One of the many business myths I have been fighting for two decades is that results from (often unscientific) personality tests are valid for someone’s entire career. On average, personality changes about 25% over one’s lifetime. New evidence shows environmental factors can speed up those changes. An international team of researchers analyzed data on 7,109 …
Tag: hiring
When Stars are Toxic, Costs Outweigh Gains
One of the great mysteries from my 35 years of working life is why workers who “everyone knows” is trouble not only keep their jobs, but sometimes get promoted. Their bad behavior is talked about all the time by line workers and other managers, yet they stay employed. I wrote years ago about one answer. …
The Book that Tempts Me to Quit Coaching
As an experiment, make yourself read through the next paragraph without responding in your head. Just absorb it. Imagine a working world where line managers have 50 to 70 direct reports, made manageable because the teams are self-directing and include all functions needed to complete the work. Team members handle their own quality control, maintenance, …
Data on the Great Resignation Suggest Solutions
No, the “Great Resignation” was not just about COVID-19. In fact, four of the biggest reasons people quit jobs last year are always around, and almost entirely within a manager’s control, which means there are solutions within a manager’s control. I’ve read a lot of articles by people claiming to know what caused the Great …
What an Older White Cis-Male Learned at a Diversity Conference
I am a middle-aged, white, Anglo, straight cis-male using he/his/him pronouns. I hope I got that right. I have learned it’s not my place to claim I am an “ally” of minorities, but I am trying to be. Throw in that I was raised upper-middle-class in the American South and own my home debt-free, and …