We spend a fair bit of time in our little shop talking about how to work with sophisticated hiring managers vs. unsophisticated managers. This has nothing to do with liking caviar vs. Cheez Whiz. It has more to do with Sean Penn thinking he’s a journalist. Sophisticated hiring managers have enough reps under their belt to know how to play …
Black Panther and Leadership
Been reading a lot about diversity and inclusion work lately. Two reasons—I am responsible for Talent Acquisition and Management for a company that wants to do more in a typically male-dominated industry. Just as importantly, I have a daughter who is asking me questions about life, jobs and pop culture. If you’re an HR pro, or if you care about …
When High-Pots Believe in the Uniqueness of Their Special
In the Talent world, we hear about high potential employees all the time. “She’s a high-potential; that team is loaded with high-pots; we need a high-pot to take on that unit.” Everybody wants someone labeled as a high-potential talent. Everyone, that is, except for a high-potential leading a team. One of the biggest challenges I have seen is getting a …
Let’s Fix This Company’s Succession Mess
As a talent geek, I love it when succession planning rumors fly at big public companies. CEO succession is the most complex, challenging work an HR pro can do, and it is fascinating to watch a company bungle it. Thank you, Airbus, for providing us our case study for the day. We’ll let HR pros from across the country weigh …
What We Mean When We Say “Talent”
We catch a fair bit of grief in HR for using the term, Top Talent. The problem, of course, is that talent means different things to different people. Folks cannot articulate what top performers really do or they get caught up in using tired clichés. I’m gonna try to fix that for you. I think the challenge is that companies …
Tesla Fired Hundreds….To “Improve Morale”
When you geek out on talent like the folks here at FOT, it’s fun to sit back and watch high profile companies make big talent decisions. Intrigue, strategy and risk are all embedded in public leadership transitions, succession planning, business strategy pivots, acquisitions, mass firings….wait, what? Mass firings? Who announces those and makes them public? Well, Tesla does. Backstory intro …
You’re 10 Years Too Late To Get Amazon. Maybe 30.
Here was the press release intro: Amazon today announced plans to open Amazon HQ2, a second company headquarters in North America. Amazon expects to invest over $5 billion in construction and grow this second headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. Then mayors and governors lost their ever loving minds. $5B and 50k tech jobs. Sign me up. …
Don’t Confuse Operation Leaders & Business Leaders
The hardest decision Chief Executives and their talent pros make involves figuring out who to put in the big chairs in their companies. A big chair means running a unit or a division – your titles might be different, but I mean someone who is the Top Dog in a significant part of your operation. Someone who can lead a …
The Uber CEO Search Was the Most Uber Thing Ever
Uber has been HR blog fodder for months, mostly for their toxic culture and former CEO Travis Kalanick being a jerk. Better writers than me took their shots, so I stayed on the sidelines. But this CEO search? I mean, come on, people. It’s too good. Quick backstory. Kalanick gets fired resigns to spend more time with his family. Competing …
Your First Hire, Your First Fire and HR Power
Do you remember your first hire, the one that marked your entry into the glamorous world of HR? It’s a big rush to offer someone a job, and it makes you feel pretty important. How about remembering your first termination? Probably a different feeling. I make fun of bad HR often, but whenever I take myself too seriously as an …