Quote of the Day

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Quote of the Day

"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."

- Lawrence Summers

Quote of the Day

"There are only four types of officer. First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harm...Second, there are the hard-working, intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered. Third, there are the hard-working, stupid ones. These people are a menace and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody. Finally, there are the intelligent lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office."

- General Von Manstein on the German Officer Corps

Who is an Applicant?

Lisa Harpe of Peopleclick has a good article on just who is a job applicant. This may seem obvious until you consider questions such as:

"If someone hands a resume to one of your executives at a cocktail party, is that person an applicant?"

"If someone applies for a job that you haven't advertised, is that person an applicant?"

"If someone who is obviously unqualified applies for a job, is that person an applicant?"

An excerpt:

"It is important for an employer to know who qualifies as an applicant for two reasons. First, only an applicant may make a case of discrimination in hiring. Second, an employer must be able to identify the gender and race of all applicants to evaluate whether its hiring practices have an adverse impact on women or minorities. Federal regulations require employers to solicit race and gender information on all applicants and to maintain the records required to show the impact of all selection procedures on women and minorities. . Understanding the definition of an applicant can help employers minimize risk and protect themselves from costly audit defense."

Superficial Action

A supervisor, who has a problem with the performance of one employee, does not confront the employee but instead sends a memo to the entire staff urging compliance with a policy.

A sales manager calls a meeting to analyze a decline in meeting sales goals. He tells the sales staff to get their sales up but does not examine the specific actions that they will have to take in order to do so. When the goals sink again next month, the manager will call another meeting and do the same thing.

These are examples of superficial action where the emphasis is on being able to say some action was taken rather than taking action that will truly make a difference. Practitioners of superficial action are interested in establishing their innocence. They are less interested in being effective and, if pressed, will frequently admit that they expect little to result from their efforts. In short, superficial action is an alibi.

What is surprising is how often you can encounter superficial action in workplaces. It is reminiscent of an old joke from the Soviet Union - "They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work" - and it can reveal a much deeper problem in which the employees and management have a tacit agreement to permit poor performance in the interests of industrial peace. These dysfunctional teams aren't in search of excellence. They're in search of comfort.

Check out your own workplace. It is a rare workplace that is devoid of superficial action.

No Brainer or Whole Brainer

These right brain/left brain exercises by Andrew and Mary Bragg are from the ThinkingManagers.com website.

Although too much has probably been made of the right brain/left brain differences, it is interesting to consider which of the activities on their lists you tend to do as a matter of course.

Due to the nature of my work, I read a lot of nonfiction. As a result, I've found that including books that are either completely outside of my usual routine or are flat-out bizarre (e.g., Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman) has helped to expand my creativity.

As an exercise, it resembles the old Spanish anarchist proverb: "If they give you lined paper, write against the lines."

Job Hunting Tips

It's easy to be critical of articles like this one from CareerJournal on job hunting. They state the obvious ("Write a resume! I didn't think of that!), but if you've conducted any job recruitment campaigns recently, you'll know that there is a large portion of the population that needs the basics, such as:

- Don't use an e-mail address that might create the wrong impression. You may think "hottiebabe" is cute but the HR folks will think differently.

-Don't expect a fast response but if you get one, be prepared to interview. After all, you contacted them.

- Don't hide jobs. If you had to take a less than attractive job to pay the rent, say so. That may actually score points with the Horatio Alger types and it will be better than having to explain an employment gap.

- Proofread your resume. Read it out loud - I suggest a Foghorn Leghorn voice - because that will help to spot the problems. Watch for missing words. Avoid jargon and stilted terms such as "utilized" and "effectuated." Plain language is best.

- Don't badmouth your former employer. If there was a personality conflict, you can say so but going overboard ("They were vicious swine!") will only sink your chances.

- Do have someone put you through a mock interview. When they do so, have them ask basic questions, such as "Why do you want this job?" and "Why should we hire you?" Many applicants only prepare for the tough questions and then are completely flummoxed by the easy ones.

- Do dress appropriately. That means clean and conservative. Anything flashy or seductive should be out.

Finally, play the odds. Use all of your personal contacts but also submit your application/resume to large numbers of employers. You may think that contacting 25 firms is impressive but it isn't unless you possess some unique skill. Fortunately, websites such as monster.com and jobing.com make it easier than ever to contact large numbers of employers.

Job searches are a hassle but they are a part of life. Everyone has a job search horror story or two so don't be discouraged. As an old friend of mine says, "You'll eventually find a job. It's a matter of time." You just want to make sure that you are doing everything possible to make that time shorter.

Sowell on Diversity

Thomas Sowell, the Stanford economist who's written extensively on Affirmative Action, is seldom cited in the average diversity training program. This may be because Sowell is not afraid to challenge the implicit assumptions that should be addressed in such sessions. One excerpt from a Sowell speech:

“Every culture discards over time the things which no longer do the job or which don't do the job as well as things borrowed from other cultures. Each individual does this, consciously or not, on a day-to-day basis. Languages take words from other languages, so that Spanish as spoken in Spain includes words taken from Arabic, and Spanish as spoken in Argentina has Italian words taken from the large Italian immigrant population there. People eat Kentucky Fried Chicken in Singapore and stay in Hilton Hotels in Cairo.

“This is not what some of the advocates of ‘diversity’ have in mind. They seem to want to preserve cultures in their purity, almost like butterflies preserved in amber. Decisions about change, if any, seem to be regarded as collective decisions, political decisions. But that is not how any cultures have arrived where they are. Individuals have decided for themselves how much of the old they wished to retain, how much of the new they found useful in their own lives. In this way, cultures have enriched each other in all the great civilizations of the world. In this way, great port cities and other crossroads of cultures have become centers of progress all across the planet. No culture has grown great in isolation-- but a number of cultures have made historic and even astonishing advances when their isolation was ended, usually by events beyond their control.”

Read the whole thing here.

Michael O'Leary Uncut

Those of you who want the uninhibited, four-letter-worded views of controversial Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary can find them here.

Life, Satire and Bono

You know, you try to be a little idealistic and the rest of the team resents it. This straight story from CNN about the tension created by Bono’s efforts to save Africa resembles one from the satirical site The Onion.