Building a competitive company

We have three big levers to pull. Our marketing strategy, the people we're going to do this with, and the management systems, (both soft and hard) that will hold it all together. The thinking at the top is most critical. One right decision can effect the entire health of the company. One policy decision, a misunderstanding of customers, a wrong choice in people, all have long reaching impact.

Thursday, 15 April 2010

"How do you organize the music in your car CD changer?" (or do you?)

Can you hire for good time management? We think you can. Here's the question to ask a candidate.
"How do you organize the music in your car CD changer?" (or do you?)

My otherwise perfect Infiniti G35 has a problem. The CD player, as nice as it is can't tell me what disk is in each of the six decks. Suffering from the Teutonic gene, I've organized my way around that. Simple. Decks 1-3 are downbeat, chill and jazz. Decks 4-6 are Latin, dance and happy music! Left, right, no problem.

Nothing wrong so far until I discovered my daughter has organized her own car CD changer quite similarly. Decks 1-3 slower music, decks 4-6 faster, more aggressive club music. We live quite separate lives, so how did this happen? Well, we're both a bit detail oriented and also very aware of managing time. Must be in the DNA.

Behaviours is how we know someone's character. Want to hire someone great at managing time, ask them about their life, and maybe their CD changer! Get people talking around something, let them ramble. From that you will learn what they value, how they think and who they are and whether they are organized or not.

So, how do you organize your CD player?
See you for breakfast next week,
Wolfgang

p.s. I agree with you, - poor child. Depending on the job, you may not want to hire people quite so tightly wound.
p.s. Construction and electrical contracting project managers. We have candidates. Please call.

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