Category: Management

5 reasons why the boss doesn’t develop new talent

I often grapple with clients who can’t seem to decide on whom to hire. I hear all sorts of reasons; the budget, the economy, quarterly earnings, changes in strategy, cultural fit, etc, ad nauseam. What it also means is that no decision is made. A search goes on that much longer, causing heartburn–if not burnout–for…
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Got the new job, can’t quite figure it out

An acquaintance recently started a new job–a big one, large prestigious MNC, very good package (expat perks), regional purview. He was hired within 2-3 weeks, unusually quick, in my experience (I was a bystander, not involved). One meeting in Asia, a couple of telecons with global HQ, flew out to meet everyone, the contract was…
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The boss can mentor, but can the boss really coach?

I often hear senior management (Pres, CEOs, MDs ) say they’re good coaches to their key people. And I see more books exhorting leaders to be Chief Coach. Hmmm.. Many bosses can mentor, (often be great mentors), but it’s not quite the same thing as coaching.. I personally don’t think bosses are good coaches. Occasionally,…
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When the new job is a bad fit, who’s to blame?

My breakfast companion was talking about an organisation he’d recently joined. After the interviews and flights back to the US for final rounds, the job was his for the taking. He took it, but had done little due diligence or spoken much with the Asia team, mostly US HQ. He was given a big title,…
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Interviewing protocol–Listen up, y’all

An interview is a two way street, more so with senior level hires. Most candidates who take the time to interview are otherwise engaged in a day job, but interested enough to pursue a new possibility. The company doing the interviewing often falls flat on their corporate face, misunderstanding the protocol of interviewing, from timing,…
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Say wha’? Communicative cha cha cha..

People like to hire their own, often assuming everyone understands the same goals, and ‘speaks the same language’. I had breakfast in Beijing not long ago with a friend. A mainland Chinese who’d gone to grad school in the US and ended up working for a well known US private equity company. Back in China…
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ABCs of hiring in Asia

[framed_box]A) My contrarian position that there is no ‘shortage of talent’ continues. There is plenty of talent, and thus plenty of potential. No new hire is a ‘finished work of art’, ‘ready made’, and knows the job to be done at the outset. Yet many internal stakeholders are too busy or seldom in the office…
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Those corporate games, Part II

On to Part II, highlighting some of the games at work most of us have experienced, or participated in.. [framed_box] Selective editing Ubiquitous at the office,but some take it to heights that are pernicious or worse. Example: a report or presentation is due, and the only information presented is to support a certain point of…
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