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Attracting the Attractive
Where we have extended our time horizon for talent identification and are sending scouts to waterholes and have found interesting individuals, how do we draw them to our industry and organization? As our scouting efforts find success, our role transitions to recruiting. We want to draw those we’ve identified as potential performers to us. Recruiting becomes like a romance. How do we attract the attractive? Sidling up to them and offering, “Hey, how are you doing?” isn’t going to cut
POLR – Path of Least Resistance
A few Thanksgivings ago, I was able to convince one of my son’s to accompany me on a stroll through our neighborhood. In an effort to get some fresh air and pretend to be healthy in anticipation of the next round of gorging, we set off on our walk. We came across a spot where a large pile of fresh bear scat proudly stood in the centre of the road. It seemed the strong beasts capable of all kinds of
Logistics as Leadership
In the past, I served on the board of directors for the Canadian Ski Coach Federation (CSCF). It was the governing body responsible for certifying and educating ski coaches for the sport of ski racing in Canada. For most sports this function was managed directly within the sport’s NSO or National Sports Organization. Alpine ski racing in Canada was one of the only sports which had two organizations, Alpine Canada and CSCF. This separation posed problems over the years as
Tempering Temper
When was the last time you lost your temper? Were you proud of how you reacted? Was it fun? Anger is a common, shared experience. A Gallup poll conducted annually across 115 countries has shown that anger is a frequently felt negative emotion for many. The experience seems to have grown over the 15 years that Gallup has conducted this poll culminating in 2020 results hitting records. Higher levels of anger may not be a record of which any of us
Small Steps Challenge
During a recent visit my parents went out one morning to run some errands. I took something down to our guest room in which they were staying to notice that they had cleaned things up impeccably. It contrasted wildly with the state of our children’s rooms. I corralled two of my kids and brought them down to our guest room. I asked them if they noticed anything about how the room looked. I prompted that before their grandparents arrived how
Two Selves: A Metaphor for Micromanaging
Tim Gallwey is an author and long time tennis coach. He originally wrote The Inner Game of Tennis in the 1970s and has produced several edits of this classic in more recent years. His ideas merge the fields of sport psychology and learning. In his early days of coaching, Gallwey noticed that individuals were talking to themselves as they played and learned. Some would do it using their outside voice but even those that were quiet were talking internally to
Sensible Stealing
In our early twenties a friend of mine and I stumbled across a niche product during our normal jobs. We decided to dive in and try to figure it out to see if we, too, could play this game. We talked to those using the product. We were honest. We told them we didn’t know anything about it, worked in a related industry, and were interested in learning more. The product was a battery pack used to power some electronics
Creating a Culture of Curiosity
In a recent note we introduced the importance of questions as a tool for improving ourselves and our organizations. We highlighted a number of areas where good questions can help us make positive progress. We hope, in this note, to outline what constitutes good questions as well as offer some suggestions for how we can cultivate curiosity in our companies. James E. Ryan writes in Wait, What? That “The simple truth is that an answer can only be as good
Take a Look at a Book
Some like reading more than others. Sadly, some don’t like reading at all. Consider Sam Bankman-Fried, former darling of the techno-currency world that took a start up to a multibillion-dollar enterprise in a couple of years only to see it implode overnight. From hero to zero this many times over billionaire watched his wealth evaporate in November of this year. In an interview in 2020 as FTX was rocketing on to investors’ radars, SBF, as he came to be known
Questioning Questioning?
We live rurally where removal of garbage is our responsibility. There’s no scheduled pick up. We need to deliver to our local landfill. It’s a simple enough chore which one lucky member of the household does weekly. On a recent visit, I noticed a bold, new sign that had been made and installed on the route up to the bins. The sign noted a speed limit for visitors to follow. It boldly and clearly presents in large caps, “SPEED LIMIT
