WorkPuzzle

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: How Many of These Books Have You Read?

Are you looking for a good book to read this weekend?  Pick up a copy of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time and it may lead to a whole bunch of good reading! 

Here is the list of business books that made the list, published by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten (these guys are executives from a company called 800-CEO-READ) earlier this year:

You: Improving your life, your person and your strengths.

• Flow by Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
• How to Be a Star at Work by Robert E. Kelley
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey B. Mackay
• The Power of Intuition by Gary Klein
• What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson
• Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss/Theodore Geisel
• Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly

Leadership: Inspiration. Challenge. Courage. Change.

• On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
• The Leadership Moment by Michael Useem
• The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
• Leadership Is an Art by Max De Pree
• The Radical Leap by Steve Farber
• Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will by Tichy and Sherman
• Leading Change by John P. Kotter
• Questions of Character by Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr.
• The Story Factor by Annette Simmons
• Never Give In! Speeches by Winston Churchill

Strategy: Eight organizational blueprints from which to draft your own.

• In Search of Excellence by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
• Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew S. Grove
• Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? by Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
• Discovering the Soul of Service by Leonard Berry
• Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
• Competing for the Future by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad

Sales and Marketing: Approaches and pitfalls in the ongoing process of creating customers.

• Influence by Robert B. Cialdini, PhD
• Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout
• A New Brand World by Scott Bedbury with Stephen Fenichell
• Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith
• Zag by Marty Neumeier
• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
• Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
• How to Become a Rainmaker by Jeffrey J. Fox
• Why We Buy by Paco Underhill
• The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Rules and Scorekeeping: The all-important numbers behind the game.

• Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan
• Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman and Joe Knight
• The Balanced Scorecard by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton

Management: Guiding and directing the people around you.

• The Essential Drucker by Peter Drucker
• Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming
• Toyota Production System by Taiichi Ohno
• Reengineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy
• The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
• The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham
• First, Break all the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
• Now, Discover Your Strengths by Buckingham and Clifton
• The Knowing-Doing Gap by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono

Biographies: Seven lives. Unlimited lessons.

• Titan by Ron Chernow
• My Years with General Motors by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.
• The HP Way by David Packard
• Personal History by Katharine Graham
• Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon
• Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton with John Huey
• Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

Entrepreneurship: Seven guides to the passion and practicality necessary for any new venture.

• The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
• The Republic of Tea by Mel Ziegler, Patricia Ziegler, and Bill Rosenzweig
• The Partnership Charter by David Gage
• Growing a Business by Paul Hawken
• Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
• The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar with Kent Lineback

Narratives: Six industry tales of both fortune and failure.

• McDonald’s: Behind the Arches by John F. Love
• American Steel by Richard Preston
• The Force by David Dorsey
• The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
• When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein
• Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Innovation & Creativity: Insight into the process of developing new ideas.

• Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie
• The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman
• Jump Start Your Business Brain by Doug Hall
• A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger Von Oech
• The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
• The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

Big Ideas: The future of business books lies here.

• The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy
• Out of Control by Kevin Kelly
• The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida
• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
• Driven by Paul R. Lawrence and Nitin Nohria
• To Engineer is Human by Henry Petroski
• The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Takeaways: What everyone is looking for.

• The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins
• Up the Organization by Robert Townsend
• Beyond the Core by Chris Zook
• Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
• What the CEO Wants You to Know by Ram Charan
• The Team Handbook by Peter Scholtes, Brian Joiner, and Barbara Streibel
• A Business and Its Belief by Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
• Lucky or Smart? by Bo Peabody
• The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman
• Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko
• More Than You Know by Michael J. Mauboussin

While I've read a lot of these books, I was surprised how many I've not read.  There is so much left to learn!

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Your Personal Employment Brand

Last week, I read an article written by Dan and Chip Heath in Fast Company that highlights the importance of emotion in marketing.  The Heath brothers are the bestselling authors of "Made to Stick."

These guys noticed that there is often a disconnect between the emotion that a company tries to relate in a marketing campaign, and the reality that truly exists. 

“Marketers caught on early that emotion sells product.  'Would your husband marry you again?' screams a Palmolive ad from 1921.  (Not unless you scrub with Palmolive soap, honey.)  Today, Heineken has promised warmer international relations via handoffs of Premium Light from mountain men to Indians to ballerinas.  And, of course, Axe has sold young men on the fantasy of hooking up with deodorant-loving nymphomaniacs. 

Emotional appeals are ubiquitous.  They're also interchangeable.  It would be just as easy to pitch Heineken as an aphrodisiac and Axe as a global harmonizer ('Peace starts in the pits').  And that's the problem:  It's all stick-on emotion.  Sometimes that works brilliantly (see: Corona).  Other times, it's as weird and clumsy as an adhesive mustache -- remember Carl's Jr. and Paris Hilton's sexed-up hamburger ad? Fortunately, there's a better and more sustainable way to create emotion:  Mean it.”

The article goes on to demonstrate how the impact of a marketing emotion can be greatly increased if there are concrete realities supporting that emotion, proving that it is a genuine representation of reality.  Emotion combined with integrity REALLY sells!

If you’re a hiring manager, this is a principle you cannot afford to miss.  People are drawn to you as a leader because of their perception of who you are.  You may have a prominent company brand, many desirable externals (ex. office location, physical appearance of the office, advanced business tools, etc.), and you may even present yourself in a way that people are naturally drawn to you.  That’s all emotion. 

But, if the reality of who you are matches what you project, the fireworks start to fly.  People want to work on teams with these types of leaders.  Your “personal employment brand” has the ability to attract (or repel) people with a significant amount of force.

Ask yourself this question:  What do people in your professional network really think of you? 

Then ask yourself:  Is this perception based on surface emotion and externals, or on the reality of what those in your professional community have experienced firsthand or have actually seen you do?

If you do not have a strong and believable personal brand, it is very difficult to be a successful hiring manager.  But, how do you repair (or build for the first time) your personal brand?  The quickest and most believable way, is through doing good deeds that support your emotional appeal.  The Heath brothers put it this way:

“Why not simply replace the fake emotion with a real one?  What if Downy started doing things to help struggling mothers -- and then used their ads to talk about the work?  What if Bounce retaliated by throwing its weight behind job seekers looking to bounce back from a layoff? What if all this good work raised the competitive hackles of the not-to-be-underestimated Snuggle Bear?  Perhaps it could sponsor a winter-coat drive.

What we're proposing here is an arms race of goodness -- a generation of companies that compete on real emotion rather than stick-on sentiments.  Maybe that sounds Pollyanna-ish.  If so, let us introduce you to some companies succeeding by meaning it.

Toms Shoes has a simple business model:  Buy a pair of shoes, and it'll send a second pair to a child who needs it.  This year, it'll send about 300,000 pairs of shoes to the developing world. And because it's the company's genuine passion to do so, Toms can take advantage of the word of mouth built into its product and spend dramatically less on marketing than other shoe companies.  When you mean it, convincing customers doesn't take as much shouting.”

Start working on your personal employment brand and you may find that recruiting is not so difficult.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Reframing Recruiting

Psychologists love to "reframe" any issue that causes conflict.  We can be borderline obsessed with reframing, and there is a reason for this:  Reframing has a way of dismantling defenses, exposing old myths, eliminating fears, and igniting productivity.

 What do I mean by reframing?  Reframing means helping others to look at a conflicting topic with a new set of eyes.  Put another way, it means viewing an old problem through a different lens.  Reframing requires stepping back and trying to determine why there is such resistance around a reoccurring topic of frustration, and discussing it in a new way.  Often times, it only requires small changes in language to accomplish large leaps in a-ha moments of clarity for everyone involved.  It can mean the difference between stalemate and responses like "Oh, that's what you meant?"

For example, a moment of clarity about reframing the task of recruiting came to someone on our team (Lee Gray) while she was doing laundry this past week.  Many of our clients know Lee, as she trains hundreds of managers across the country on the use of a recruiting tool called Talent Pipeline.  In her work with managers, Lee is able to experience firsthand the range of differences between managers who are quite comfortable with the various aspects of recruiting, and those who are intimidated so much by the concept that they have become paralyzed by fear, and thus struggle to move forward.

We all know that organizations need to recruit, and the importance of this goal is constantly emphasized by organizations to their managers..and rightfully so.  However, it has become quite clear to Lee that many managers begin to shut down emotionally as soon as the word "recruiting" is uttered.  Building a pipeline of "recruits" seems to be a task that is likened to having a root canal.

Instead of writing off this range of managers who feel this fear, Lee began to wonder (out loud in her laundry room I might add)... Why do some people with such proven people skills hesitate to engage in recruiting, while others don't? 

The culprit to the breakdown was the word "recruiting."  When she changed the language to "relationship building," managers began to relax.  This makes sense, given the fact that most managers are natural relationship builders.  That's why they do what they do! 

So, Lee's reframing is quite simple (as most reframing is):  "Focus on relationship building," and maintain a pipeline of those "relationships" you want to build.  Next, focus on the tasks that will help you build them.  Then track those tasks as a way to hold yourself accountable. Eventually, as a byproduct of your natural ability to build relationships, successful recruiting will follow.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

The Best Places To Launch A Career: Can You Compete? - Part 2

Each of us has either experienced firsthand, or know someone who has experienced a mid-life crisis when it comes to career choice.  We understand the crisis that can result when a person feels that perhaps they've been "stuck" in the wrong job for the last 15 years.  We can even sympathize with the strong urge for a career change that some of us experience after dedicating so many years to a particular field of work.  

In fact, the majority of today's real estate agents have evolved from these types of crises.  Is it possible that you identify with these folks so much, that you've made them the primary, or even exclusive focus of your recruiting efforts?
 
In light of the information revealed by Business Week's recent survey (read Monday's blog for more on this), it seems that we are missing out on an enormous new resource.  Young college graduates are facing a crisis that most people don't have to consider until reaching their mid 40's.  They are leaving college with no prospect of being able to work in their area of specialty.

The good news for you is, they are hungry for a new direction.  Another Business Week article includes several examples of intelligent, motivated, new grads who have had to settle for very low-level jobs. Take for instance, Sasha Muradalih, a University of Miami graduate with a Masters in International Public Relations.  Unable to find a job, she is currently settling for clerical work.  Then there's Stephanie Haller, a graduate of Humboldt State University (BA in Journalism), who is currently Managing a Hollywood Video store.  The list goes on...

The point is this: It might be time to take advantage of this young, educated, and hungry generation, while they're ready and available.  They want to launch new and exciting careers, and many of them will make great agents.  One idea is to create a Manager development track that's more systematic, providing young people from a business/management education, with a vision of where they could be a few years from now. 

What have you got to lose?  Some managers have said it takes too much time to train people who are so young and may not work out.  This could arguably be a complaint about candidates of any age...anyone who doesn't immediately appear self-sufficient.  There is an answer to this:  Numbers!  Increase the number you source, which will increase the number of candidates you interview, which will ultimately increase the number of solid, young people you'll meet... who you know can knock it out of the park!

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

The Best Place To Launch a Career: Can You Compete?

Each year, Business Week conducts a survey of companies and new college graduates to assemble a rank list of the best places for new graduates to begin their careers.  This year’s research involved data from more than 60,000 recent college graduates and more than 60 of the nation’s top universities.

There was some shocking information revealed by the research this year.  For example, of 2009 graduates, only one in five people who applied for a job succeeded in landing one.  And those who were lucky enough to land a job are not getting paid much—it is very difficult to get an entry-level job out of college above $50K in today’s market.  Many jobs on the list begin at $35K or below.

Some industries were hit particularly hard with regard to entry-level hiring:

Hospitality:    -76.3%
Technology:   -55.4%
Transportation:  -41.6%
Investment Banking:  -39.3%
Telecommunications:  -30.8%

These percentages were derived by comparing hiring levels in the first half of 2008 versus the first half of 2009.  The negative values indicate the percentage of decline with regard to hiring in the respective industries.

Does this all add up to doom and gloom for you?  Not necessarily.  If you’re a real estate company (or any small business), that is able to offer a bright young person an opportunity to get ahead, you have a window of opportunity to acquire some very talented, young workers.

In today’s environment, you no longer have to compete with high salaries, signing bonuses, and company-provided meals. Instead, many new workers are realizing that it will take hard work and sacrifice to get ahead.  (As a side note.. Interestingly, Google—famous for providing their employees free meals—did not make the Business Week top 50 this year.) 

One person highlighted in the Business Week feature, an Operations Manager for Nestle, revealed that:

“...he wakes up at 3am to get to work an hour before his 5:15am shift—and often stays late.  He’s a good example of what it takes for young people unaccustomed to drudgery to get ahead these days:  hard work, long hours, and a willingness to make sacrifices.”

With the changes happening in the talent marketplace, here’s an important question to ask yourself:  Is it possible for you to begin competing for the attention of these young, talented employees?

Of course, the traditional wisdom is that a real estate agent needs to be a little older to match the demographics of their buyers and sellers.  While there is some truth in this statement, consider the fact that investment banks, insurance companies, and financial services firms consistently hire college grads, and with great success.  Is there some way you could make this work as well? 

These companies have learned how to grow talent by engaging people at a young age and allowing them to gain experience and build skills on the job.  There are some companies who are already taking advantage of this opportunity.  For example, of the top 50 companies on the Business Week list, the one that has grown college level hiring the most in the last year (up 75% from the previous year) is New York Life.  Their hiring model is not much different than that of real estate, and their compensation scales are among the lowest in the industry.  How are they successful?  Part of the answer is that they are smart enough to put themselves in the right place at the right time!

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

WorkPuzzle Update: Improved Focus and New Publishing Schedule

Since December of last year, Dr. Dave Mashburn and I have been writing in WorkPuzzle with the intended purpose of sharing how a basic understanding of the psychology of the human mind can help in numerous ways to make individuals and organizations operate more effectively.  We’ve learned a lot in this process, and we hope you have too.  We're thankful for all the thoughtful feedback you've provided along the way.

At this point, we’ve established a base of more than 100 articles.  These articles are available in the WorkPuzzle archives and are searchable online.  Most of these articles have been written to cover the general and basic principles of psychology, business, recruiting, and other workplace issues.  Many of these principles are timeless, so hopefully you’ll find it useful to refer back to some of these articles as you have need for insight.

As we move into the fall season, we’ve decided to take a slightly different posture with WorkPuzzle.  As you may know from our past references, the majority of our company’s clients are in the real estate industry.  In order to better address the needs of these clients, we’ve decided to focus WorkPuzzle efforts on the issues that concern these companies.  More specifically, we’ll be focusing our discussions on issues that real estate owners and strategically-minded real estate managers face in the day-to-day execution of their jobs.

For those of you who are more “general purpose readers” of WorkPuzzle, many of the principles that we’ll discuss in upcoming articles can still be applied to other industries and work scenarios.  Our intention is not to leave you behind.  There will still be much written that can be applied to your unique circumstances if you're outside the real estate industry--it will just require a bit more creativity to apply.  As we grow in the future, we may also begin to address other specific industries in blogs parallel to WorkPuzzle.  We’ll keep you posted on what develops in these other areas...

Finally, WorkPuzzle has been published daily during the work week for the past nine months.  We have very strong and vibrant readership early in the week, but by Thursday and Friday our readership wanes.  We’ve hypothesized that perhaps people are more willing to assimilate new and creative information earlier in the week.  Or, maybe by the end of the week, you’re just tired of hearing from us!

In response to this trend, we’re going to start publishing WorkPuzzle twice per week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.  If you’re an email subscriber, you’ll receive your copy of WorkPuzzle on Tuesdays and Thursdays (email subscribers are delayed a day).  This change in publishing schedule will begin this week. 

As always, we appreciate your comments and feedback concerning WorkPuzzle.  It is our privilege to serve our readers, and we look forward to exploring new topics and applications in the months ahead.

Flow and Accountability

We all take for granted that when we step out into this round, rotating world we live on, that we won't go flying off.  We're held on by gravity.  The same gravity that can kill you if you jump off anything of any height.

This is a law..."The Law of Gravity."  As I have been preaching these last few months, there are laws that govern your work life, and laws that manage your happiness too...and they are connected.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (great name for a researching Psychologist) set out 40 years ago to determine what really gives people true and repeatable enjoyment.  What he found may surprise you.  It's actually work!  Not any kind of work, but work where you lose yourself in the activity.  I'm not just talking about enjoyable tasks, rather tasks that require accountability.

"What he found is that people of all ages, nationalities and interests in life report their involvement in activities in a similar way.  In a nutshell ‘flow’ happens when we become so absorbed in an activity that we lose ourselves and our sense of time is altered.  When we are engrossed we often have so little sense of ourselves that we do not feel happy – in fact we feel nothing.  (Or indeed we may even experience physical discomfort as may be case for a mountaineer or athelete.)  But afterwards we have such a strong sense of gratification that we construe the activity as enjoyable and satisfying and so such experiences contribute substantially to our feelings of happiness and well-being.

Activities which can induce flow are varied and numerous.  It could be reading a book, playing a sport or having an engrossing conversation with a friend.  Commonly it is something that we find challenging.  This is why many people experience flow easily in competitive sports where challenge and feedback are intrinsic to the activity.  If the talents of the players are mismatched – one is a beginner chess player, for example, and the other is a Grand Master then neither is likely to experience flow.  For one opponent there is no challenge and for the other it is too daunting and so not easy to lose oneself in the activity."

Want to duplicate this in your company?

Here are the eight ingredients of flow:

"1. The experience occurs usually when we are involved in tasks that we have a good chance of completing.
2. We are able to concentrate fully on the activity.
3. The task has clear goals.
4. The task is such that it gives us immediate feedback on how well we are doing.
5. Our involvement is ‘deep but effortless’ and this ‘removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life’.
6. There is a sense of exercising control over our actions.
7. Concern for the self disappears’ but paradoxically our ‘sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over.’
8. We lose our normal sense of time – we can feel either that it has speeded up (and passed quickly) or slowed down."    (Centre for Confidence and Well-Being, 2006)

In other words, if you don't build systems and ways to measure and compare those systems, you can't experience flow.  This serves as yet another law...one that reinforces the justification and value of good management and better accountability. 

Sham WOW! Overselling an Employment Opportunity - Part 2

Last week, one of our clients sent me some solicitation information his company had received from an employment assessment company.  The information was a sample report that candidates receive from the assessment vendor upon applying to a given company.

The report is intended to give the candidate some feedback concerning their personality, and some insight regarding their potential for success at the said company.  The report is well done from a graphical perspective.  The assessment results are presented in a box on the upper right hand side in each of four pages, thus the candidate can easily access the information.
 
The problem is that the assessment results boxes are surrounded by a series of testimonials from existing employees.  Most of the testimonial boxes contain pictures of attractive women, and the general theme of each testimonial is that the person found fulfillment in life by working for this company.

I think testimonials are helpful, and one or two might complement this report nicely.  But, this report contains seven testimonials in just four pages!  The testimonials take up as much space on each page as the assessment results, and surround the box that contains the information the candidate is trying to read.

It’s like we’re back at the fair and the “gadget sales guy” is desperately trying to get my attention for a few minutes to make a sale.  The neon lights are flashing as the candidate approaches this employment opportunity.  Naturally, defenses rise under such circumstances, and people become protective.  What is effective in separating a person from the $10 that is in their wallet at the state fair, typically has the opposite effect in an employment dialog.

I know the majority of you are probably not involved in candidate advertising and marketing, but many of you are involved in various other aspects of the hiring process, including prospecting for candidates and conducting interviews.  The same principles apply to these pieces of the hiring process.

Overselling your company and your team will have a very negative effect on your recruiting results.  While most of us can look at an advertisement and tell if something looks gimmicky, it is difficult for many people to realize how their conversations may contain many of the same traits.

Here are some quick questions that you can ask yourself:

1. What percentage of your conversations involve you talking versus the candidate talking?

2. What percentage of your conversation is spent talking about the candidate’s existing organization (or past experiences) versus your organization?

3. What percentage of your conversation do you spend talking about the challenges on your team?  Do you ever talk about how a candidate’s contribution could enhance your team?

I'm sure you can figure out the correct answers to these questions by reflecting back on past interviews, but can you determine if you're doing these things during a live conversation?  The first step is to make an effort to become more aware of what you're saying during a recruiting conversation, and then make adjustments if you find you are overselling.  To follow up, you may want to invite a trusted friend or collegue to attend one of your interviews and then provide you some honest feedback on this topic.  

Believe me, if your recruiting conversations sound like they belong in the gadget barn, better to find out so that you can make some changes.  First impressions can become last impressions if you don't "fix" your approach.

Sham WOW! Overselling an Employment Opportunity

Last week, I had the opportunity to take my family to the Washington State Fair.  The fairgrounds are about 30 minutes from my house, which makes it easy to spend one afternoon per year, enjoying all the activities a state fair has to offer.

The food is the main attraction.  Where else can you get a roasted turkey leg smothered in BBQ sauce with a gigantic “elephant ear” for dessert?  My fingers are still sticky!  We also enjoy the animal barns.  This year, we got to see an Egyptian Sphinx—a hairless cat that has the temperament of a dog in the affection it shows toward humans.  The Egyptian Pharoses liked these animals so much that they requested one be placed in their tomb so that they could enjoy the cat’s companionship in the afterlife.

At some point during the afternoon, I usually part ways with my wife and daughters and head over to my favorite exhibit--the “gadget barn.”  This is the large building where all the fair vendors congregate in an attempt to sell the public the latest revolutionary product.  There is everything from rubber roof tiles for your house (made from recycled tires) to car wax that supposedly lasts five years.  This year I learned that the Sham WOW was actually a fake!  The chamois booth sales guy showed me the benefits of purchasing the REAL 100% rayon chamois (patent number included).  Needless to say, I got the “first-day-of-the-fair special."

This type of sales technique has always intrigued me.  It feels odd to relate to someone who is force-feeding you information for their own benefit.  Granted, some people are quite talented at this type of dialog, and it can be quite entertaining.  If a vendor is going to be successful in the gadget barn, they must be a performer and be executing at the top of their game.

What would happen if we tried to apply these same tactics to recruiting?  If you are thinking that the results would be terrible...I agree!  However, this is exactly what many hiring managers do--especially when they're attempting to recruit from their competitors.  Without listening first, they quickly start listing the benefits of working on their team, without really understanding the needs of the candidate.

This kind of recruiting arrogance turns people off in a big way.  As we discussed last month in WorkPuzzle, people need acknowledgment and attunement to become attached to a company.  Attunement means “to adjust or accustom your response to become receptive or responsive to someone else.”  This is what causes someone to engage in a recruiting dialog--not a detailed understanding of what they're missing by not being on your team.

Tomorrow, I'll illustrate how this mistake makes its way into both the candidate advertising process and the interview process.  Until then, did you know you can now buy the California Car Duster online?  ...and I thought the only place you could get it was at the fair!

The Talent Sale - Part 2

Yesterday, I described the unusual situation that we are currently in, where top talent is available, marked down, and easy to dislodge.  If you are responsible for hiring, you owe it to yourself, and the company you work for, to spend some time imagining how this works. (Definitely begin be reviewing yesterday's blog.)

Let's say you're single, and you are looking to date someone.  Where's the best environment for this?  Is it among a group of happily married couples, or among a group of singles?  The answer is, of course, obvious.  This may sound like a ridiculous analogy, but it applies to recruiting more than you may think!

To take the analogy further... As far as talented people and their loyalty to their employers goes, we are now in a situation where there have been millions of "divorces" and many considering "divorce."  If you ever want "to date," NOW is the time.  Now is the time when the largest number of people are willing to "play the field."  Don't wait until everyone has already "dated" other industries and "found their match," because the majority of the workforce will likely stick with their new match through several economic cycles before they switch industries again.  This is the time to attract, date, and marry this extremely wide pool of very good prospects.

Continuing the analogy... Most hiring managers restrict their "dating" to only those who actively "flirt" with them.  And we all know, this limits your dating prospects to the most desperate individuals.  And if you limit yourself to those who actively flirt, you'll probably wind up with someone who will flirt with other companies once they're with you!

To win over the best date and best prospects, you must set a goal and not give up.  The most successful daters know that finding a great partner takes tenacity, patience, and a willingness to be rejected.  They know that finding the right person is a numbers game, and by increasing the number of rejections, they'll increase their chances of winning the heart of someone great.

The numbers have never been so much in your favor...