naked headhunter

How organic are You?

I subscribe to Perry Marshall's newsletter and received this today, which I found an interesting thought....

"One of the most important business concepts is captured by the word "organic". I actually use this word quite a bit in conversations and in talks and it's not really because I'm into organic food.
 
No, when I use the word "organic" I'm talking about what happens when you get any slice of real nature in all its richness, in any sphere of life. "Vitamin C" is a substance called ascorbic acid, something you can make in the lab. You want pure vitamins? No problem, somebody can always sell you some, it's 100% pure from textbook chemistry.
 
But everybody knows you can't live on laboratory vitamins. Plus we all know deep down that vitamins + junk food = self deception. But... if you eat a spinach salad, you get something entirely different. Whether you know what's in it or not, you know it's good for you. Why? Because it's real. You don't have to go to a health food store to get that; you don't even need to know what vitamins are. All you have to do is eat real food.

The business version of this might be... Let's say you're thinking about investing in a company, or even getting a job there - which would provide you with more information about how healthy they are?
 
A) Reading all the press releases in their website
B) Sitting in their lunch room for 30 minutes, just listening to the conversations around you
 
Fact is (B) is probably the better way to go. You'd quickly develop a sense of the morale, the spirit of the company that a piece of 'official' communication deliberately attempts to hide.
 
Malcolm Gladwell refers to this in his book "Blink", where he discusses our remarkable human ability to make snap judgments based on quickly sizing up this sort of organic information. He calls the process of forming accurate first impressions "thin slicing." "Blink" is a great read and makes many valuable points.

I've defined marketing as 'helping people who need each other find each other' and that is best accomplished by clearly and effectively communicating who you are. Which of course requires that you know who you are in the first place.
 
If you know that and communicate it effectively, you attract not just the right customers, but the right employees, vendors, partners and investors. The consistency and believability of your message is contagious."

Perry's point echoes the theroy of most respected leadership thought leaders who believe transformational leadership is found in those who are authentic - a term increasingly used by employers when assessing the merits of candidates. And the ease with which information on an individual can be obtained means the need to be authenic with what you communicate increases in importance.

So ensure you know what you have to offer and that your message is consistent....the results can be organic!

Beliefs really aren't important, are they?

Everyone has beliefs learned from their experiences.  Some of these get discarded as we gain more experience but often its hard to let them go if they are unproductive, unless we think about them consciously.

You may think its not too important what you believe. You are wrong. Beliefs become the rules by which we live.

Think about some of the beliefs you have.  You can identify them by answering questions like 'life is....' and 'i am.....'  In answering these soul searching questions you can examine how you might have limiting assumptions holding you back from being what you might want to be.

For the beliefs you would like to be rid of, imagine yourself without them and how much better you might feel....this approach has its basis in NLP or neuro linguistic programming where the brain can be trained to produce positive outcomes.

By running this simple exercise over and over, your brain will link more pleasure to the positive belief and throw our the negative ones. Providing you the incentive to move on with your life and actualise what you really strive for. 

Whose executive search radar are you on?

Fortunately for me, most of the people I talk with are pretty talented and achieve great things whatever they're doing.

Which makes it surprising that all to often, despite their results, they feel insufficiently rewarded and frustrated in their current role.

They tell me this takes its toll. The long commute. Long hours. Long meetings. Stretching targets, difficult trading conditions. Not seeing the kids to bed. School Fees. Big mortgage. Uncertain future. Limited options. 

Some have experienced redundancy (despite managing their careers by the book). Others are expecting it. Or a sideways move that puts them onto special projects and the road to nowhere.

So we talk a bit and start to explore their profile, their specialised skills; and think creatively about some growth areas that could well benefit from their experience and offer opportunity.

Most brands rightly invest a lot of time and effort in understanding their consumers; researching insights that drive innovation and grow equity. Understanding need and segmenting consumers is where it all starts. 

This can be applied effectively to any job search.  For example plenty of food and drink marketers or sales people have grown globally recognised power brands, but not considered how this B2C experience is highly relevant to (comparatively recently) deregulated markets like utilities.  Here companies are experiencing more competition and need to build relationships with their consumers. The same could be argued of the hotel industry, airlines, and so on.

Put in this context people often start to think more positively about options that have been there all along, but hidden.

And in so doing take a step toward unlocking their frustration and realising new opportunities that are there for the taking.