Tag Archives: helping others grow

Becoming a Talent Agent

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By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to leverage your workforce. Reading time 3:37.

In the movie The Treasure from the Sierra Madre, a robber holds up Humphrey Bogart. The robber wants the two leather bags that Bogart is carrying. He is sure those are filled with gold.

Panning for gold in the movie Treasure from Sierra Madre

Panning for gold in the movie Treasure from Sierra Madre

However the robber shoots Bogart. He grabs the bags, looks inside and sees only dirt and dust. He is disappointed when he finds no gold. He empties out the dirty bags then rides off in the distance, taking some solace that he at least he got two good leather bags. Oops!

That wasn’t just dirt and dust that he threw away. You guessed it. There was also gold mixed in with all that dirt and dust. Gold is not shiny. Only fool’s gold–pyrite -is shiny

How often do you discard valuable talent just because that job candidate in front of you is filled with his or her own dust and dirt?

That’s why the most effective leaders subscribe to the view of industrialist Andrew Carnegie who said you develop people the same way you mine for gold. “In the gold mine you move tons of dirt to find an ounce of gold,” Carnegie said, “but you don’t go in there looking for dirt. You look for the gold.” Continue reading →

Leadership Egg-cellence: Turning Bland Into Grand

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By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to more fully value the quiet leaders in your organization. Reading time: 3:02.

The human resources vice president fumed during talent review meetings when his colleagues carped about the introverted tendencies of potential leaders in the organization.

He felt like flinging a raw egg at someone.

Then he thought of something more convincing: why not throw a dozen eggs at those whiners. And so at the next meeting of the talent review committee he let his colleagues have it.

They all ended up with egg all over the faces after he made his case for the value of the QUIET leader in serving as QUITE the leader. And in the process taught me a lesson in leadership that I will never forget.

“Bland can be grand,” beamed the vice president, opening a carton of eggs to showcase six colored “Easter eggs” and 6 white shelled eggs.

“Of course we all want more of these kinds of leaders in our company,” said the vice president, pointing to the colored eggs. “So how do we get more of those vibrant, creative, colorful eggs in our corporate basket? With these. He pointed to the bland white shelled eggs.

His colleagues winced in disbelief, fearing their vice president of human resources had lost it. Continue reading →