandy Nininger. I have March Madness. The results are the same.
Mere talent is taking a beating.
Gladwell’s writings – built in part on the work of people like Carol Dweck and Angela Duckworth – have shown that raw talent – smarts as we like to say in the business world – is overrated.
Gladwell demonstrated in The Talent Myth that hiring by collegiate pedigree – shorthand for smart – gave us the Enron fiasco (with McKinsey & Co’s significant backing).… Read the rest