Recruiting

I'm in a country at the moment where there is a very large divide between "the rich" and "the poor." The unemployment rate is estimated to be at 40%. Yet, in many areas, the malls are packed, and hotel suites in the city near the water go for $1500 a night. [Note to readers - after getting quite a bit of response on this point - I am NOT talking about the United States. I'm about 8,000 miles from the U.S. at the moment. - kz]

I have a psychic can opener in my briefcase. I use it every day to figure out what's motivating people - customers, partners, managers, business owners, and employees. I figure out what they need and want; what drives them; what drives them crazy; what they love to do and what they avoid doing whenever they can; what freaks them out and what makes them tick. It's the "people" part of the work I do on systems, processes, and people to increase revenue for my clients.

We interrupt our normal adult-directed blog to give some advice to young business people, just starting out. This article contains the truths that are not imparted by the educational system. Most people discover these truths, one at a time, in the school of hard knocks. Knowing these truths, and taking them to heart, will make it much easier to succeed in the world of business, either as an employee or as a business owner.

To my regular readers, I invite you to pass this along to deserving proteges.

Truth #1: Character counts.

Contrary to what you might see on TV and in movies, most business people are just regular people working to make a living. They are helpful, knowledgeable, responsible and dedicated.

As part of my work helping CEOs to re-engineer and rejuvenate their revenue-generation efforts, I help them with their employee issues. We always start by trying to bring their current staff up to a new standard or, if needed, we find a new person for a particular job. I help them recruit, screen, train and manage people in marketing, selling, web, and product management positions. I've been doing this a long time.

Here are a few key lessons I've learned about the difference between people who are a drag on revenues and people whose contribution is exceptional.