Do You Hire Real Talents or Proud Owners of Impressive-Looking Resumes

The other night I was watching one of Tom Berenger's films, entitled the Sniper.

Thomas Beckett (Berenger) is a top tier sniper in the US army, and he is sent to Panama to take some naughty characters out of the way. But at the previous mission his spotter was killed during a screwed up extraction, and he's going to Panama with a new spotter, Richard Miller, (Billy Zane) a former Olympic shooting champion.

Miller is now working for the National Security Agency, and based on his impressive achievements (a.k.a. resume) he is selected for this dangerous and delicate mission. And he has to work with a veteran shooter who is a n expert in jungle fighting.

There is one problem. Miller has never shot a rifle to kill. He is a sports shooter. He knows how to shoot in peaceful situations but is totally paralysed when the stakes are high and the heat is on.

At one point he even starts shooting at his partner. Whatever qualified him in the first place to go on this mission was a huge blunder of biblical proportions. In spite of his impressive "resume", he has to unlearn his false pride and ego, and properly learn how to work in a sniper element. (Element is the name of the team of two people: The spotter and the shooter)

As a result of Beckett's patience and perseverance, Miller quickly learns the ropes and the sniper's life in the jungle.

What does all this mean to your business development team?

Well, first of all, you make a huge mistake by hiring impressive resumes. Resumes tell you all about people were taught (not what they learnt) in school. There is overwhelming evidence that a large percentage of business school students cheat to pass their courses.

Linda Treviño, Franklin H. Cook Fellow in Business Ethics at Penn State's Smeal College, and her colleagues Donald McCabe of Rutgers and Kenneth Butterfield of Washington State examined survey results from 5,331 students at 32 graduate schools both in Canada and the United States. It turns out that 56% of business students admitted cheating during their courses.

And many students justify their cheating activities by saying that the world of business is built on cheating, lying and deceiving, and these are the only ways of staying alive in the 21st century "kill or be killed" business culture.

Now, if 56% admitted, how much more do you think actually cheated?

The questions is this: What happens if you hire some of these liars with impressive resumes, 56% of which is a lie. You may run an honest, and ethical organisation, but now you're poisoning it with these semi-crooks who learnt in school that cheating is just fine, and the ends justify the means. Any means.

And whatever they learnt in school, they didn't leant the right character traits, which are more important than skills. After all, anyone can learn any skills, but regardless of the number of years of schooling, a liar is a liar and a cheater is a cheater.

And after several years of schooling, a liar becomes a liar, BA, MBA or Ph.D.

So, just think about this when you're assessing the next resume, and realise that the majority of what you're reading on that resume is a lie. That's why a friend of mine, Carlitos, calls it Ridiculum Vitae.

The old saying is still true: If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance (real expertise), then baffle them with bullshit (resume).

Some Business Development Questions for 2007

Doug Davidoff of The Imagine Companies has some interesting and thought- provoking questions for us about growing our businesses in 2007. Read Doug's questions and and think about what you could achieve in 2007.

The problem is that most business owners ask questions about the investment part of the ROI equation, while grossly neglecting the return part.

So, the typical - and the wrong question becomes: "What can we achieve with what we have and know right now?" In this question the strategy (what to achieve in the future?) is kidnapped by current tactics (with what we have now).

The correct question is: How can we achieve specific outcomes? The tactics are flexible.

Remember, strategies are carved in stone, but tactics must drawn in the sand and they must be flexible enough to serve the strategy in the most cost-effective manner.

Holiday Wishes for Business Development Departments

B2B sales and marketing expert, Mac McIntosh has just published a great article, entitled Wish lists for B2B marketing and sales. There are lots of great points in the article, and it confirms one of the biggest mistakes companies make when they want to increase sales. Namely, hire more salespeople and send them out cold prospecting.

In the meantime hire a minimum-wage kid to do some graphics design and other "image stuff", and let's call it marketing. So, now the company has a sales and marketing department, although the salespeople and the marketing kid hardly ever talk to each other. Maybe once a year over Christmas dinner.

Read the article. I think you too will like it.

Tomicide Solutions: Eight Benefits of Using Education-Centred Marketing

I have just posted a new article on my website, entitled...

Eight Benefits of Using Education-Centred Marketing.

From this article you discover why hurrying the sales can only hurt your results. Prospects buy when they are ready to change, not when you want to sell.

I hope you find it valuable.

"Type 4” Managers in Action

There is a great post on Bob Sutton’s blog on "Type 4" managers. The type of managers who perform really well financially but violate organisational values in order to achieve that high performance. In their opinions, anything goes to make more money. The best way to recognise them is that they suck up to their bosses and kick down to their people.

I see this in so many sales managers and business development executives. They have the pressure to produce high sales, but how they achieve it is irrelevant. Or, it’s relevant but if they violate some values in the process, that’s just fine. As long as they make the money, they are the good boys and good girls.

You can read the article on Bob Sutton’s blog.