Just as you would in choosing a new hire, choosing a job, choosing a boss, or even choosing a mate, knowing how to make an informed assessment is critical. It is the stuff that any coach who works with executives or leadership teams (like me) should be able to do in their sleep, and it’s the type of thing that any layperson should learn and know how to do.… Read the rest
If You Only Had ONE Job Interview Question to Ask? – Revisited
The question “If You Had Only ONE Job Interview Question to Ask” was posed this past May. The suggestion merits revisiting based on an aside Carol Dweck made this past week when I caught her presentation at my son’s grade school, Marin Country Day School.
Dweck’s research – which has more depth and vigor than I’ve distilled here – has pointed to the existence of two types of mindets – that of a “fixed” mindset and that of a “growth” mindset in children as well as adults.… Read the rest
[Life Back West] September 2009 – “Back to School”
There are random events, and there are events that are chock full of patterns: the trick is knowing one set of events from the other, and in figuring out what, if anything, any patterns mean.
Something as simple as a run chart stuck up on your bulletin board wall helps you plot experience, whether it be the number of times your seven year old wakes-up at nights (less common lately – thank goodness) or the number of times things a client calls with one “last” change.… Read the rest
[Life Back West] June 2009 – Step Up Day
Transition markers for the big things in life abound: diplomas from schools, birth certificates of children, employee of the year plaques and deal tombstones . All of them shout out “big step” congratulations.
But what marks the in-betweens – the minor and important accomplishments that put you in a position for those bigger deeds and accomplishments? How do you mark task well done , knowing that it makes you able to do job done well ?… Read the rest
[New Rules] Job Candidates and Kindergarten Applications: What They Teach Us
Analogs and metaphors are helpful ways to communicate ideas as well as find experiences in one area that inform possible experiences in another. Albeit imperfect we can learn much from using these surrogate experiences .
It’s a proverbial "week after" in San FranciscoK-8th grade admissions scene: the week after private school admissions were announced and the week after the second round (most likely after a not-so-successful first round of applications) for public schools concluded .… Read the rest
[Life Back West] February 2009 – “What I Learned at School Today”
I am no speechwriter nor am I a speech analyst: I stick to my knitting coaching teams and execs. But a “lite” version of an exercise I utilize I call “Road Trip” was one of the things my son learned at school Tuesday, January 20th as he and all the other kids from the lower grades watched the inaugural speech of a new President of the United States .… Read the rest