We just passed the 1000 follower mark today on Twitter and want to say thanks to all our amazing followers! We have learned so much, participated in fascinating conversations, and met hundreds of great people along the way. Thanks for your support and let’s keep on tweeting!
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Our friend dropped off another video this week. We are still not sure what to think…
Julie and the RAOS Team
Smart Savvy, & Associates is pleased to present Julie McLeod, our newest addition to the team. Filling the role as Office Manager and Talent Scout, she is what we like to call ‘smavvy’ (both smart & savvy) and has a true eye for talent, not to mention her ability to strike up a conversation with Sparky the dog. Always on the lookout for excellence, Julie seeks out people who are passionate about what they do, not just your average ‘cut-n-paste’ Joe. She spends most of her time behind her giant red desk looking for the next top-notch candidate (watch out…it could be you), as well as singing the latest song by Alicia Keys. To conclude, if you need talent, Julie will find it.
And, oh yes, she keeps the Smart Savvy crew somewhat organized.
“Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8-colour boxes, but what you’re really looking for are the 64-colour boxes with the sharpeners on the back.”
John Mayer, Singer-Songwriter
I’m perpetually surprised by how few companies know “who” they need. Some can identify a needed skill or two but even those are the exception rather than the rule. And the temptation in a tight job market is to take a narrow set of skills, a beating heart and be damned to the rest.
Mistake. Potentially costly. Possibly fatal.
The adage, “hire for character, you can always teach skill” is a useful framework particularly when hiring someone who is responsible for critical intangibles like media relations, artistic direction or marketing strategies.
A great character hangs from the solid framework of a balanced ego – all the positive “self” qualities: self-aware, self-motivated, self-restrained, self-confident. The balance is maintained by a reasonable sense of judgment or perception – an ability to gauge yourself in relation to others in diverse situations - and a desire to self-correct. You don’t have to be right 100% of the time (because you wont be!), but you should always be willing and able to correct yourself when you’re wrong.
On the other hand, an imbalanced ego creates a framework with potential weaknesses – all the negative “self” qualities: self-centred, self-seeking, self-righteous, selfish, and sometimes self-conscious. Unfortunately, these are often compounded by a lack of perception and an unwillingness to self-correct.
With a balanced ego to anchor them all, desirable characteristics like curiosity, creativity and eloquence, become further assets for your company. The curiosity of a balanced ego is inspired by ideas and plans generated by others not just themselves. They are capable of focusing their creativity on other people and their projects, not just their own. They bring their communication skills to bear as fluent interpreters between client and customer, or product and consumer.
A person with this kind of character doesn’t just work for your company they are your company.
The following is reproduced from one of my favourite blogs www.800ceoread.com. Some food for thought from a ‘nice guy’…
Welcome to blog post number three from Tim Hiltabiddle, co-author of Nice Guys Can Get the Corner Office. You can find the first post here and the second here.
The Nice Guy Bill of Rights
It was a blustery day in November of 2004 when my friend Russ Edelman first came to me with the ‘nice guy’ idea. The concept - which had been percolating in his mind for several months - was to come up with ways to help people in the business world who suffer from Nice Guy Syndrome.
We discussed it while sitting at a local restaurant in our hometown of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The plight of nice guys really resonated with me, but we both realized that we had to put some meat on the bones. It needed a hook; some concrete ideas to rally behind. We needed to find ways to empower nice guys and help them overcome the behaviors that limit their effectiveness.
We quickly stumbled upon the idea of a Nice Guy Bill of Rights. Instead of being passive or feeling victimized, we wanted nice guys to realize that they have the inalienable right to speak their minds or say ‘no’ to things they didn’t want to do.
So, lacking a pad of paper, we literally asked for a stack of white paper napkins from the waiter (true story!) and started to jot down various ideas for our Bill of Rights. After many months of pruning and tweaking, we settled upon these eight strategies to help nice guys be more successful:
The following is reproduced from the KNOW HR Blog presented by iFractal . Hopefully you’ll find some inspiration herein. It’s great to see Vancouver’s Dick Hardt made the list.
Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh in 1984. Back then, Steve dressed like Tucker Carlson circa 2006, but black tee shirts and jeans or double-breasted jacket and bow tie, this Macintosh unveiling rocked the house. Steve has perfected the sense of theater, and none is better than this one. Check out how he pulls the 3.5-inch floppy from his jacket pocket. Flair, baby.
Dick Hardt’s Identity 2.0 presentation at OSCON 2005. Hardt’s preparation and energy sets the standard for presentation quality. He uses hundreds of slides in this 20-minute, high buzz work. Heck, I didn’t even care about virtual identity and still watched this one five or six times. It has a chance of becoming my presentation Dirty Dancing (which I’ve seen 100 times), where “nobody puts baby in the corner.”
Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start speech at TiECon 2006. In the 40-minute presentation (PDF of slides here), Kawasaki talks about innovation and business evangelism. When he talks about “Make Mantra” it’s well worth listening to. The beauty of his speech is that he uses a Top 10 approach and is unafraid to speak plainly and with great humor (which is sadly lost in public speaking).
Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech in 1963. Who can argue that Dr. King’s speech in Washington on August 28, 1963 was anything but brilliant and changed the trajectory of America? But the rheotrical beauty of this speech is also unparalleled. At a time when our language has been reduced to the common, it’s essential to look upon the preparation and thought that Dr. King used for this monumetal speech.
Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture talk at the 2002 Open Source Conference. The master of the simple slides shows us how it’s done. And since, as he says, this is his 100th time for this talk, he has this bad boy down solid. Even though this talk is from 2002, his slide presentation style is still as fresh today as Axe Body Spray.
Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink presentation at SXSW 2005. I’ve seen Gladwell talk a couple of times in person, and he’s brilliant. He talks fast and he makes points by telling stories. He doesn’t lecture, he paints a picture. All this from one of the foremost thinkers of our age. Gladwell makes the points, “We can do more with less. And there are real dangers in giving people too much information.” Hey, that reminds me, Where are his slides? Oh, he’s presenting without slides. How about that?
Tom Peters presents A Ham Sandwich in 1990. Okay, this isn’t a Peters presentation, but the guy has so much passion that he can make a ham sandwich sound compelling. I saw him a few times in the late 80s during the height of the Thriving on Chaos days, and that was some rallying cry. In the link here, Peters outlines what makes a great presentation. No one can leave a Tom Peters presentation saying they weren’t energized and entertained.
Seth Godin talks about Marketing at Google in 2006. “Technology doesn’t win, but it sure gives you a chance at marketing.” Godin knows the story, lived it, and tells it. He also uses slides to his advantage to persuade his audience that he’s right. Check out the slide he calls “No one cares about you.” Is there anything wrong with getting people to laugh and think at the same time?
Andy Kaufman sings along to Mighty Mouse on SNL in 1975. Mies van der Rohe would have been proud, because Kaufman showed the essence of “less is more” in this Saturday Night Live skit. I’m not suggesting that your presentations should be filled renditions of superhero songs, but negative space is important, and this presentation was both ahead of its time and pointed in its simplicity.
Rupert Everett sings I Say a Little Prayer for You in MBFW in 1997. Okay, this is just one of our favorites and isn’t exactly a “presentation.” In fact, it’s from a movie - My Best Friend’s Wedding. But isn’t a lot of what we do a “presentation” designed to persuade people to believe our story? The beauty of this one is the lead-in and then the music. Oh, the power of music. And if you haven’t seen this movie, the last scene is just fantastic.
UPDATE: The readers have spoken! And in addition to KnowHR’s Top 10 Best Presentations Ever, we now have Top 10 Best Presentations - The Reader’s Choice. Click on over and have a look at 10 more great presentations.
You need to check out this post by Pinny Cohen about why people get burned out on their jobs.
People are Special
One of the things that sets humans aside from other animals is our unrelenting interest in novelty, and learning. Indeed, one of the best ways to keep our brains sharp is by challenging it with crossword puzzles, «brain games», and constantly demanding new solutions from our brain.
All you need to do is look at a job listing on Monster.com in order to get an idea of just how far job specialization has gone - 5-7 years of this, 3-5 years of that, and these aren’t basic requirements; rather they are for usage of specialized theoretical models and specialized software. No wonder every employer I speak with complains about how hard it is to fill positions, they are looking for something too specific, and too specialized.
I agree though I wonder what the solution is for the person that needs to do those mundane but business critical tasks in order to keep the world turning? Rotation? Gold stars? Cookies? Because, at this point, I think I am willing to try nearly anything.
Have you seen this? Watch the clip all the way through and then read on…
This was supposed to be a product launch for Hilton’s new perfume but ended up as an infamous Letterman (marketing) hijack. I’ve seen this video posted everywhere but it’s sure not to promote the perfume. Apparently people enjoy watching Ms. Hilton’s forced marketing agenda get ‘derailed’. Test it yourself - do you remember the name of the perfume?
Marketing hijacks aren’t all that rare. If you’re chained to formulaic marketing you leave yourself wide open to lackluster, negative and possibly viral interpretation, usually by someone more willing to be creative.
You know, if she’d been smart, she would have called it “Prison” …
Hmmm, there is a chance that this was ALL planned and a great example of viral marketing. The question remains… was Paris’ publicist in the back ripping a strip off Letterman’s Producer or laughing her/his way all the way to the bank?
What do you think?
Let’s face it. Vancouver has never been a big marketing town. I moved here from Toronto in 1985 to study business at university. With degree in hand and high hopes of building a marketing career I booked myself some information interviews with key Vancouver marketers. Much to my surprise it seemed each prospective mentor would lean in close and say, “If you really want to build a career in marketing, move back to Toronto”. Naively, I persisted. I am glad I did.
Right now is an extraordinary time to be a marketer in Vancouver. I can’t recall a time when marketing opportunities have been more abundant and marketers in higher demand. Chalk it up to… 2010, a bustling technology sector, Canada’s user friendly immigration policies, a growing entrepreneurial verve, spill over from Alberta, quality of life, a construction boom or boomer trickle down… marketing career opportunities are on the rise.
Hence, the arrival of Smart, Savvy & Associates. — a company solely focused on connecting the best marketing talent in the city with companies that need them. We’re looking to build strong relationships with companies who will value their people and people who will make significant contributions to their companies. We’re small, focused and resourceful and we’re all about fit.
I am often asked about our name. Most commonly, in the form of a tongue in cheek (sometimes slightly caustic) question – “So which are you? Smart or Savvy?” To which I reply (always with a smile as I am quite used to people making fun of my surname), “There is really only one answer to that question. The name refers to the characteristics of the individuals we look to represent. Our ‘Associates’ are the additional, custom-ordered characteristics our clients are seeking in their people”.
Happy marketing!
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