Category: Recommended Reading | Page 6

The Communication Toolbox

We all grow up with our own unique communication style. Some people by nature are very direct. They come right to the point. They tell it like it is. They don’t mince words. Other people are more diplomatic, more indirect, more subtle in their communication. Indeed, there are a variety of communication styles—quiet, loud, forceful, caring, showy, authentic, and many more.

One metaphor I have found helpful in working with leaders to develop their communication skills is what I call “The Communication Toolbox.” The idea is that we each have a communication style that is most natural and comfortable for us. Usually, it’s a style we began to develop early in our lives or careers, and that somehow has served us well. But no one communication style is going to be right for all situations, and leaders encounter a tremendous diversity of people and contexts. Part of being a well-rounded leader means having more than just one tool. The further up you go in an organization, the more important it is to have a broader set of tools in your communication toolbox.To read the entire article, visit the Sierra Leadership blog.

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April 2nd, 2015|Categories: Leadership, Mariposa Articles|Tags: communication, effective leadership, empathy, Eric Nitzberg, executive leadership, HR Leadership|

March 31, 2015 / Book Reviews

Book Review | The Future of Work

The Future of Work: Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create a Competitive Organization
By Jacob Morgan

Head: (5 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

Within the next five years, key trends impacting the world of work will be in full swing. By 2020, Millennials are projected to make up just over half of the entire US workforce and will bring expectations, attitudes and styles of working currently uncommon in the workplace. New technologies, such as collaboration platforms, the Internet of Things, and others, will streamline our lives even further. Those, and other trends such as mobility, new behaviors being shaped by social technologies, and globalization are changing the world around – and will change the world in – organizations. These changes promise to upend how companies find and manage talent, how management styles need to adapt and how employees work. Is your organization prepared?

In this book, the author, Jacob Morgan, outlines the key trends shaping the future of work. He paints a picture of the current states of companies, managers and employees, while highlighting the key principles that will make up the future company, manager and employee. It’s a fascinating read that will force you to rethink the direction of your talent planning strategies. Leaders who want to win the war for talent will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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March 31st, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|

March 27, 2015 / Articles We Like / HR / Talent Management

On “How to Hire the A-team”

The war for talent in Silicon Valley is real. Many of the companies we work with have been focused on recruiting only the best, but may be experiencing mixed results. Much has been said about the need to disrupt outdated recruiting and hiring practices so it’s not surprising that companies are challenged, especially as the war heats up. This month, we share this article because it offers insights on why companies may not be able to find top talent, and ideas for re-engineering your hiring processes so that you can.

According to Lou Adler, author of the Inc. article, “How to Hire the A-team,” companies are challenged because they are using the same methods to hire the A-team that they use to hire everyone else. In working with companies, he encounters five common challenges that they face, such as a need to rewrite job descriptions, prepare career-oriented messaging, and an ability to recruit passive candidates. Get tips to address these (and more) by reading the article.

How has your company been able to find top talent?

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March 27th, 2015|Categories: Articles We Like, HR / Talent Management|Tags: hiring, lou adler, recruiting, talent management|

March 3, 2015 / Articles We Like / HR / Talent Management

On “5 Unconventional Ways To Keep Your Most Talented Employees From Leaving”

In Silicon Valley and beyond, many companies are engaged in a battle for talent. Winning is not just about hiring the very best; companies need to change the way they think about keeping their superstars. Superstars can go anywhere, they have options, so why not innovate to keep them engaged with your company?

The Fast Company article, 5 Unconventional Ways to Keep Your Most Talented Employees From Leaving, by Chris Ostoich, highlights five creative tips to retain your top people. From identifying the informal network, how things get done and integrating new employees into it, to embracing self-formed, self-managed teams to give employees ownership and leadership, the content in this article will stimulate your thinking.

What interesting, creative ideas do you have for engaging your best talent?

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March 3rd, 2015|Categories: Articles We Like, HR / Talent Management|Tags: chris ostoich, employee engagement, Fast Company, HR Leadership, HR management, Mariposa Leadership, retention, talent management|

February 27, 2015 / Book Reviews

Book Review | The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired

The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired: A Performance-based Hiring Handbook
By Lou Adler

Head: (5 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (4 out of 5)

Companies say hiring top talent is a strategic imperative. Yet, many of the hiring methods and policies work against this imperative. Job descriptions focus on skills and experience, which leave many top performers out of the equation. Screening based on compensation ranges weeds out quality candidates. Traditional interviewing lends itself to bias, while behavioral interviewing doesn’t effectively link a candidate’s answers to actual job requirements. According to Lou Adler, Many of these problems can be addressed with a systematic approach: performance-based hiring.

In this book, Lou outlines the various elements of the Performance-based hiring business process and explains its effectiveness. It’s a systematic yet unconventional approach to hiring top talent, requiring a mindset shift. That’s what the content of this book achieves: a shift in thinking about the traditional hiring practices frequently used today, and how to attract and source the top talent your company is really looking for.

Leaders interested in helping their companies win the war for talent in the long run will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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February 27th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|

February 2, 2015 / Book Reviews

Book Review | Finding the Next Steve Jobs

Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent
By Nolan Bushnell with Gene Stone

Head: 3 ( out of 5)
Heart: 4 ( out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: 4 ( out of 5)

Companies want to cultivate creative thinking in employees, believing that without it, they won’t survive. And it’s true: creativity sparks new ideas and when it permeates the culture, leads to competitive advantage. Companies, therefore, need talent passionate about the present as much as about the future, and who don’t mind being considered different. A diverse and inclusive workforce is a recipe for innovation in today’s business environment.

The author, Nolan Bushnell, is the founder of Atari Corporation and Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater. He knows a thing or two about finding and hiring creative talent. Drawing on his experience, each chapter offers insight and tips on how to do just that. While the focus of this book is on hiring creative talent, the innovative concepts could apply to recruitment of other talent. The ideas force us to rethink traditional recruiting and hiring practices, which many studies have shown to be flawed.

Some the ideas presented include:

Hiring for Passion and Integrity: Passion is a quality that is inherent; one can’t be trained to be passionate.
Ignore Credentials: Employers should stop using a college degree as a sole qualification for employment. Instead, ask unusual questions to test for curiosity and resourcefulness.
Look for Hobbies: Hobbies tell us about passions
Hire Under Your Nose: Observe people doing their jobs outside of your workplace. Talent can be found anywhere.
Comb Through Tweets: Use Twitter to identify talent. Twitter is a means of expression for many and a lot can be learned by their tweets.

Leaders and human resource professionals interested in building an innovative culture that thrives in the future will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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February 2nd, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: company culture, creative thinking, hiring, innovation, Mariposa Leadership, recruiting, steve jobs, talent management|

January 30, 2015 / Articles We Like

On “The Way We Hire Is All Wrong”

Many studies have shown that recruiting processes are broken. For example, a 2012 study by consulting firm Leadership IQ showed that out of 20,000 new hires, 46% had failed within 18 months. That’s an incredibly high failure rate given the amount of effort involved! Working in Silicon Valley with many leading and cutting-edge companies needing quality talent to grow, we believe it’s time to disrupt this process! That’s why we share this article.

Deborah Branscum’s Medium article, “The Way We Hire Is All Wrong”, tells the story of a 2-day hackathon as an innovative way for employers to observe prospective candidates in action, doing real work. Read about the writer’s experience and her conclusions now!

What do you think about the traditional recruiting process? What innovative suggestions do you have for disrupting the process?

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January 30th, 2015|Categories: Articles We Like|Tags: business leadership, deborah branscum, hiring, HR management, leadership iq, talent recruiting|

January 1, 2015 / Book Reviews

Book Review | Rookie Smarts

Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work
By: Liz Wiseman

Head: (4 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (4 out of 5)

The inexperienced are often viewed as lacking an advantage. But given the pace of change today, inexperience can be an advantage. Rookies might lack know-how and situational confidence that comes from experience but they are eager to close that knowledge gap and aren’t weighed down by obsolete best practices, thus free to explore new opportunities. From this standpoint, rookies can be your best performers!

Anyone can be a rookie, even the most veteran employee, because it’s not about age but about cultivating a mindset. The author draws on extensive experience, even her own personal career experience, to explain the different modes of the rookie mindsets:

Backpacker: unencumbered and open
Hunter-Gatherer: alert and seeking
Firewalker: cautious and quick
Pioneer: hungry and relentless

The book also explains the best situations to leverage rookies for company success.

Professionals interested in revitalizing their career and leaders who wish to harness the power of the rookie mindset in their organizations will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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January 1st, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: liz wiseman, rookie smarts|

On “Research: 10 Traits of Innovative Leaders”

To successfully innovate, companies need strong leaders. As executive leadership coaches, our work with clients in Silicon Valley is inherently tied to helping companies achieve their innovation goals, and that’s why this article resonates with us.

The Harvard Business Review article, Research: 10 Traits of Innovative Leaders, by Jack Zenger and Joseph Falkman, reveals the 10 behaviors innovative leaders consistently demonstrate that make them effective at driving innovation. We contend that these behaviors are not only key innovative leadership behaviors, but core skills to hone for effective leadership overall. Read the article now.

Do you agree with this list of behaviors? Why or why not?

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December 22nd, 2014|Categories: Articles We Like, Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation, Leadership|Tags: effective leadership, innovation|

On “Beyond MVP: 10 tips for creating your Minimum Loveable Product”

Creating a minimum viable product (MVP) is the goal for most new product innovation, and for many of our clients in Silicon Valley. So many decisions go into making an MVP, and balancing those decisions with speed to market is not a small task. With many MVPs failing to leave a lasting impression on customers because their expectations are not met, is there a better way to successfully bring new products to market?

According to Laurence McCahill, yes there is! From a customer experience perspective, the MVP might be an outdated way of thinking about new product innovation. Instead, consider the Minimal Loveable Product (MLP). In the article, Beyond MVP: 10 tips for creating your Minimum Loveable Product, Laurence outlines 10 tips to go from MVP to MLP. In the process, you’ll build a community of users, delight them from the start, and get them talking. The author advocates for design as a critical element, which we love! Propel the success of your new product by reading this article now.

What’s the greatest challenge you face in creating new products?

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November 30th, 2014|Categories: Articles We Like, Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation|Tags: customer experience, innovation, laurence mccahill, minimum loveable product, MVP, product design|