Many years ago, I enjoyed an all-too-brief read of Max De Pree’s, Leadership is an Art. In that book, De Pree encourages readers to ‘make the book your own’ by interacting with it, including the active writing along the pages’ edge with responses to key and significant concepts an author proposes or illustrates.
I was speaking with a client, which led to an interesting discussion about illegal hiring questions and topics. As a Career Coach, I think about this from candidate’s perspective but as an HR Consultant, I also consider it from an organizational viewpoint as well. So, what are some of the illegal topics?
As the domestic United States’ economy becomes increasingly focused on service industries away from manufacturing, local governments will continue to be compared to for-profit businesses and the way they treat customers.
Consider the postage stamp. It travels to far and distant lands. It leaves its family (the rest of the book of stamps it was plucked from) and it never sees them again. I’m sure that is fearful for the stamp, but it knows that it has a job to do. It stares fear in the face and forges on. If the postage stamp can do it, you can too.
If there is one constant in life it’s that change is inevitable. This axiom is painfully obvious when dealing with technology. There is not a week that goes by where our phones do not have a multitude of updates.
She smiled for the first time that day. It was the start to a beautiful mentoring relationship. She
always had my back after that day. I learned a valuable lesson on leadership in that awful,
horrible day. The VP who initially had her back firmly against the wall in a defensive posture
took the time to think things through and took a risk on a naïve, but passionate kid. It made all
the difference for me.
One of the factors for job and career success is the value you add. Sometimes you can quantify it, like exceeding targets or the increase in dollars from implementing a creative idea. Other times it’s more intangible, like how you make people feel and the support you give as a valued colleague.
A key question to ask related to succession planning is, why are you doing it? Another question might be, what do you want the successors to be prepared to do? These two questions fit well together and if they are both not answered with the best thinking you can muster, your succession planning effort could be just checking another box in your organizational life.
Stanislaus County is a remarkable community that features fantastic educational opportunities to help you grow, flexible work schedules that help you maintain a comfortable work/home balance, a wide range of entertainment choices when you’re ready for a little rest and relaxation, and versatile health services outlets that enable you to pursue the career of your dreams while making a real difference in the lives of people from all walks of life.