Tag Archives: Fernández-Aráoz

167 – High performance: ‘Why I Like People with Unconventional Résumés. Claudio Fernández-Aráoz.

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Posted by Colin Weatherby                                                                         500 words

its not the what or the how cover

This is the title of a chapter in Fernández-Aroáz’s book ‘It’s not the How or the What but the Who’. It is also the title of a blog he posted for HBR.org . In it he discusses the unconventional candidate with exceptional potential. I was surprised at his honesty in discussing his personal ‘epiphany’ when he realized that, as a recruiter, he had been advocating a recruitment strategy that his own company did not follow.

Fernández-Aráoz starts the chapter by discussing his HBR.org blog post and the response it prompted. Many of the respondents described their frustration at recruiters who didn’t appreciate, understand, or even consider their track record. For many people who have pursued executive roles in local government this is not news.

Many councils or almost all recruiters play it safe. Continue reading →

147 – ‘The Voice’ for local government. An alternative recruitment approach?

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Posted by Whistler                                                                                          600 words

the voice

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Did any of the judges in The Voice Italy expect to see a Nun when they turned around?   Watch the linked video. My guess is, no. Would a Nun have won through normal auditions? Maybe in Italy (she won by The Voice by the way). I am not saying that she wasn’t a good singer. The question is, would she (and other winning contestants) have found their way through the first round of auditions if they could be seen by the judges as they performed?

Blind auditioning removes some of the obvious prejudices that hamper institutionalised selection processes, like television pop music. You might ask why it is potentially useful to local government. Continue reading →

111 – High performance: ‘The Best and the Rest’. Claudio Fernández-Aráoz.

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Posted by Colin Weatherby                                                                         560 words

star

This is the title of a chapter in Fernández-Aroáz’s book ‘It’s not the How or the What but the Who’. It discusses the difference between a typical worker and a highly productive worker. I was surprised at the differences in performance between the best and the rest.

Fernández-Aráoz says that a ‘star’ worker in simple jobs, for example an assembly line, and a ‘typical’ worker is about 40%. The distribution of performance follows a normal distribution, or bell curve. The distance between the best and the rest grows quickly with increasing complexity of work. He cites a top life insurance salesperson as being 240% more productive than an average salesperson, and star software developers outperforming others by 1,200%. Continue reading →