The New Abnormal ‒ Bringing A Knife To The Gun Fight!

It’s in times of crisis that people make the biggest difference! In the Covid era we know digital technology will play a huge role. Buying habits will change and priorities will shift. But behind every technology and change there is a great mind that is able to decipher these trends. That’s where Talent comes in!

Not hiring the best talent in the industry and not inspiring them to achieve more in a competitive market is like bringing a knife to a gun fight!  How do we avoid bringing that knife to a gun fight? For, no matter how good your knife is, it cannot win the battle!

All Industries have their challenges ‒ it’s leadership that makes the difference! When we say success is two per cent inspiration and 98 per cent perspiration, we forget that the 98 per cent does not happen if the two per cent isn’t there.

In the corporate world leadership is about working with people and getting the best out of them ‒ you certainly cannot succeed without three things.

And these are HR, IT and LD!

Let’s look at HR first:

Hiring Right

Everyone wants to hire great talent and certainly would like to say so, but that’s not always the result of many an executive search. We fail because we are either misinformed, land up with people who are ill-equipped or we are playing the wrong game ‒ or rather, as some would say, the wrong strategy!

Executive search professionals have an added role to play in guiding the client about the nature of talent available in the marketplace and also about the nature of the candidature. They have a role to play to see what kind of people their competitors have ‒ the strengths and weaknesses of their competition. They have a role to play in seeing   what kind of talent will provide a differential in that marketplace, given their challenges. Then there is the issue of landing up with people who are ill equipped given the challenges in the marketplace and in the organisation.

We are ill-equipped for the battle to get the business we are gunning for. It’s certainly not just about functional skills, but more about handling other key stakeholders and getting the best out of them.

Sometimes we are playing the wrong game! If we as search consultants do not understand the ground rules of the market of the clients, we cannot be great consultants. For that you have to try and be in the client’s shoes. As in advertising, getting a wrong brief will lead to different results, no matter how creative the agency is.

Then comes IT:

 Inspiring Talent!

Feeling Important! Everyone likes to feel important. Nothing motivates employees more than making them feel important. You can bring a horse to the water but you cannot make it drink. Race horses are shaped because they are motivated to win and made to feel important and valued. You cannot get your team to get great sales if they are not made to feel strong and great.

Apple Corporation Co-Founder and Chairman, Steve Jobs had said, "If you want to hire great people and have them stay working for you, you have to let them make a lot of decisions and you have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. The best ideas have to win, otherwise, good people do not stay."

He also said that good employees do not need to be managed. They need the big picture, guidance and support. The Team Spirit ‒ Only works when all are equal!

Empathy is about putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. Not throwing someone under the bus!

And finally it’s all about LD

Leading Decisively

There is no leader on earth or in heaven who did not lead by example. Leaders have to have guts to have glory.  A company of giants will always hire giants. One of the finest leaders I worked with during my advertising days, always hired people better than him!

He was admired for being secure in his job and did not ever feel that someone was taking away his glory or sheen. Leaders need to trust ‒ because trust begets trust! Trust is the most fundamental ethos of great business leaders.

It also shows that the leader believes in his or her own ability to hire well and therefore trusts them and his/her own judgement.

So bring the best gun to the battle and leave the competition with the knives!

Sunandan Bhanja Chaudhury

Guest Author The author is Client Partner, Pedersen & Partners, is known as SU by friends and family, both off and on the golf course!