Rocks Are Hard

Hire a Waiter or a Bartender

Recruiting is a tricking business in the best of times -- add the situation we live in today and it's even nuttier. Definetely an art form, not a science (no matter what anyone tells you). 

At Double Forte we've tried many different processes to recruit great people. Today we have a bit of a different approach that takes into account the situation we find ourselves in today.

• No one with 10 years of experience: for one thing there are VERY few people in our biz with 8-12 years of experience -- why? because almost no one got hired between mid-2000 and mid-2004 --so there's a big, 5 year donut hole in the talent pool)
• More people want to manage than want to work (don't get me started)
• An abundance of people who feel certain types of work is below them
• A tidal wave of applicants who want their career handed to them

.... to name a few. 

So we look outside the check list of traditional requirements to find that special person that fits our purpose.  And we're down to this:

• Does the person have a lean-forward, can-do attitude. Does their current situation prove it?
• Can the person write two sentences, one after the other, that convey a powerful thought with proper spelling and grammar? (I assure you this rule DQs a large percentage of people)
• If it's a higher level position - what does the person bring to the table to augment what we already have? 
• Does the candidate exhibit initiative?
• Teamplayer? Yes or No. 

This net -- with weird-shaped holes -- catches a lot of great candidates...  for other jobs.

Then the last filter -- BIG BONUS points if they've been a waitress or bar tender and put it on their resume.   (See this great New York Times profile of Amy Astley of Teen Vogue "Always Be Proud to list 'Waitress' On Your Resume). When you have to live and die (or pay rent or eat ramen) based on tips, you learn SERVICE the hard way...and it doesn't leave you.

 Who gets through is a special  breed - our breed.

Our herd is getting larger, one special person at a time. 

Showing Up is More Than Showing Up

I was at someone else's meeting last week that was a disaster...complete and utter disaster.  The meeting was called, calendars (of busier people than me!) were cleared, an agenda was sent, but only a few people showed up.

We were all there in person, but only half the group was there --  prepared, ready to participate, and with an intention to collaborate.  They showed up but didn't.

Made even worse by the fact that the meeting convener didn't show up either. I mean really.

It would have been better for him to cancel the meeting than actually hold it when he wasn't prepared.  Instead of an empty 2 hours on the calendar, now he has at least 4 people who won't bother showing up (in any sense of the word) next time.

Show up. Come prepared -- read the material, know why the hell you're in the room, have a point of view, at least come with your calendar so that you can discuss schedules. 

Don't waste your time. Don't waste mine either.

 

(p.s. you can buy this tshirt at zazzle)

 

 

 

Drive A Stake Through Bad Ideas

"There are no bad ideas."

This is an excellent way to start a brainstorm -- because ALL ideas can be built upon, and sometimes the worst ideas spawn genius.

However.

Ideas that are "fun" and "will get results" but don't drive to a postive long term conclusion are "bad" ideas -- not (necessarily) because they're "stupid" or "dumb," but because they don't trigger the action you need to succeed.  

So before you go off and pursue things that will work (but won't work for you) -- pull the string through on the idea.  Where will it lead you if you're successful? Will it drive the action that you require? Or will it just add fluff and noise or drive action to someone else?

Bad ideas of all types need to be killed and killed fast, or they'll keep resurfacing and throwing people off track. (Read  here for more on being really busy and getting nowhere.)

 

And Then We Wave The Magic Wand

Planning is important -- not because anything ever goes to plan, but because (for one thing) it charts out a desired result and the steps you need to take in an ideal world to get there.  Good planning should also include several escape hatches if what you think will happen along the way does not occur.

When you've thought out what you want and how to get there, then dealing with the guaranteed variables along the route is easier to manage.

However -- no plan should rely on "...and then we wave the magic wand" -- EVER.  

It worked for Cinderella and Dorothy, but the fairy God Mother and the Good Witch are busy and can't be counted on to show up for you.

 

Do or Do Not. There is No Try.*

Whenever I hear "I tried" I know there's a "but" coming.   It's become the preface to excuses and lame efforts with less than desirable results.  In effect "try" has come to mean so much less than its definition.

"I'm trying, but..." "I tried that but...."

Merriam-Webster defines the transitive verb "Try" as "to put to test or trial" and "to subject to something that tests the powers of endurance" or the intransitie verb "to make an attempt."  It's actually powerful stuff -- it's how we've come to use it that has weakened the impact of the action.

Because if you're really trying you are doing and you will get a result.  It may not be the result you want, but if you've put the effort into the action, the result is meaningful -- it tells you something. It informs what you should DO next to reach the desired result.

So STOP putting "but" right after "I tried."  Instead use "AND"

"I tried AND I got this result which indicates we should....."

"I tried AND I learned XYZ so now we can..."

"I tried AND it worked so I'm refining and repeating."

It's a small change in language that reflects a HUGE change in attitude, and, in my thinking, success.

* Yoda

 

Tell Me What You Think

When you're the boss, it's easy to get in the habit of making decisions for  or giving direction to people all day long. This is the worst thing you can do for your people.  How will they advance and grow without taking a stand or making a decision? If you just tell eveyone around you what to do then how will you get out of being in the middle of every little thing in the project or business?   

One person in a group can't know everything or be right all the time.

On the flip side, I see people all throughout my life who refuse to make a decision or articulate a point of view.  They end every meeting or conversation waiting for direction or asking "what should we do?" As if they're scared to make the wrong recommendation.  Or they don't want to be held accountable for the results of a decision. And suddenly 96 emails later you're in a vortex of hell full of passing the ball, asking for opinion, and posturing.

The day is filled with subjective questions, where there is no clear answer -- here is where YOU can  become invaluable in your environment.  When you can not just analyze or assess a situation but move forward from it!

TAKE A STAND! Tell us what you think we should do. Weigh options and give me (or whoever) your opinion about a way forward. You may not have all the information. Based on the information I have, I may not agree with you. But if you come to me (or your colleague or your client or your partner or your friend or your....) with an informed point of view  (e.g. "Here's what's going on, here are the options I see and their consequences, based on what I know I think we should do XYZ), then you've advanced the discussion and caught me up to your knowledge and analysis, and I (or anyone) can add context and decide together.

Without your informed point of view, all you're doing is (as my friend Paul's father says) "is coming and $%(ing on my lap."

And that's just a mess.

PS. Here's an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on the science of  Why So Many People Can't Make Decisions.

Take All Those Good Ideas OFF the Whiteboard

Too often with bright, interested, curious people brainstorms result in too many good ideas (I know, what a problem to have!).   And they're good ideas so everyone wants to do them all.

STOP THE MADNESS!

Doing one thing great is much better (effective, efficient, manageable -- I could go on) than "trying" to do all of the good ideas sort of well.  Or as I like to say "Less of good is better than more of crappy."

The key to great campaign/project/idea management is taking the Good ideas that could work OFF the board and LEAVE only the great ideas that you can get done that will achieve the business goal ON. 

So have the brainstorm. Generate tons of ideas. And then really look at what you have.  Sift through them all.  Are they good ideas or great ideas? Can they stand alone or as parts of others? Can you get them done or are you too dependent on other factors?  And then take the good ones OFF and leave no more than 2 GREAT ideas on the board.

In the end, the most effective whiteboard is the one with one or two ideas on it that can be mapped, planned for and executed against. Everyone can see it, no one gets confused, and you don't run into each other in execution.

 My friend Nilofer Merchant calls this "murderboarding"  and you can read all about her process and ideas about it in her book The New How. 

 Next time walk in into the brainstorm with a big eraser you're ready to use, and you'll be WAY ahead of the game you're about to start.

Deadlines: A Primer

Deadlines aren't for you, they're for someone else. Because someone else needs what you're working on to get what they're working on done. So with that in mind, let's review:

1.Never EVER set Friday 5pm as the deadline. All that means is that the person you're sending something to is going to have to stay late or work on the weekend to act on it. And you're on the hook until your work is cleared...so you're working late or over the weekend too.  If someone gives you that deadline, RESET it to Friday at noon.

2. Same thing with Monday morning. All this means is you're working over the weekend.

3. Any day at EOD as the deadline guarantees a crappy day and working into the night. Move it back so you have time to answer any questions the person you're delivering something to might have.

4. If you're not going to make a deadline, tell the person ASAP and renegotiate   to   figure out how to get it done. RUN, don't walk on this one.   Your work not getting there on time can set off a whole domino effect you can't see and the fact that you missed it will feel MUCH larger than you can predict.  Really, if you have a 3pm deadline, you are sure to know before 2:59 that you're not going to make it.  Renegotiate a deadline as soon as you know you're in trouble so everyone around you can plan too.  No excuse.

5. No matter how great your work is, if it's late  it doesn't count.  No, don't argue with me.

The End.

Say It Out Loud

Too often I watch people rush into projects and their work without taking the 30 seconds to say "what do I want to achieve with this _thing_?"

Off they go, working away diligently on their to-do lists.  They eventually cross everything off and sit back to survey their accomplishments and are disappointed.  "All that work for nothing?"  Like ducks paddling wildly against the current, they're tired, have done things, but gotten nowhere.

Stop! Wait! Before you start say what you want to achieve OUT LOUD (this is not a time when your inside voice need stay contained!).

"To land the NYTimes Magazine and California Report and ______"

"To get 100 new people signed up for the community from Stanford Hospital."

"To recruit 4 kindegartner parents to _____"

"Introduce myself to X Y and Z and get a presentation opportunity out of 1 of them."

Say it out loud. Write that down and put it next to your computer. Leave the piece of paper alone.

Go about your project (which one assumes you have altered a bit to accommodate what you said out loud).

Measure yourself against that and I bet you will cross everything off your list with satisfaction for a job well done with travel upstream.  You may even turn the current.

Sometimes Business IS Personal

"It's not personal, it's business." Can't help seeing Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in my head when I say, think or hear this.

So often we take things personally when it's not about us -- and when you're in a service firm, it's ALWAYS not about us.  When people react to an email or request without context it can feel personal, and I do spend time reminding my very conscientious, very hard working staff that "it's not about you -- it's about what they have to deal with" or "they don't know what they're asking."

(Frankly as a side note, "they don't know what they're asking" is probably more prevalent, because everyone thinks they know what we do all day, but most have no frickin' clue what it takes to make our work happen....but that's another blog post.)

HOWEVER -- sometimes business is personal....let me refrain, sometimes the service firm business is personal.When personality and fit and ability to serve define how well you can get your job done - business becomes personal.

And the first rule of personal business needs to be courtesy, or it will collapse regardless of results.  If you find yourself in a situation when you are not being extended the basic courtesies of business (they are: returning phone calls or emails in a timely manner, providing direction when giving feedback, being direct without being rude, being HONEST) that's when it crosses the line and it's time to GET OUT.

When business becomes personal it's time to change or get out of the game.