Category: Staffing

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Talent Wars: The “A” Player Hoax

We love easy solutions: take a pill and lose weight; go to the right schools and become a zillionaire; hire the right “A” player new talent while clearing out the “C” deadwood and make your business a great success.

But life (mostly) is not that way. As Ronald Reagan said, “It’s simple, but not simplistic.”

And here’s the hoax – the canard; the idea that if you just hire those “A Players” – people like the Legion of Super Heroes (pictured right)  – the folks in the top 10% of their roles – and “release” the untrainable B and C players to their future career path you’ll have stocked the right talent to have your company become a success.… Read the rest

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Women (and Others) at the Top: the “One-Up / One-Down” Paradox

Image via CrunchBase

Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg (pictured) does a terrific brief talk at TEDwomen “Why Few Women at the Top” – worth everyone viewing and everybody – not just women – taking note.

It is like my good (female) friend at a leading global investment bank who asked me to help her network with other senior women in financial services in San Francisco when I managed recruiting for Barclays Global Investors (at the time the world’s largest money manager – it’s now owned by BlackRock).… Read the rest

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References: Be Careful What You Ask (For)

The line from former US President Harry Truman, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” came to mind immediately.

“Would I do a reference call with my prospective new boss?” my former colleague “Kim” asked.

Though Kim had worked for three years at a division of a major US company, her potential new boss in a sister division wanted to talk with employment references from before her time with the current firm.… Read the rest

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How to Avoid the Interview Trap

There are a lot of ways for hiring managers to foul up their interview process, and the easiest one is to fall into what I call “the interview trap.” It doesn’t have to be that way, and with a little thought, and a little modesty to offset any natural hubris you carry, you can miss that trap and get more accurate data when you interview.… Read the rest

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Big Grain of Salt: Does Education Make You “Smarter?”

Richard Florida, author of the must-read books The Creative Class and Who’s Your City? has a new post titled The Density of Smart People. It’s based on his review of analysis done by Rob Pitingolo that looked at something called “educational attainment density.”

Richard begins his post with a simple statement: “Clusters of smart people of the highly educated sort that economists refer to as “human capital” are the key engine of economic growth and development.… Read the rest