Sometimes you’re the mongoose; sometimes you’re the snake: instinct leading to fluent victory or your gut guiding you to the jaws of doom. Imagine your advantage when you learn to tell the difference.
Category: executive
Strongly Recommend the Newest Manager-Tools Training
Manager Tools is giving away the results of millions of dollars in research.
Delightful Leadership Tidbits from Disney
tl;dr: Link to an excellent blog post about leadership lessons from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.
Before Christmas, my colleagues and I were privileged to attend a multi-day leadership course from Jeff Kober. Jeff is insightful, patient, and charming.
To solidify our learnings, we’re reading his works in book club format. Jeff has graciously attended each chapter’s discussion via video. I can’t say enough positive things about Jeff Kober.
In our latest meeting we discussed chapter five of his book, Lead With Your Customer. (Chapter title, Why Should Employees Work for You?.)
Not only did Jeff attend and give great guiding comments to the group, he followed up with a link to one of his relevant articles about leadership lessons from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.
Enjoy!
Back in January, I found out that Mark Horstman’s second book, The Effective Hiring Manager, was available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It was a no-brainer: I ordered it immediately.
When a Manager Tools licensee newsletter announced in August that Horstman would be signing copies, I ordered a signed copy. I had to get a signed copy to match my signed copy of his first book, The Effective Manager.
Today my unsigned Amazon copy arrived, and I was as excited to unwrap it as my sixteen year-old daughter is to unwrap BTS merchandise.
If I ever met Mark Horstman (or Michael Auzenne for that matter) I’d be as speechlessly mortified as my wife would be in front of Barbra Streisand. It would be as bad as Troy from Community meeting LeVar Burton.
I know, in my head, they are just people. But I’ve heard their voices on the podcast for so long, and their guidance has made so much sense, and I’ve benefitted so much that I’ve been affected the way that is normally associated with cringing women at the front of a Beatles concert.
Unfortunately, a book on management is unlikely to ever spark a global craze of enthusiastic admiration. It seems that only happens for memes that are merely entertaining, diverting, or even infuriating. But, if you have to bear the responsibility of being accountable for another person’s performance, if you have to participate in the process of defining a company by deciding who gets to work there, if you find yourself tap dancing as fast as you can—wondering if you’re the only one that feels this unprepared: then get this book.
Now, there is one thing infuriating about Manager Tools. One thing that keeps me wondering.
You see, normally I don’t feel confident in recommending a technology without being aware of several instances where I would NOT recommend it. (If you can’t see anything wrong with a technology, then you are probably stuck in the bad part of the hype cycle, and painful enlightenment awaits.) So, I’ve been listening for eight years now and waiting for something I disagree with.
I’ve been waiting to find something to disillusion me. Show me your limits, Manager Tools! Well, I’m sure there’s something, somewhere….
Frankly, if you’re a manager or team lead then manager tools is the best thing since sliced bread. It’s hard for me to think of something wrong with sliced bread, too.
Announcing the new ManagerJS Podcast
TRANSCRIPT:
Shake Things Up AND Keep Your Job
Another free book summary courtesy of ReadItFor.Me and ManagerJS. Today’s summary from Disciplined Dreaming gets beyond the fool’s choice between following rules and being creative. It’s a fools choice because you really need to do both. I’ve seen many promising, ambitious web developers accidentally sabotage themselves by holding too tightly to one or the other. I was… Continue reading Shake Things Up AND Keep Your Job
Please Listen To This Podcast Before Your Next Interview
The folks at Manager-Tools are experienced recruiters. Their list of mistakes that could destroy your next interview is totally correct. I’ve seen all of these mistakes. In my first year or two, they weren’t a big deal. But the more I interview, the more jarring these gaffes become.
Free Book Summaries
Learn to read faster with today’s free summary.
Interview Better For Boot Camp Candidates
Coding camps often yield very qualified candidates. Be sure to review your assumptions about candidates and construct a tailored interview for coding camp applicants.
For example, graduates with a university degree in computer science often have to learn basic concepts expressed in multiple languages and technology stacks. I believe this can give them resilience in the face of change. Because some coding camps turn out graduates with very narrow experience those candidates may not yet be able to apply their new skill in a technology environment even slightly different from their learning experience.
To address this, you might ask a question like ”Tell me about a technology that you have learned for your own purposes — outside of school. How did you approach your learning? How did you build on what you already knew?”
The front page of the Business & Tech section of today’s Wall Street Journal states ”Coding Camps Attract Tech Firms.” And they are absolutely right! I have been very impressed by many candidates from coding camps. On the other hand, I have seen some struggle after being hired for reasons related to their narrow experience.
I recommend embracing this new source of qualified talent. Just take another look at your interviewing process to reevaluate past assumptions.
Know What References are Good For
“Stop asking for references,” is the title and bottom line of Al Pittampalli’s article on the common practice. Why stop? According to Mr. Pittampalli, because they are a flawed instrument likely to give you little reliable information and false confidence. The flaws he points out are true: references are nothing like a scientific survey; checking… Continue reading Know What References are Good For