John Hersey Leadership Blog

Yes, it is no longer enough to see someone’s resume to know if he or she is the best person for that meeting planner or assistant’s job.

Long gone are the days when people were rotated through a position to find a match, or when a competitor’s star player signed on for the big bucks only to fail miserably in meeting very high expectations.

A bad hire today implies such high costs, that the future of a company may very easily be in the hands of the person in charge of hiring the best candidate for the job.  

Today, you have to look beyond the resume when hiring a leader, because normally that piece of paper is more filled with air than a hot air balloon. 

Presently, you have to hire leaders by measuring their cultural compatibility.  Instead of regarding only a certain set of skills, first you have to consider the person’s behavior and attitude towards the meeting planner’s environment.

In fact, there are 4 criteria that are crucial when hiring or promoting someone to a meeting planner or assistant’s job:

Attitude

It is not easy, but is a must, to identify a “can do” leadership attitude.  This requires observation, open-ended scenario questions, and self-confidence demonstrations.

Behavior

This one also requires lots of observation and assessment, because it impacts everyone within the company. 

You have to decide if you need an aggressive, results-oriented, fast-paced leader, or a stable, dependable, and caring one; this based on what the meeting planner or assistant’s job requires, not on your personal preference.

Competencies and cultural compatibility

Every job needs a given set of competencies.  Define the competencies and behavioral attributes that best fit the position and see which candidates have them. 

 The candidate who best fits the competencies needed is the most compatible with your company.

 Skills

You should hire a skilled meeting planner or assistant, but do not make his or her skills the decisive factor. 

Most candidates will be able to learn most skills; however, not everyone is capable of changing or learning a new leadership attitude, behavior, or competency.

A leader should develop a system that measures a combination of these 4 criteria to find the right candidate. 

This process is so vital that many companies hire a renowned leadership speaker and consultant to guide them through it as well as to help them design the right behavior, values and competency assessments, to conduct email and face-to-face interviews, and to thoroughly analyze resumes when hiring and promoting individuals, all of this in order to lower the chances of making a bad hire.

During the past couple of years I have become more serious than usual (and I tend to have a serious nature). In April of this year my life and business had gotten so serious that I decided, much to Beverly’s relief, that it was time to make some changes. Since then I have been on a mission to learn to have fun again. Not only has it made me a better person (at least more tolerable to be around), but it has made me a better leader as well. I have discovered that really great leaders are broad thinkers, not narrow minded. Great thinkers have diverse interests. And, really great leaders enjoy leading.

John and Bev dancing at EuroRhythm

In my pursuit to learn to have fun again I have engaged in as many wonderful and new experiences as possible. We’ll share some of them with you from time to time. Beverly and I have taken up ballroom dancing (this is amazing fun,; check out EuroRythm Studios) and photography while expanding our interests in learning about wine, cooking, travel and Opera.

This weekend we engaged in several of these activitites. A ballroom dancing event Friday evening, Tosca at The Met at the Movies (fabulous and you must try this) on Saturday, and a musical Saturday evening. Sunday was the topper. We took a helicopter to Four Peaks Mountain and toured one of the finest (certainly the hardest to reach ) Amathyst mines in the world. The pictures below say it all.

Boarding Helicopter for Four Peaks Mine

Entering the Mine (From L-R; Doc, John, Garrett, Bev and Donna in front)

John Having Fun, Hard Hat and All

We got to keep the minerals we mined and the people at Sami’s Fine Jewelry will process, cut and polish the best of our stones and give it to us. Bev had some pretty huge rocks so maybe we’ll retire soon.

Finally, Just in case you are thinking this was looking like lots of work and very little fun check out the picture below.

John & Bev

You have no doubt heard the saying about all work and no play making John a dull boy. Learn to have fun again and the work and play will make us all better leaders. Besides, it makes for Unforgettable Weekends filled with Unforgettable Experiences.

In today�s business and economic climate, knowing your people and loving them may be one of your top three most important daily activities.

It�s amazing how little most Leaders know about the personal lives of the people they work with. More importantly, most Leaders don�t have a clue as to the real strengths of most of the people reporting to them. As Leaders you have know about your employees� education, technical skills, behavioral style, and values.

Knowing your people doesn�t have to involve any uncomfortable or sophisticated systems. Just talk with them. Having real conversations with people can produce amazing results. Furthermore, you can just ask employees what they think their strengths are.

Strength Workshop Worked for Wells

By knowing each other better, we can honor each other�s strengths instead of working at defending our own ways of doing things. John and I will never, ever do things the same way. But focusing on our strengths and looking to each other�s greatness, we don�t have to be right. We just have to be effective. These same benefits will accrue to any organization using these incredibly powerful tools.

To help o help you get to know the strengths of those around you we are offering a complimentary Teleseminar, How to Accelerate Your Success by Knowing your Strengths

, on February 5 at 4:00pm Mountain time. We will introduce two tools, the JigSaw Challenge and the “I AM” statement. These are the most revealing and effective tools we have ever developed to help you get to know how to be your best!

Here are the details:

Date: February 5, 2009
Time: 4:00pm (Mountain Time), 3:00pm (Pacific), 6:00pm
(Eastern)

For more information and to register please go to:

http://www.johnhersey.com/strengths.htm

Even if you have a schedule conflict on February 5, get registered, and after the call we’ll send you information on how to access the tele-training replay.

Knowing your people is loving them and loving them is what they need most today.

We are looking forward to being with you on the call.

Best Regards,

John Hersey & Beverly Belury

PS: If you have a friend or business associate who might benefit
from this offer please forward this information to them.