How Are You Wired?

I was recently given a task to read a book "in the next few days" by one of my Board members. I love to read. The problem is that I don't have enough time to read everything that I would like to in a day or even in a week. But I knew this was important, so I began reading the book - Community Capitalism. It is a fairly short book, 111 pages in all. I have found the book to be very interesting and am grateful that he gave me a copy. (You will be hearing more about this book and how our community can benefit from it in the weeks ahead)

One of the chapters is on Talent. It used a quote from one of my favorite books - Good to Great: "People are not our most important asset. The right people are." - Jim Collins. In summary, the chapter focuses on how to build a "talent-driven organization", stating that what really mattered when hiring a person isn't necessarily what is on his or her resume, but how the person is "wired." The author, Ron Kitchens, suggests using these type of questions during the interview process:

• What are you passionate about in your work?


• On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being high, how would you and others know you well, rate your level of performance against your peers?


• In your work, what are you a "pro" at?
  
• Define and give me an example of how you go "above and beyond" in your work.


• How are you driven to meet and exceed customer expectations?

Another great quote in this book is this:

Talent is the product. With the right people, given the correct incentives, encouraged and driven to their highest individual accomplishments...you will adapt to most competitive challenges. You will weather more rain delays, bad ump calls, flat beers in the concession
stands and all routine disasters of the zero sum standings most organizations are facing. Talent is the product. - Jeff Angus