You Need Talent You Can Trust
3/3/2011 11:07:21 AM by Peter Gerritsen
Last night I was coming home from a great day in Chicago. Our member, Mobium, hosted a fantastic event that had the social media good guy, Jay Baer (twitter: @jaybaer, his blog is: http://www.convinceandconvert.com) speaking about his and Amber Naslund’s (Twitter: @AmberCadabra, and blog: http://www.brasstackthinking.com) new book, “The Now Revolution, 7 shifts to make your business faster, smarter, and more social” ( http://nowrevolutionbook.com ) Jay wowed the audience with is perspective on the necessary changes we all must address if we are to succeed in this new business world. I managed to finish the book before I met Jay during breakfast prior to his presentation. It gave me a bit more insight into the power of what he had to say. Get the book - it is very good!
Shift 2 in the book — Find Talent You Can Trust.
This is about essentially building the best team for your business. Involve the entire team in the business. Share as much info as possible, bring everyone into the knowledge base, trust them, and hire for passion not expertise. The quality of the individual will far exceed just the skills each will bring to your company. There’s much more, but this will give you enough to understand my next point.
This topic hit home as I waited for my flight back to Boston last night. I was in the scrum of passengers waiting for the announcement of my section’s turn to board. There was a guy a few feet away, yapping on his mobile. A typical business guy in his suit that had seen a long day. His appearance to gave me the impression of at least fairly high-up in his company. Probably in his mid-30s. I couldn’t help but listen in on his half of the conversation. He wasn’t trying to be quiet. He was talking to someone about a great biz opportunity for his company, but he wants to derail it because he won’t get credit for the sale. Wow! Now, there's a true company guy!
I know that business can be a battle to the death for some people. People can get wrapped up in the ego driven world of the sales process. But, did I really just hear what I heard -- in public? Was this arrogance or stupidity? Was this his typical operating procedure, or is it how the company teaches their people? What if I knew the customer or his company, or his competitor, or his boss, or anyone remotely connected? What if I knew his name and posted a tweet that said this guy is going to sabotage the deal tomorrow. Believe me, if I knew at least one part of any of these, I think I would have posted a message right then. I tried to find his name or a logo on his bag, or anything that identified him.
I believe in the concept of open sharing of the wealth of knowledge. For companies to be willing to open with our people about what we do and how we do it. It builds credibility amongst the team through cooperation. I believe in Jay and Amber’s POV about who and how to hire for greatness. There will always be the few who will kill our efforts at every turn. Lack of intelligence or just bad folks. Whatever -- it doesn't matter. Don't let it pull you away from your mission. We have to trust those around us. But we have to do a better job of truly understanding who they are and not just their skills.
Hire for passion, curiosity, and intelligence and teach them the details.