Both economical and environmentally friendly, videoconferencing allows the hiring managers and candidates to visually meet and interact with each other during an interview, with the candidates participating from the comfort of their home laptops/pcs.

Hiring managers and job seekers I know who have utilized this options prefer this over traditional phone interviews, and also over taking two or three days off their current jobs to interview for at most 4 or 6 hours at a distant location, only to have one or both sides determine this would not be a good match.

If the company and candidate then agree there is still mutual interest, the final one (or even two) candidates can travel and meet the team/tour the local area in person before deciding whether or not to accept the job offer.

One of my friends is currently interviewing with an out of state company which heavily promotes multiple products which it delivers via web-based streaming media; yet they insist my friend fly to the company’s headquarters twice, to interview in person; the hiring manager and team are not comfortable with video conference/online interviewing.

Oh.

Ironic – or hypocritical?

“May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.

May good luck pursue you each morning and night.”

-  Traditional Irish Blessing

“May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been

the foresight to know where you’re going

and the insight to know when you’re going too far.”

-  Traditional Irish Blessing

“May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.

May good luck pursue you each morning and night.”

-  Traditional Irish Blessing

“May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been

the foresight to know where you’re going

and the insight to know when you’re going too far.”

-  Traditional Irish Blessing

For now, several are in challlenging jobs – where the biggest work challenge of all is both realizing and accepting the enemy is not a competitor, it is within.

I understand their frustration; best captured in this email recently sent to me:

“So, things are not going terribly well at present for the current director of our office.

Apparently, by not listening to requests the client has made and not addressing key issues raised by our client, as well as failiing to deliver on the fundamental value-add principles our organization was supposed to deliver to the client, the client is getting upset and has created a task force to look into the behavior of our organization and determine if requiring a change in leadership is necessary.

While this has been building for months, he’s somehow been oblivious to it and it has only come to his attention this morning – far too late for him to stop the momentum.

Could be an interesting next couple of weeks.

Despite all this, his actions have been showing some questionable priorities and decisions remain baffling.

1. He’s invested in some Ikea office furniture and is thrilled. Thrilled! The desks have glass-tops, but our organization does not have any mouse pads…our guests will look very professional using our their mice on spare cardboard and sheets of paper over their new-ish Ikea desks:

The question of monitors, keyboards, and mice for the present staff remains outstanding and apparently held back by countless layers of red tape (in our 14-person organization, no less)

2. Recently, the director really questioned printing charges for color sales presentation materials (for an imminent global business bid). We recently had to change our copying supplier since we had a dozen color copies of a (now obsolete) thousand-page training manual prepared and bound for us at the local copy shop – which we then did not pick up once the director realized the charges for this were approximately $700.

Now we drive to other areas of the city for business printing needs.

Still, he’s concerned over the charges of printing up & binding 8 color copies of a 40 page document that are part of a bid to earn millions of dollars.

3. The director recently did a presentation about the need for us to do computer backups (apparently it’s our responsibility to do so), but will not provide a portable hard drive, back-up server, USB key, or even a stack of blank DVDs that we could back things up to.

I hope my friend hangs in there; I’m pretty sure the best part of this still developing story is yet to come.

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”

- Douglas Adams (1952 – 2001), Mostly Harmless

Related Content:

Work is a Four Letter Word, Part 2

Maybe four weeks ago, a beloved member of what was our team gave our now former manager (now known as Splat) notice she was leaving the company to work for a manager who was willing to talk with her, among other reasons. The next day, Splat called her and said “Since I have to replace you, what exactly …

“We’re all mad here.”

I’ve often wondered how companies succeed when so much inside seems to be broken.  If we’re lucky, work only consumes 10 or so hours a day, 5 days a week – but if you work in technology, frequently it consumes a lot more time, even if it’s only mental bandwidth and …

The Congressman and coworkers were awesome; the computer system I had to administer was not.

Suffice to say, this cartoon struck a strong note in my hard drive:

So much for work  | life balance.

At the same time, I think Steve Jobs gets a lot of things right – including not making decisions for the short term without fully understanding the long term implications of those choices.

Jobs also knows loyalty is a two way street; customers and employees will forgive an occasional misstep or two if they feel a product and company are worthy and relevant for the long term:

• The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.
• Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
• Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
• Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.
• Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.
• You hire good people who will challenge each other every day to make the best products possible.
• When I got back, Apple had forgotten who we were. Remember that “Think Different” ad campaign we ran? It was certainly for customers, but it was even more for Apple. That ad was to remind us of who our heroes are and who we are. Companies sometimes do forget. Fortunately, we woke up.

I’m not yet ready to move Cupertino, especially since I think the Northwest can – and should – do better.  After all -we’re also

“…the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Or – innovate or die.

Related Content:

And One More Thing…

Steven Jobs, cofounder of Apple, has been labeled many things, from visionary to egomaniac. Often I think he is inspirational too: We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here? Innovation is the distinction between a leader and a follower. The system is that there is no system. That doesn’t …

Ego, Redux

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right. – …

Others’ Thoughts From the Blogosphere.

Yesterday Scott Berkun wrote a very interesting blog post on How to call bullshit on a guru; equally interesting was the reader discussion which followed.   My favorites:   “Do you know how to innovate?  How?” “How interested is this guy in understanding my problem(s)?”. If they’re not, then they’re a hammer looking for nails, …

Putting a Dent in the Universe.

Steve Jobs is many things – obsessive, a visionary, a micro-manager, and until now, ever-present. Outside of his recent weight loss, not much is known about the health issue behind his announcement today of a six-month leave of absence – but it’s a safe bet it’s something quite serious. Steve Jobs …

Success – and Failure – Really Do Depend on the Customer Experience.

And, customers experience your company in a lot more ways than you realize. Every day, and via multiple mediums, customers receive some kind of experience, ranging from positive to negative;  with customer experience being defined as the sum total of conscious events/experiences.  A company’s ability to deliver an experience that sets …

• If you’re doing things you feel compelled to hide from others you shouldn’t be doing them.
• You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
• Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted; but at the same time, be very careful what you wish for.
• All sales are solution sales; while you or I may not understand someone else’s decision points and drivers, those drivers are definitely there and often in (or out?) of control.
• Flying monkey launchers are a must have when in a target rich environment.
• Eventually, all shit rolls uphill.  For example: each person in a work group is responsible for their own actions; but if an individual repeatedly acts in a way which is detrimental to a business and/or to other people, the root cause responsibility rolls uphill to the decision maker(s) who condones/enables that situation to continue.

Things I learned from Albert Einstein:

• Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
• Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.
• If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.
• We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Things I learned from Antoine du Saint-Exupery:

• A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
• A pile of rocks ceases to be rocks when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.
• Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.
• The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them.
• What makes the desert beautiful is somewhere it hides a well.

Things I learned from Randy Pausch:

• Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.
• It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.
• Loyalty is a two way street.
• We cannot change the cards we are dealt–just how we play the hand.
• Focus on others.  The other people on your team are often the key to your success. Take care of their needs and yours will be taken care of.
• Find the best in everybody. No matter how long you have to wait for them to show it.
• If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, and the dreams will come to you.

Tying this all together: The people who are good and also good people are the well in the desert.  If  each person focuses on the others the karma will take care of itself – and while you may periodically walk separate paths, you will meet up with them again further down the way.

Cheers.

• If you’re doing things you feel compelled to hide from others you shouldn’t be doing them.
• You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
• Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted; but at the same time, be very careful what you wish for.
• All sales are solution sales; while you or I may not understand someone else’s decision points and drivers, those drivers are definitely there and often in (or out?) of control.
• Flying monkey launchers are a must have when in a target rich environment.
• Eventually, all shit rolls uphill.  For example: each person in a work group is responsible for their own actions; but if an individual repeatedly acts in a way which is detrimental to a business and/or to other people, the root cause responsibility rolls uphill to the decision maker(s) who condones/enables that situation to continue.

Things I learned from Albert Einstein:

• Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
• Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.
• If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.
• We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Things I learned from Antoine du Saint-Exupery:

• A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
• A pile of rocks ceases to be rocks when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.
• Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.
• The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them.
• What makes the desert beautiful is somewhere it hides a well.

Things I learned from Randy Pausch:

• Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.
• It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.
• Loyalty is a two way street.
• We cannot change the cards we are dealt–just how we play the hand.
• Focus on others.  The other people on your team are often the key to your success. Take care of their needs and yours will be taken care of.
• Find the best in everybody. No matter how long you have to wait for them to show it.
• If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, and the dreams will come to you.

Tying this all together: The people who are good and also good people are the well in the desert.  If  each person focuses on the others the karma will take care of itself – and while you may periodically walk separate paths, you will meet up with them again further down the way.

Cheers.

The next day, Splat called her and said “Since I have to replace you, what exactly do you do?”

(hmmm – if you’ve worked in staffing for 12 years, and don’t know what a recruiting coordinator does … I don’t think we need to bring up the fact she’s been your direct report since OCTOBER 1.)

More ironically - each of us on the team had wondered the same about him these past months.

“I’ve had a wonderful time, but this wasn’t it.”  – Groucho Marx

Related Content:

Splat!

Newton’s Law of Reciprocal Actions will get you every time…

Work is a Four Letter Word, Part 2

Often I Learn the Most from People Who are Clueless.

public class StableMarriage {

    public static void main(String args[]) {

        Terminal.startTranscript("transcript.txt");

        test();

        Terminal.stopTranscript();

    }

    public static Relation findMarriages(PersonList eligible) {

        Relation couples = new Relation();

        while (eligible != null) {

            Man m = (Man) eligible.person;

            Woman w = m.topPick();

            Terminal.println("" + m + " proposes to " + w);

            if (w.likes(m)) {

                Terminal.print("  she accepts ");

        }

        return couple;

    }

        Manoj = new Man("manoj");

        Gouri = new Woman("gouri");

        }

    }