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Hiring Because They Are Like Me
We all have a bias about being around people who we perceive to be like ourselves. Social psychologists refer to this as our “ingroup,” which are people with a shared interest or identity. Being around our ingroup gives us a feeling of belonging and...
Kobe the Mentor
I live in Los Angeles and the city is still coming to grips with the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and 7 others in a helicopter crash. Like most humans, he left a complicated legacy. His included: Championship basketball player, accused rapist,...
Adjusting Your HR Strategy When Your Company Decides to Train For Basic Job Skills
There is a presumption that the US education system will provide employers with workers that possess requisite job skills. Companies are then responsible for providing more advanced ones through apprenticeships, job training, and leadership development. ...
How Often Should You Use Your Gut Instinct? How About Never?
Why do tests predict job performance better than interviews? Because interviewers let their “gut instinct” cloud their judgment and introduce lots of related bias. This recent article suggests (without any data to back it up) that sometimes we should just...
Skills of the Future
The nature of work has always changed and will continue to do so. This report from the World Economic Forum outlining trends and predictions came out a year ago. I find its conclusions as true today as they were when it was first published. It is a...
Who’s Next?
My process improvement friends like to say, “Improving the work is the work.” There is some truth to that in HR as well. But, I think that it is also fair to say that “Keeping the talent pipeline full is the work.” I’ll admit that it’s less catchy....
Are we Biased AGAINST Top Talent?
We all want to believe that we are looking to recruit, select, and develop top talent. We spend lots of time reading and writing articles on the topic. But, what if hiring managers are not interested? This article throws a bit of cold water on the...
Shaping Skills to Your Work
It is important to use valid selection tools to hire people for the work you have for them. But, what happens when technology changes the tasks or the jobs get replaced by automation? You can let people go as their work becomes obsolete and hire new staff. However,...
Millennials, Transparency, and the Alignment of Values
Each generation (as named by demographers) has their own marked stereotypes. Baby Boomers are optimistic consumers, Gen X are the disillusioned, and Millennials are the spoiled digital natives. Most of my management development workshops address how to best manage...
Trying to Stop the Tides
It seems very old-school, but sea ports are still very big business. The twin ports in southern California (LA and Long Beach) are a huge economic driver (they are the primary sender/receiver of goods between North America and Asia) and employer. But, they are also...
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