Why managers need long pants and other management mysteries explained

From the barefoot manager's journal. Things you think of when you walk a beach or live a life. Time and distance help make sense of a many things. To help you manage better, here is a segment out of the barefoot manager's handbook.

1. Self directed work teams look a bit like Greece. Without management or discipline, costs get bigger than revenue. When we manage our people well, they become more effective.
2. Sick people go to a lot of places. They fly on airplanes, go to rock concerts, parties, shopping, and even dates. Sick people do not go to work because they know you can't be too careful.
3. People listen better when you tell them a story. Hugo Chavez has South America believing the USA is giving them cancer. He knows how to tell a story.
4. Many people don't know that Einstein didn't text.
5. You can't coach people who are asleep. If they don't care and don't respond, you need to get their attention first.
6. Being a good manager is not a popularity contest, it's a decency contest. If you're a decent human, chances are they'll follow you.
7. "Humans are the only species that will follow an unstable leader." That's what Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer says.
8. If you have long pants, wear them and tell employee's what's required. The company defines the work, not the employee.
9. Your job is to take grownups out of their comfort zone. Certainly it's an inconvenience but that's why we pay them.
10. What people are required to do and what they're likely to do is not obvious to everyone, - especially to Mayor Moonbeam. He was very surprised by the Stanley Cup riots.
11. People tell you "I'm too busy" because it works. It keeps you moving along and brings them peace and quiet. Wouldn't you?
12. People take more sick days on Monday and Friday. It makes a lot more sense when you think about it.
13. We won't hire people who warn us they might not show up for work every day. But once they get on payroll, we're ok with it.
14. Working hard is required. Being stressed about it is optional.

Have a great New Year! 
See you for breakfast,

Wolfgang

If You Don't Know What a Snooze Button is, - You're hired!

Odd question, but I think you should hire this person.

For half my life I did not understand the purpose of a snooze button. The best I could come up with was, it was a button that turned the alarm off temporarily, and reset it for ten minutes later. I knew that wasn't the whole answer because by itself, it did not make sense. It's not logical to wake yourself up so you could sleep for another ten minutes, unless you fell down a rabbit hole.

I knew the purpose of an alarm was to tell you when to get out of bed, not to inform you you had ten more minutes to sleep. An alarm is not a ten minute warning bell like the one at the concert telling you the break is over soon, so go to the bathroom fast. Here I am, many years later only to find out my first answer was the right answer and it still doesn't make any sense.

Things to think about when talking to snooze button candidates, 

1. Hitting a snooze button is asking for a deadline extension. Poor thing to admit to in an interview. This candidate is going to take up a lot of management time.
2. Snooze button people have deliberately engineered in a way of slowing down the process of getting out of bed. You don't want them bringing that kind of thinking to the workplace.
3. Getting out of bed is inevitable. Delaying the inevitable at work is dangerous.
4. People who really need the ten minutes are recovering from bad planning the night before. They're not going to set your team's performance on fire.
5. Snooze button people are not problem solvers. They've incorrectly concluded that nine minutes of interrupted sleep is going to make a difference. Wrong answer, - it won't.
6. There's a special nutty candidate who will set their alarm a half hour before they actually have to get out of bed, then hit the snooze button three times, - using up the half hour, and eventually getting up at the correct time! How ingenious. You're fired.

All things being equal, select the candidate who doesn't use a snooze button. You don't have time to manage the other kind. Most companies hire for competency, then fire for missing character traits. We've developed a web of interview questions designed to quickly uncover the human being in front of you. When you need the truth, let us ask the right questions. 

Join me on Jan. 18th for an exceptional workshop where I will teach you what questions to ask and what the answers mean. How you interview will change forever! 

See you for breakfast, 
Wolfgang 

p.s. Hiring an accountant. 
"When does two plus two equal five?"
"When they're really big two's."
"When can you start?"

p.s. Book your site seminar and conferences. Every public workshop is also available as a site session for your group only. If you're planning an event, or a conference ask to sit in one of our workshops to check us out. If my delivery and approach to the subject are of value, tell me what date you have in mind. Local small group, 2 hr events are $825.00. Out of town events, same price but add travel costs and 2 nights in a four star hotel. Call Wolf at 604-931-6813.

The Story of Your Life Through a Marshmallow

If you're seven years old and they give you one marshmallows, don't eat it. Wait. If you wait, you'll get two marshmallows later and you'll have a better life. That's what the Stanford marshmallow researchers found out. The study found that those kids who waited scored higher in SAT tests, had less living problems, less obese, less addictions, less drug problems, and – blame it on the marshmallows, - had less divorces! Yes, the researchers followed the kids, including the losers, for several decades. 

If you're reading this and remember eating one marshmallow very fast, (about grade 2), and you're overweight, divorced six times, drink a bit much, - now you know it was the marshmallows they gave you. On the other hand, if you're doing well, find life a breeze, and remember eating two marshmallows, - there's your answer!

Waiting, or self regulation, after intelligence, was the single most important determinant of success in life. Why is life set up so backwards? Why do you age? Why does hair fall out and lawns grow in? I could have been one of those single marshmallow kids. Inhaled the first one and wondered why other kids got two later. Life isn't fair. 

"Wait and get two marshmallows later" is a lifetime attribute. You can't knock it out of people with coaching or incentives. Best find it at time of hiring. Instead of offering job candidates marshmallows to see who waits and who doesn't, better ask some polarizing questions. Eg., Living large, what does that mean to you? How many credit cards should you have? What's your ideal car? What's the ideal house look like to you? Does your candidate answer with the long view of self regulation? Or the short, "I want it all now" view? 

Wednesday this week my seminar is on Time Management. We can't manage time but we can sure manage choices. Short or long view? It's a choice that effects every decision you'll ever make. 

See you for breakfast! 
Wolf

p.s. Seminar is Wed. Nov. 23rd, Glenbrook Park Amenities Ctr in New Westminster. 8:00 am, please arrive 15 min early. Great hall, we will have extra seats. It's late, so why not ask Rachel for a guest seat. See what she says! 604-931-6813.

The Bull. The Choice.

I might have been the only person at the bullfight thinking about time management. Some years ago, in Mexico, we went to a bullring. Not my first choice, Stuttgart doesn't prepare you for this. At the same time, you're also looking at a thousand year tradition.

The ethical issues are a bit rough, but the history of the bullring goes back a long ways. My first observation was, - this bull doesn't have a chance. You have better odds in a Vegas casino than the bull does against the matadors. However, I'm here, let's see this through.

The event is simple. You watch the bull charging blindly, making one bad decision after another and ultimately he pays with his life. Matadors count on it. The only reason a matador goes into a ring with a bull is he's pretty sure the bull can't manage his decisions. The bull will run after the red cape, - count on it, your life depends on it.

Busy humans are like the bull. We chase the red cape without thought to consequences. We charge to work, throw ourselves in the chaos, exert huge amounts of energy, repeatedly lunging at the same problems the same way and wonder why we lose the game.

No one can manage time, no one can mange tasks. The only thing we can manage is the next decision we make. Decisions, (choice) exists only where there is a plan. People who don't have choices also don't have a plan. Plans give us choice today over things that will happen tomorrow. Because the bull has no plan, he has no choice.

Take a lesson from the bull ring, - most gains are made by choosing what not to do. Maybe you shouldn't chase the red cape. Plan, and create choices.

Nov. 23rd is about time management. Plan to be there. It's a choice.

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

Location details, Wed. Nov. 23rd, - Glenbrook Park Amenities Centre, New Westminster

We've changed our location to the Glenbrook Park Amenities Centre, in New Westminster. This is a very central, beautiful park setting on the edges of New Westminster, (not far from the Royal Columbian Hospital). Hidden away, a park like setting I never expected to find. A free parking lot, a creek in the back, what better way to start a morning!

Location map link http://glenbrookpark.com/

Time 8:00 am to 10:00 am. Please arrive 15 minutes early.

Comment. Certainly we loved our time at the grand casino location but the room was problematic. Long, narrow and curved, we had our share of visibility and sound problems. This new location allows us to set the room wide, every seat is a good seat and the acoustics are much better.

It's also in line with my direction for 2012. The theme is Barefoot Management, the essentials. I've added workshop dates, events are almost monthly. Subjects are down to earth, clinic style, narrower, smaller and more specific in scope. I'm not going to try to solve the world's management problems in two hours. Instead I'm going to do the best job teaching you how to deal with one specific issue each time. This clinic is about time management. When we're done, you'll rearrange your work-life, for the better! See you at our new location.

p.s. Many countries have now outlawed bullfighting, including parts of Spain. Personally, I'm not planning to see another one. I'm fine, thank you.

Time Management and Broccoli

It's 5:45 am, dark outside. I see the steaming lights of a tugboat. Three lights means a long tow. Behind it is a dark hulking shadow, probably a Seaspan barge, fully loaded, going where? 

I am awake, sort of, but my executive functions, that part of the brain which plans, makes decisions, and regulates behaviour is very much still asleep. Like a child on autopilot unaware of my surroundings or the day ahead of me, I am fixated in the moment, watching a scene unfold in front of me. 

Auto, my pilot, tells me to start the espresso machine, go through the ritual and in about three minutes I have a predictable cappuccino. No thanks to my brain, but thanks to Otto. 

Did you know that other than intelligence, self regulation is the biggest reason for a successful life? Ottopilot stuff like impulse, cravings, or even emotion can make smart people do dumb things. Intelligent plans are easily over ridden by impulse if the front part of the brain is not working well. Think about ex New York state governor Elliot Sptizer and the $20,000 hooker. What was he thinking? Short answer, - nothing. Otto was in charge. 

We all have a bit of Elliot in us to one degree or another. In the cold war days the Russians counted on being able to corrupt anyone they needed to. Greed, sex, drugs, money, power, fame, regardless. They were correctly sure that just being human meant at some point your auto pilot would replace your executive brain function and convince you to do things even you didn't agree with. Name your weakness. Pandering? 

So success is hooked to self regulation, the ability to stick to the plan, to make choices in line with goals. Self regulation, turtle and the hare. Patton having to know how many miles a platoon could comfortably move in one day. Hero stuff vs. system, actor or director. Letterman doesn't have conversations - he only comments on them. Now Collins latest book, "Great by Choice." and the idea of the 20 mile march. It's the same idea, ratcheting up and down the abstract scale. Can you manage yourself? 

After two espresso's I wake up, larger thoughts are entering my mind. My executive functions are fully awake. I don't care about the tug any longer. I have bigger things to think about. The plan takes over. My choice? 

Time management is our subject for Nov. 23rd. But you can't really manage time can you? You can only manage your choices, which cuts down your autonomy, which does imply more broccoli. 

See you for breakfast! 
Wolfgang 

p.s. Our new bpg schedule, more seminars, more focused tools, for all Barefoot Managers! Basics, simple, interesting, explained in more detail. Management is not complicated. You'll love it. Register now. 

p.s. People who manage their choices have more free time! Cool.

Why a $1 Billion Dollar Circus Doesn't Hire Stars.

Why are there 27 Cirque du Soleil shows, but only one Barnum & Bailey show? Because Cirque doesn't have to hire stars, they hire average people. Old style Barnum will hire only proven circus stars. Barnum's talent pool is limited. Cirque's is unlimited. Cirque has a system. Barnum has stars.

Traditional circuses lived and died by their ability to hire star performers. Whoever hired Gunther Gebel Williams, Clyde Beatty, or the Flying Wallendas, sold the most tickets. A circus was only as strong as it's star performers, it's heroes. Cirque has no heroes.

Cirque du Soleil has 27 different shows, 8 of them permanently in Las Vegas. Cirque's revenues topped $1 billion, and they don't employ one super star! No one performer is a known entertainer.

I'm stunned by Cirque's business model. The idea of hiring average people and engaging them in this amazing system. It is where we're all being pushed in business. The talent pool is shrinking for the next eight years. Our systems will have to produce the results because there won't be enough heroes to go around.

Right now BC's economy is doing great, and Alberta is doing better. Still good for us because many local companies are doing a lot of business in Alberta.

Hiring for potential means you have to have better management and tight systems. Systems introduce structure, reduce subjective decision making, push creativity to corporate, and execution becomes the duty of the line. Systems make results predictable. Heroes do not.

This model forms and shapes people. Formative employers benefit from huge loyalty, reduced costs, (because you're not paying star wages), and the ability to sculpt performers tightly to their company's needs and culture. Not bad, but it's sure a lot of work.

Today, unemployment in BC is at 6.7%. That's low, and at pre 2008 levels. By 2015 unemployment will fall to 5.2%, (according to BC Central Credit Union). Alberta's unemployment today, still lower at 4% which effects us because BC workers migrate to Alberta, reducing available talent here. 

• Do you have strong systems that would allow you to hire average people based on potential? Systems strong enough to allow average people to deliver exceptional performance?
• Heroic employees, (though we love them), are also an indictment of a poor systems. Great systems don't need star performers. They deliver without any special individuals. Only terrible systems require heroes to bail them out.

There is no Barnum and Bailey circus in Las Vegas. But there are 8 different Cirque Shows, (count them, out of a total of 27). You decide which is the better business model, - heroes or systems? Which are you, Barnum or Cirque?

Every seminar is about turning a management problem into a system. Predictable, and it will work for you every time. 

See you for breakfast!
Wolfgang 

p.s. The Blue Man Group has a similar business model. They might have 8 groups going at one time. Same thing, no individual stars, no speaking, the show is scripted. No creativity required. A business model easy to clone, uncoupled from heroes. 

p.s. Download some great interview questions. 
Nine Mindhunter Interview Questions.
If you're interviewing, download this pdf. I wrote it a few years ago and it's still solid. Nine questions with explanations attached. The reason for the question, what you'll learn, etc. The battle is to get past the candidate's message and into the facts. This tool will help you ask better questions.

p.s. I'm not oblivious to the Euro zone falling apart and Obama wondering why his constituents, (democrats) are bypassing him and occupying Wall street. It appears the euro zone will pull itself out and the USA economy, regardless of what we think, is growing at slow, bumpy pace. We're all tied together and I'm not at ease yet.

p.s. Dealing with people. "You don't have to be angry, you don't have to be loud, you just have to be clear."

The problem with a David Copperfield resume.

Never been to Las Vegas, - till now! I don't gamble because it occurred to me early on that these unbelievable, opulent and grand casinos were not built on profits from the buffet. That aside, gambling at tables just doesn't interest me. 

Ostentatious means nothing until you set foot in the Venetian, or Ceasars. You can't explain it. You will see it, but there's no way to explain it to someone else. Architecture, money, greed, conspicuous consumption, it's all there. Oddly, there is no fruit in Vegas. Vegetables, fruit and rye bread can't be found. Starbucks had the last banana in Nevada, I bought it, hesitated, but ate it anyway. There are beautiful, expensive, great restaurants and we enjoyed several. The other choice is pricey junk food and nothing in between. 

Should have bought show tickets ahead of time but didn't. Result, $204 for David Copperfield show. Why not, he has a long standing reputation. Should be a good show, right? Location, the MGM Grand. Good. Done. 

Follow the story with me, but think about hiring and reading one of those almost tricky resumes you receive, which begin with "Career profile, accomplishments, strengths, achievements" (detached from a specific employer), and bundle the last twenty years into one boilerplate of endless virtue and competence. Actual employment history, is at the end, in a brief line item chronological employer listing. Just start and end dates, but no other detail. You're supposed to be happy with the bundled twenty year over view.

Back to Mr. Copperfield. Worst show in my life. Amateur magic. (The floating handkerchief trick comes in a package for $21 at any magic store). Audience was not impressed and needed to be revved up frequently. Copperfield tells us when to clap. He shows us, (with both his hands, "clap now."). He's listless, eyes glazed over, lethargic, prattles through his spiel. David, you just aren't what you were twenty years ago. What the heck happened? 

I googled Copperfield, his accolades are many. He is an accomplished magician who's sold more tickets to date, ($30 million dollars) than Michael Jackson, Madonna and even Lady Gaga. He grosses around $30 million annually. Yes, I had the same response, "David Copperfield?" Who would have guessed. Problem is, he's no longer that person. He's no longer the David Copperfield he was. 

Resumes which use the Copperfield approach, (I was great for twenty years so I must be great today), need to be clarified, they need more detail. Nobody is who they were twenty years ago, not even Copperfield. The things I thought important twenty years ago I don't even find mildly interesting today. My tastes, skills, interests, competencies and everything else bear little resemblance to twenty years ago. To quote my experience from twenty years ago is almost dishonest.

When you look at one of those "brochure" resumes, - call it the "David Copperfield resume." A candidate who has twenty years of success and wants you believe they're still capable of doing it all again. Most of them are not. Even Copperfield isn't really David Copperfield anymore. 

How good was your last show? How good were you in your last position? Forget the other stuff. 
Don't hire a "David Copperfield" resume. 

See you for breakfast, better than a Vegas magic show.
Wolfgang 

P.s. Ask for a quote. If you're hiring, call us and ask for a firm guaranteed fixed price. If we can do it, we'll tell you. If we can't, we'll tell you that too. But if we take on your job, it will get done. That's a promise. 

P.s. I'm sad to see Copperfield do such a poor show. His sin is not caring. He pretty much "phones it in." Just to make sure it's not just me I googled "Copperfield reviews" and every show review site is riddled with upset, disappointed people who have much the same opinion. 

P.s. Most of these resumes are based on the advice of professional resume services and high school teachers. The two worst enemies to getting a great job. Be honest, write your work history, don't get tricky.

There are Two Kinds of Managers. Those Who Criticize and Those Who Don't.

The good thing about being an introvert is I'm never alone. Being with people is work for me, but being alone is how I recharge. In my mind I'm a busy guy. Not effective, but busy. I have stuff to do, find out, process, research, develop, read, plan, it never ends. Most of it doesn't include other people. This is not deliberate, it's just the way I am. I am a contented introvert.

My dear Colombian lady, the quintessential extrovert, has hundreds of very close friends. I can't assume to understand her suffering before cell phones, email and social media were invented but it must have been unbearable. She went to funeral recently, and suffered less than when her iPhone died.

One of these friends is like some of your critical bosses. I found there's a third kind of manager, the kind who pretends to support you while they're criticizing you.

Some months ago one of those friends, all smiles, told me "Wolf, you paint so much better than you used to. Your boats and seascapes are so much more realistic. Your colors are stronger. I like how much you have improved."

This wasn't new, she's done it before. This time, I told her to stop criticizing me. You've never seen all smiles change to shock and disbelief. You heard right, - it's code for "shut-up." If she thought my previous work was garbage, let it go and say nothing. Nobody said I was a painter. It's cheap therapy and people buy the odd painting. She began a half hearted defence, but she knew I was right. I sipped my wine and painted more improved seascapes.

It's a nasty trick, complimenting someone's emergence from the dung heap. "But I complimented you, why get upset," is their response.

If you want to be great manager, the right thing to do is ask for what's required, (not criticize on what went wrong). It's more difficult to talk about what a great seascape looks like than it is to tell me I paint bad ones. Don't tell people why their work is bad. Tell them what good work looks like. You'll be a great manager!

Now when the wounded lady comes over she picks and chooses her words as she struggles to say only nice things about my paintings. She doesn't yet know that I don't care. I'm an introvert, I'm happiest alone!

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. If your boss fits this story. Add them to our mailing list. No charge.

p.s. The odd extrovert will ask, "aren't you afraid to die alone?"
I reply, "I'm not sure. What's your plan, - to die in a group?"

Managers just show up more often!

How did you become a manager? You thought it was your experience, wisdom, education, and intelligence that got you into this management role? Wrong. The real reason is, managers show up for work more often. Yes, - you just showed up! Whether attendance causes managers, I don't know, but manager's attendance is 14% better than line workers.

Personally, I don't do "sick" very well. It's annoying and at half energy I don't know what to do with myself. Sick means not in the game. And life is good, - matter of fact, - it's great. I know I've been lucky and my heart goes out to all those people with illnesses, handicaps, and all the other obstacles life throws at us.

The benefits insurance industry profits or doesn't, on accurate risk assessment. Here are trends they look at to predict absenteeism.

1. The higher the rate of pay, the longer length of service, the fewer absences.
2. The larger the organization grows, the higher the rates of absenteeism.
3. Single people are absent more than married people.
4. Younger people are absent more frequently than older people.
5. Older people are absent for longer periods of time.
6. Unionized employees have higher absenteeism than non union.

That may all be well and fine but you can beat the odds and the statistics. Human beings, married or not, old or young, union or not, show up where they are appreciated and having fun. Add to that interesting growth work and challenge, involvement, and they won't stay away from the workplace!

The number one motivator is not money, - it's involvement! Sick days are only taken by people who are not involved. They're either chosen wrong or managed wrong. Either way, - they push back by being sick.

Certainly, 1 out of every 3 sick days is because someone is legitimately ill. The other 2 days were taken by people who just don't care!

Join me on Sept. 14th and I'll show you how to cut your team's sick days in half, (at least)! Seriously.

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. Hiring interview question: How many sick days did you have last year? And yes, we'll verify it when we check your references.

p.s. Source: Benefits Interface Inc.

When You Only Have One Haircut Left

Being of a certain age, let me speak freely about my cohort. I never quite knew what the problem was with hiring old people, some of us are even nice. We have to be. It's the necessary misdirection that allows us to get our own way.

My hairdresser was talking to the back of my head. Since she can't cut hair and talk at the same time, she stops, arms and scissors in mid air, so she can tell me something I heard, ignored, and forgot, on purpose, twenty years ago. I say nothing.

I don't listen well but overheard something about her mother also being a hairdresser. I thought, what if I was a hair dresser? After twenty years, could I still cut each person's hair differently or would I just give then all the same haircut? After so many years, don't you get to a place where your haircuts all start looking the same? Hairdressers are only human.

Imagine twenty years cutting hair in the mall, - a different head of hair every hour. Ten cuts a day, 50 cuts a week, 2600 cuts a year, 52,000 haircuts in 20 years.

You want a different haircut? You are a joker aren't you? You're my 52,000th haircut, do I look like I do custom haircuts? You funny man. Run fast funny man, I'm going to stab you with my scissors.

I asked her, "does your mom actually give people different haircuts or does she just think she cuts them differently? She started to laugh.

I've noticed getting older is not about age, - it's about losing our playfulness, curiosity, ability to wonder, - old is about being in a rut. Young people can be in a rut, - they are then 'old." It's not years, it's the rut! The problem with age is not years, it's about giving everybody the same haircut.

Let me give you a different haircut, a different way of looking at absenteeism, sick days, lates, and sloppy people. You may have given up on some of your staff, - don't give up, come with me on Sept. 14th and I promise you, you'll feel young again! I'll teach you many new ways to cut hair, to get people to work for you, every day, with enthusiasm. And, you'll have a good time while you learn! Bring other managers, bring your team, - I'll show you attendance haircuts you would never dream about!

If your management methods are down to one, same haircut for everybody, - you're just old. Age is never the problem. Being in a rut, - that's the problem. Learn a new haircut!

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. You think you have problems with absenteeism? Think about Obama, his approval rating is down to 26%. About half the people who voted for him abandoned him, they are absent!

p.s. 7% of the American population believe Elvis is alive. 26% approve of Obama. Too close.

p.s. I've met old people who are young and young people who are old. We start to age when we recycle our opinions, views, stories and generally bore everybody to tears. And that seems to happen at any age.

The Day the Boathouse didn't ship.

How to stop a million dollar dinner billing machine cold. 

We've had exceptional weather in Vancouver Slow to start, but last Sunday, what a day! Haven't been to Kit's beach in 30 years. Sailed off it, raced in English Bay, anchored off Kits, but never joined the masses and pretended it was Mexico. We did that on Sunday and it was great! Sun, yachts, bikini's, ocean, thousands of people on Kit's beach!

On the edge of the beach is a million dollar Boathouse Seafood Restaurant. Brilliant location. You can't get a better location! This is Kitsilano, downtown Vancouver, on the side of the ocean with a million dollar English Bay view! Wow. 

As the sun moved westward, I took a quick look up the stairs of the Boathouse to see whether there was any chance of getting a table without reservations. Surprise! A long line of people with the same idea. I should have known better. A hot day, thousands on the beach, and it's near dinnertime. 

Being an old management consultant, I doubt everything so I walked to the front of the line and looked into the restaurant. How serene, how peaceful. The place was empty. Maybe ten diners, and 50 empty tables. What the? 

"Why is there a line up and the restaurant is empty?" I asked the hostess. 
A highly stressed but courteous hostess looked up and said, "because we don't have enough servers on the floor." 
Let's summarize what's going on. The Boathouse restaurant chain has invested millions (?) to set up this amazing, dinner experience, money machine with a million dollar view, in downtown Vancouver, on the busiest beach, with the best demographics for beer and seafood and opened it on the busiest Sunday of the year. The restaurant machine is stopped, business has stopped cold because servers didn't show up for work! Five staff stopped the billing clock! How much does a restaurant like the Boathouse bill in an hour? It's losing thousands of dollars every hour because perhaps five floor staff didn't show up for their shift. My guess is they were on the beach with everybody else. 

TOC (theory of constraints) says business moves only as fast as it's choke point, or constraint. Constraints prevent the organization from reaching its goals. Anything you work on in a business other than the constraint will have no effect. There are chefs in the kitchen preparing to create beautiful dinners, none of which matters because of the constraint. There is a costly advertising campaign, a building, the investments are endless, and all for nothing because the constraint, (about five servers) didn't show-up for work. 

When people don't show up for work, your business is slowed down. Attendance is a constraint managers have to manage, it's a management issue. Attendance reflects management choices and styles. Every job in a business is hooked into every other job. It's this choreographed dance of work the depends on each person showing up on time, every day. When that doesn't happen, the billing machine, - business - stops cold. Absent people become the constraint. 

Next month, Sept. 14th our seminar is Attendance Management. Selecting, managing, and motivating to cut sick days in half. Reserve your seat today. 

To the Boathouse Restaurant manager, I'm holding one free seat just for you. It so happens our seminar is at the (Vancouver Museum) Planetarium, one block from the Boathouse. Call me. 

See you for breakfast, 
Wolfgang 

p.s. TOC was introduced by Eli Goldratt in his book, "The goal." It applies to everything in life or business. Bottlenecks control everything. The game is all about shortages and surpluses. In Goldratt's book, Alex points at a pile of parts at the bottleneck. How much product can't you ship because of the missing parts in that pile? Everytime a bottleneck finishes a part, it makes it possible for you to ship finished product. Service the bottleneck because right now, it is your entire business.

p.s. How do you stop a million dollar billing machine cold? Just don't show up for work. It will stop.

p.s. Love you Ella

I like babies. I don't like other people's babies, but I like my own. In this case, I really like my granddaughter Ella. One year old, cute as a button, she watches to see if I'm up for anything silly. Having raised three daughters, I still have a good inventory of silly, so she's never disappointed. We play peek-a-boo, make faces, clap hands, share food, and she plays along. It's pretty cool.

Here's why I'm writing this. My granddaughter plays as long as I'm responding, if I stop, she gets bored. As long as she gets feedback, the games continue. If I shut down, ignore her, she may try once or twice to reactivate the game, but eventually will go about her own business. At age one, her business consists largely of bringing all room contents down to floor level. It's a big job because we have some big rooms.

Kids grow up, go to school, enter the work force and guess what, - they still do the same thing. They play with those who respond, they ignore those who don't respond. Manage your time better, be selective and respond to those things which drive your agenda. Not all emails deserve answers. Not all conversations need your input, and not all phone calls need to be returned that day. Not all Facebook silliness needs a silly reply this minute. Twitter, - that doesn't even deserve a mention. LinkedIn, - there's a child's toy masquerading as a grownup tool. Guard your time, there's a million babies who want to play, who want your time.

1. Respond to things which drive your agenda, not the other guys.
2. Some conversations just aren't necessary.
3. Do what's right, do what's next.
4. It's ok, to say "no" and not have a reason. It's one of the perks of growing up.
5. Clean up your workspace, put everything out of sight, filed, etc.. Work from a plan, a deliberate agenda.
6. Instead of prioritizing, make a list that represents a productive day. A list that says, if I did these five things today, it will be a good day!
7. Work has three sizes. Skimpy, correct, and overbuild. Do it just right. No more, no less and move on. But do make sure it's just right.
8. Measuring is how we stay in touch with reality. Besides measuring we have stories. Measuring is better.

If you don't respond to a baby, they leave you alone. If you don't respond in the workplace, they leave you alone. To focus, to move your work forward, sometimes you have tune out all the babies that want your attention. I admit babies are a lot of fun, but take my word, - you won't get any work done once you say yes to a cute baby!

See you in September, subject isAbsenteeism, Attendance Management and sick news that 60% of all sick days are not taken by sick people! (click for Attendance Management brochure)

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. B2B Sales process engineering is being repeated in Richmond in October. Ask Rachel for details. Click through for brochure here.

p.s. Love you Ella

The Economy

Things are good but I don't like it. I see a strong local economy surrounded by a larger uncertainty and I'm uneasy. The European nations are floundering, the USA will probably default because either way, Obama is sure to get the blame. In 2008 when the recession first hit, I never thought I'd be writing this three years later, but here we are.

Do we care about the mess that surrounds us in spite of our own Canadian good fortune? Well, - yes and no. I'd prefer if the USA was booming, but we're also not doing bad without it. Our natural resource sector is selling strong to Asia. Manufacturer's are competing, and doing ok. China's wages have doubled reducing their price competiveness. Real estate is strong, but parts of Canada will go soft in 2012. BC has ongoing sales to Asian investors which keeps values high.

So worry or not? From a management perspective I'm paying attention to two things. Maximizing sales, and maximizing production throughput. We're building systems and hiring what we need, in an effort to make sure any work that presents itself will get done and done well. We want loyalty and repeat. In unstable times you rely on your network. At the same time we're maximizing our marketing and sales like never before. Whatever favourable business window we're benefiting from now I want to fully exploit. I have no idea if or when it will close again.

A shrinking economy hurts only the bottom, the worst companies. The strong companies take business away from the weaker players and stay profitable. If BC stays strong, I'll be strong and it won't matter. If the world drags BC down, then I'll be taking business away from my competitors and still be strong. Either way, things will be good for us.

We'd like to become detached from local and maybe even world economies. Microsoft ran like that for years. They were so strong and far ahead of everybody else economic fluctuations had no effect.

Build advantage, build throughput capacity, build sales, and your company will be safe!

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. See you on September 14th. Subject: Absenteeism and Attendance Management.

p.s. We're repeating the B2B Sales Process Engineering seminar in Richmond. Oct. 5th. Same as what we just completed in Surrey for 100 sales and sales managers. It was successful, over subscribed to, we turned people away. This is your chance to re-structure your entire selling system.

The First Sign of Consciousness is Thinking About Time!

Bloomberg business, good content. Layout customized for Bubbles, the Trailer Park Boy, (a show about life between prison terms), with the beer bottle lenses. Type runs margin to margin with no white space. What a struggle. I read somewhere they have a 28 year graphic director wunderkind. He may have been influenced by the people who reskinned Windows 7.0 and gave us a different look at the rather reasonable price of utter confusion. In the animal world there is no why. Seems that's creeping over into the human world and I'm not sure it's all good.

Did you know the first sign of consciousness is thinking about time? I still remember getting out of school in grade one for summer vacation. I could not comprehend September. It was so far away my 6 yr old brain couldn't understand it. Time is the grid against which we measure things. Measuring is our main access to reality. The measure "6" is neither good or bad until placed against a timeline. Six of what and over what time?

Some tips on managing time,

1. Ask "why" often. A lot of things just don't have to be done.
2. Interruptions mean you stop thinking. Deep thought requires no interruptions.
3. Use time tools. Calendars, planners, journals, CRMs, files, to do lists, etc.
4. Crisis is 11th hour response. Too late, manage better.
5. Learn to say No.
6. In an average office, people spend over 33% of their time looking for things.
7. People with clean workspaces are more productive. Period.
8. Your body clock. Respect it and get more done.
9. Measure, record, observe patterns.
10. Time gets sucked up at the intake stage. Organize at intake.
11. Work has three sizes. Too little, too much, and just right. Do it just right.
12. Health matters when it comes to productivity either mental or physical.
13. Rationalizing and explaining is for the guilty.
14. Theory of constraints applies to time management. Find the one single thing that's stopping you.
15. A brain needs to be managed. Use paper, take action.
16. A mind is like water. When it is still it gets very clear.
17. In the end we're all still dealing with people. Human nature rules everything.

Next week Sales process re-engineering seminar. Full. No more bookings. Please think about attending September event.

For everybody else, see you on Wednesday, for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. Next week, remember location is the Guildford Golf and Country club on 152nd street.
p.s. Eli Goldratt passed away, I'm sorry to hear. A great mind. (TOC, The Goal, etc.).

The Problem with Managers Who Like Chickens

With my strong belief in the health benefits of diligent personal apathy, I hardly noticed the Stanley Cup riots. Riots for no reason happen only because they can. After years of training by the media, our police have learned the best response is no response because no matter what, they will always be wrong.

The Vancouver spirit is reflected in the joke about the two social workers encountering a bleeding, dying man with stab wounds. Both whispered, "the person who committed this horrible crime must have had a terrible childhood." When a Vancouverite hears hoof beats, she thinks "zebra." We're so focused on the fringe we don't see what matters.

Of course leadership helps. Mayor Gregor Robertson is the leader who can explain slowing traffic in favour of bike lanes. How you can buy a two million dollar home and your neighbour is raising chickens and wheat next door. How hockey, beer and 100,000 person street party are unlikely to be a problem.

You could look at Vancouver as your personal values stage or you could look at it as a corporation. One view would get you a riot, the other would build the economy. Learn how to hire and promote people who are mature enough to know what's important and what's about themselves. Neediness in management is very expensive. When executives shape policy with their egos, or let their values interfere with what's right, then companies suffer.

You might think it's so folksy to raise chickens. I don't. You might think it's cute to take your slippers and dog to work. I don't. Grow up. Problem is, these people are employed, making decisions for you and me!

Selecting people for their values is everything. Join our Best Practices for Managers group and learn how detect those employees who will turn your company into a chicken farm. Say no, to chickens at work. Welcome to Vancouver.

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

P.S. For a copy of my 21 recommendations on hiring, click through to
"A letter to a young manager, about the process of hiring people."

Is a Nuclear Power Plant Safe?

Sometimes the questions are more complicated than the answers. You just have to know where to look. Is nuclear power safe? This Japan disaster is terrible and doesn’t seem to be over. My point here is, the answer to this complicated question is very simple once you discover that you can’t buy insurance for a nuclear power plant. It’s just not possible!

Insurance companies are very smart people. If there was the slightest chance of making money at it, they will do it. But with nuclear power they can’t see how it’s going to end well. So, no insurance. Questions are only complicated if you’re looking for answers in the wrong places. Nuclear power plants are probably not safe!

Management is often like that. Management is complicated only by where you choose to look for answers. I’ve written twenty one recommendations (below) to managers about the hiring process. When we hire, we determine the fate of our departments, our company. It’s all talent, even the guy driving the forklift.  People make, or break your company.

Click the link below for the my complete paper, 21 points, “A letter to a young general manager, about the process of hiring people.”  Read it, pass it on to your group. Every word is hard won experience.

On July 13^th,  Surrey, we’re doing a seminar on sales. Title, “Sales process engineering.” About designing and building a foundation business acquisition system for your company, or for yourself, that will reliably and predictably manufacture sales.

See you for breakfast,

Wolfgang

A letter to a young general manager, about the process of hiring people.

1. Stop looking for the best candidate. Start looking for the right  candidate.
   Trying to find the best candidate sounds like a good idea but it isn’t.  You’re supposed to find the right candidate, not the best candidate.
   
   Reality shows like the Bachelorette have a low relationship success rate because the bachelorette is comparing the guys against each other and not against her needs.  We’ll know when it’s going to be a good relationship. When the bachelorette, picks her guy, marries him and aborts the rest of the show, we know she’s stopped comparing and has found what’s right for her.
   
   Compare the candidate to what this company needs. Comparing candidates to each other is what you do when you don’t know what you’re looking for. Know the territory and hire the right person.
   
   
2. Why candidates sometimes don’t show up for interviews.
   I’ve learned candidates don’t show up because they’ve lost faith in the process or the succession of people they’ve been exposed to in our company.
   
   Often candidates speak to HR, and like what they hear. They then speak to a manager, and they’re impressed. Finally, they get to speak to the supervisor they’ll be reporting to and their enthusiasm starts to fade.
   
   Different people in our company view new hires differently. Often a smart, A-string candidate will make a lot of our existing employees nervous. Supervisors can feel challenged. Other times supervisors are overworked and sound uninterested, they spiel off endless job requirements and skills questions over the phone, and finally agree to see the person. Highly skilled people won’t put with being treated disrespectfully and many chose not to go through with the interview.
   
   People always show up if they want to. No shows are our fault, fix it.
   
   
   
3. Be careful with employee referral  candidates.
   Familiarity has not yet replaced competency in this company. We don’t care through which gate the candidate arrives at our hiring desk. We only care that everyone crosses the finish line.
   
   Our staff, as much as we love them, are not qualified to know whether someone they know would make a good hire or not. Many people referred Bernie Madoff to their friends and helped him steal their money as well. Well intentioned people tend to be wrong a lot.
   
   Treat referrals with greater scrutiny than you would a cold resume application. Make your own decisions and don’t let referrals blur your judgement.
   
   A warning. Referrals tend to absorb more amounts of higher level time than they should. Too many referrals go up to executive interviews when someone should have “deleted” the resume as soon as it was submitted. What referrals tends to be missing is a critical block of required experience, and nobody spots it until ten thousand dollars of company time, resources, testing, etc. have been wasted, - if they spot it at all.
   
   Referrals often come with promoters. Those people who badger you about seeing their friend or colleague because he’s “such a great person.”  Neutralize them, hide behind the committee excuse. “The hiring committee has not given me a green light.

Eight Ways to Think Better

I used to tell my kids everything in life eventually turns into an IQ test.  My little people would look at me puzzled, not sure why their Dad couldn't just eat the ice cream. 

Looking back, we were both right. My kids were right because you don't always have to think about everything. It's ok to just enjoy the ice cream.  On the other hand, thinking is necessary because reality forces us to get certain things done. Ice cream can't solve everything.   

Jack Welch. Funny guy, very clear mind. Piers Morgan had him on his show last night. Jack fumed about universities, the curse of tenured professors and why America was lagging behind the Chinese in science and technology, (for the first time I believe) and tenure was part of it. His point, - as long as you were protecting people, you're not going to be competitive.

This from the CEO of General Electric, ($130B/yr), now retired, still getting a salary of $8 million a year. He's in this position because he has a very clear mind. He sees things for what they are, not for what people want them to be.

Tenure, in business is a bit like seniority. It means we're paying for an employees attendance  and not contribution . There's nothing wrong with that other than our customers aren't willing to pay a premium for products made by employees with decades of attendance. Actually, that doesn't factor into buying decisions, - if it did, we'd put it in the ads. Customers want great products and that's all. So, we have a mismatch which Jack sees so clearly.

Every day managers are faced with situations that need clarity of thought. Some, like Jack Welch, see things for what they are.  For the rest of us, I've developed this handy eight question filter  that forces clarity. Ask,  

        1. What’s supposed to happen?  

        2. Whose responsibility is that?

        3. How is that useful?

        4. Do we need to have this conversation?

        5. What do you recommend?

        6. Is this drama, or about outcomes?

        7. We’re not paying for your memories. ("I remember when . . . ")

        8. Is that accurate? What do we know for sure?

Filter everything through these tools and we can all be a bit more like Jack Welch, and see things for they really are.

As for my kids, they all grew up without problems in spite of my parenting. Now they're doing the thinking and giving me the ice cream.  Eventually I'll them I was wrong, and a lot of life is just plain, dumb luck.

See you for breakfast,

Wolfgang

p.s. July 13th, Strategic Selling seminar. Sales process engineering, building systems with stages, to predictably deliver sales results. Use it to structure your personal sales or your company's sales process. Full brochure attached, see below this newsletter. Location Surrey. Guildford Golf and Country Club on 152nd Street. Hope to see you all there.

p.s. Other clear Welch thoughts. On Sarah Palin? He just says he wouldn't vote for her because she's a celebrity, not a politician. He is correct, again.

p.s. It's ok to take our work seriously. It's not ok to take ourselves seriously. We're all just someone's little kid

p.s. If you're thinking of hiring, we work very differently. Hourly, no commissions, as your HR department. For more recruiting information please click here. 

I want to work 38 min. Every hour, just like the mailman.

Do you remember a mail slot in your parent's front door? Even apartments had them. The mailman would walk to your home, not a central mail box system, and put your mail through your door. Wow, what a concept!

Mail a letter? There were mail boxes on neighbourhood street corners, close to houses where people lived. Kids walked to the corner to mail a letter. Mailboxes had openings large enough to take a shoe box, should you want to mail your own parcel. Today, without your iPhone's mailbox locator, you're just not going to find one. They're all gone.

Our condo's facilities are fabulous, except the mailbox area. Since we have to go pick the mail up from the lobby box, it can get forgotten for a week. I've had a passport renewal go back to Ottawa because  I didn't act on the registered mail pickup notice quickly enough. Mail wrongly delivered gets scattered around the lobby by people not knowing what to do with it.  Junk mail? Our caretaker thoughtfully puts an industrial size garbage pail close by so we can scoop junk from our boxes directly into the garbage.

The EU in Europe has mandated all postal monopolies be abolished in 2013, and that is probably the future of our postal system. Right now Canada Post has 20% more sick days than the average union workplace. It's employees work 64% of the time for which they are paid. A mail carrier works 38 minutes out of every hour. 

My point here - this is the ultimate cost of bad management. Your customers or stakeholders will put you out of business. Tell managers how to manage and your people how to behave. If you won't lead, people won't follow. Lead with a set of rules. Rule for how we deal with one another around here. Tell everyone, if you want to survive in my department please read our Tribal Handbook.

I'll be developing more parts and details to this, it's not simple. I've attached the three pages right out of our last seminar at this link, Tribal Handbook, part I. Start including this in your employee handbook.  You might have your own ideas for expected good behavior in the workplace. Please send them along to me.
It's a good thing we don't rely on the postal system the way we used to!
Thank you,
See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. Source: I caught it on CKNW and later googled it. The source is a report by the Montreal Economics Institute
p.s. Tribal Handbook, how to behave,  pages from last seminar, click here.
p.s. Who's supervising the supervisors that allows this to happen?

Discriminate, and we'll send in the company's navy seals to airlift you to the unemployment line.

Great morning, great coffee. I was watching the search lights on two tugboats working a very long boom. The river is tidal and the whole mess was moving upriver. Amazing power. Amazing sunrise. Red streaks of morning sun were shooting through the darkness. I really hope the guy who invented espresso got knighted. Why not, Elton John did and espresso is much better.

iPhone email. Some intense self righteous guy scolding me for my lack of faith in the system of marriage and asking to be taken off my mail list. Jerks discriminate, (act), nice people may think something, but they don’t force you to think like them. That’s called prejudice. Bin Laden was a dangerous discriminating jerk. He not only believed stuff, he wanted you and me to believe it too and if we didn’t, he was going to blow things up. That’s discrimination in a big way.

You probably have people working for you who have different ideas, which is fine. What’s a problem is when they won’t stop pushing and try to force others to believe the same thing. Well, those are the jerks and you need to have a sit down with them. Here’s how you explain it.

Tell them having ideas about how the company should be run is acceptable. Being aggressive (militant) about it, like old Bin was, (he blew up buildings) that’s not fine. The first is called prejudice and it’s about what you think. So far so good. The second is called discriminating. It’s when you force others to think like you. That Grasshopper, is going to far. As long as you work for me, you will not discriminate, ie., you will not take action to force your thoughts on other people. If you do, we’ll send the company’s navy seals in by helicopter and airlift you to the unemployment line.

The point: You may differ in how we think about things, but when you force other people to think like you, you’ve crossed a line into discrimination. Leave people alone or else.

Next week Wed. May 18th, my seminar is entitled “Imagine, a workplace with no as*holes!” Learn how to deal with people who want things their way or else. Jerks are harder to change when they mature. Learn to deal with them swiftly and early for best results. I’ll show you how. Be there!

Prejudice or discrimination?

See you for breakfast,

Wolfgang

P.s. Help. There are a couple of clients close to my heart. One is a major electrical contractor who’s looking for a project manager. The other, needs an HR manager. Both are very large, exceptional companies. Truly leaders in their industry. Should you be chosen, it would be the high point in your career. Please call, or send a resume. Thank you.

P.s. Next weeks’ seminar is interpersonal tools, performance management and changing others. We call it “Imagine a workplace with no as*holes. Partly because of the NY Times bestselling book by a similar name. Managers need tools to change things and that’s what this is. Wed. May 18th, - a few seats left. Call and reserve.

P.s. Of course I believe in marriage. What I don’t like is when people get married for the wrong reasons. Mostly, I think love, commitment and respect are far more important than marriage.

P.s. Bin Laden’s popularity dropped every year since 9/11. The Arab world’s power is being replaced by people’s need to go shopping and tell their friends about their stuff on Facebook. Bin never saw that one coming.

P..s. See your company lawyer. Jerks may be wrong, but they’re very persistent.

To the kids on our staff who expect adult wages.

We all have to deal with those people, who like children are only concerned with getting through this moment. Those people who do everything about 80%, and leave the remaining 20% of the work for you. They don't document, record, prepare, write, research, or plan, they just try to figure out what will get them through this situation.

I'm thinking about those people who won't record things on the data base. The receptionist who thinks dating a message is optional. The accountant who won't learn to use the software and improvises with her own spreadsheets. The sales guy who enters my office without paper or pen. The techie who left a message with a supplier yesterday and blames them for not returning his call. The marketing guy who's new printer box is still in the corner a year later. The chronically late manager who wonders why his people are also always late. The schmuck who parks too close to the door and won't use the employee parking lot. When you ask them for green, they arrive with a pot of yellow and blue and tell you can just mix the two together yourself.

  Like kids, they're permanently unprepared, unaware, and puzzled about things that concern others. Ironically they're completely informed, aware and prepared for everything that concerns themselves, especially their wages.

In my May 18th seminar I will teach you you how deal with aspiring jerks, who if left to their own devices, will bloom into mature as*holes. You will learn how to deal with all kinds of disagreeable people at every level. Be there, plan to attend, reserve your seat today.

I know many of you are interested in what I'm reading, here are the books I've covered for the first half of 2011. Some of the material is woven into my seminars. All good books.

1. Bully Free Workplace, by Namie and Namie

2. The No As*hole Rule, by Robert Sutton, PhD.

3. Leadership and self deception, by the Arbinger Institute

4. Management Rewired, by Charles Jacobs.

5. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell

6. Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath.

7. Irrational Predictability, by Dan Ariely

8. Freakonomics, by Levitt and Dubner

9. Working with you is killing me, by Crowley and Elster

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

P.s. Performance Reviews. Download a copy of my 25 page white paper entitled, "It's not about you, it's about what I need." How any manager can do a performance review in ten minutes, using one piece of paper. Click to download your pdf here. / Thank you.

P.s. The "kids" I'm talking about come in all ages.

No Altar, No Divorce.

Research says, the number one cause of divorce is marriage.

On your last Jamaican trip, remember the tarot card reader woefully proclaiming “my tchiile, dere’s much cryin’ an tears in your future.”

She knows nothing. The only thing she knows is you are wearing a wedding ring, and she took a shot. Odds are, she’s right. People who wear wedding rings tend to cry a lot more than those who don’t. Noticing rings pays for a beach hut and keeps ‘em coming back.

Back to the Bogota wedding. The naïveté of youth is so charming. Two young people optimistically looking forward to a life together. He takes charge, strong, silent. She adoringly, fawning over him. Pictures, thousands, Colombians love their digital cameras. For every developing nation wedding, Facebook has to install another server. Family, relatives, friends, all in various stages of emotional imbalance.

Then I spotted the little creep. The kid with the ring cushion. He’s the problem. No ring, no divorce, no pain, and the Jamaican tarot card reader story has to have a happy ending. I lunged out of the pew to stop the kid, but my Miss Cartagena 1982 stopped me instead. Foiled, trying to save two lives from despair.

Problems all start at the altar, (or time of hiring). Nobody has marriage problems before marriage. In companies all your troubles start at the selection stage, - the altar. When you say “I do” (want to hire you), you have less than a 20% chance of success. Nobody has employee performance problems before they hire them, only after.

Poor old Larry King. Smart guy who said “I do” seven times and was wrong seven times. Selection. Larry is good at finding candidates he’s just not good at picking the right ones, (selection).

Our clients always sigh in relief when they think they have the right candidate. “We’re in the final hiring stages,” or “we’re in third round interviews.”

Grasshopper, your problems are about to begin. Do the final interviews, go to the altar, say “I do,” hire that person. You will learn the hard way the devil is not in dating, the devil is in marrying. Hell starts after you have them on payroll, not before.

May 18th, my seminar is “Imagine a Workplace with no As*holes.” It’s about recognizing, managing and not letting jerks into your company. Be there, don’t miss it. An amazing view on management.

See you for breakfast
Wolfgang


P.s. What is a third round interview? Interview volume is not connected to interview quality. Interviewing is detective work. You don’t gather information, you gather intelligence. Information is what the candidate tells you. Intelligence is what you have after you connect the dots. Candidates never give you intelligence, you only learn that by yourself. Interview rounds have nothing to do with intelligence gathering.

P.s. The ambitious people we interview don’t seem to need managing. Anything is possible and they’re willing to do it. The people we employ always need management. What happened? Ans: Selection failed.

P.s. You only have one bullet. When you hire, make sure you’re right. You only have one chance to do it right. You only have, “one bullet.” Guarantees, probation, all nonsense. Nobody wants to go through the time and resource consuming process twice. These are emergency options but nothing you should plan on. Do it right. Use your one bullet wisely.

P.s. As much as I rant against marriage, whenever I meet an old couple married for many years, it still tugs at my heart. Some of them are really two lives who have become one and it’s wonderful. They beat the odds. They won. I wish you the best in your relationships. I hope you too beat the odds and your relationship lasts forever!