Fits and Starts

One of the challenges of hiring brainpower workers is finding that “perfect fit”. But often when you do, that’s when you should start to worry. In this episode we explore why the perfect fit often isn’t and explore how to insure a great brainpower hire.

In Praise of the Tiny Inbox

Wired just ran an article entitled "Everything You Thought You Knew About Inbox Zero Is Wrong". In it, Merlin Mann who claims to have invented the idea of "Inbox Zero" recants essentially everything. He basically says "never mind". Merlin was right. And is now wrong.

Wonder Why

Interviewing brainpower workers is the search for intelligence, passion, communication skills, and a thirst for learning. There are lots of ways to do these interviews, but a softer touch is usually the key. In this episode we explore how to get the most from a brainpower interview.

Slave to Success

There's a great deal of noise going around on Twitter right now about how you have to work 80 hours a week to be a success. It's wrong.

Testing Limits

Hiring junior level brainpower workers can be overwhelming. There are simultaneously too many candidates and not enough good ones. Many organizations result to testing and other filters to cope. But this just makes the problem worse. In this episode we look into the limits of testing, and how to source great junior level talent.

Hunting Skills

Hiring senior level brainpower workers is much more than posting the job and sifting through the resumes. It’s beyond hiring, even beyond recruiting. It’s hunting. In this episode we look at two examples and see how to develop hunting skills.

Accentuate the Positive

A song from 1944 sets the tone for good employee feedback. This episode features an upbeat cover from 1972, and far too many sandwich metaphors, yet still offers hope for great performance reviews.

Annual Ritual

First episode of two looking into the annual ritual of performance reviews. This episode focuses on the process, and why it doesn’t have to be painful. If you’re willing to do it all the time.

Duck and Cover

How a brutal performance review meeting ended with me getting a stapler hurled at my head. And how that lead to one of my most steadfast rules: in the workplace, no surprises.

The Brainpower Age

How a simple question about failure of a single project lead to the most important research project of my life. And how that lead to the realization that everything about work has changed in the last few generations. We’ve entered the Brainpower Age.

The Hit Man

Introducing the Leading Smart podcast -- How a job in the car stereo business ended up being mostly about firing people. And how that lead to a lifelong fascination with management, organizations, and team building.

On Time

The flop sweat caught me off guard. Driving to a doctor’s appointment, I was running just a couple minutes late. Yet I was filled with panic and driving like a jerk, darting from lane to lane and cursing people for driving too slowly. This for an appointment I was paying [...]