1. Knowing rights and duties

When you train a staff, the first thing you should teach is that leaders start by knowing their rights and duties within the organization. Teach them their rights, that will give them confidence in the organization and a sense of belonging. Besides, point out their duties, what the organization expects from them, their responsibilities. Take into account that leaders will utterly fail conducting an organization unless they perceive that their work will be rewarded. Your leaders must understand that leadership requires:

• commitment
• consistency
• monitoring several activities
• ensuring excellence
• solving problems
• making suggestions
• controlling programs
• following agendas
• promoting ideas
• defending organizational values

among other things requiring constant effort and dedication. This is why it is absolutely important to convey the leaders the value they have for the organization, the importance of their work, and the reward they can receive for their work. Leaders have to demonstrate passion and dedication. Motivation and perseverance are also at the core of leadership.

Knowing their duties will also allow them to know under what conditions they will be leading the organization, what are the expected results of their leadership, what is the proper way they should develop their leadership, and what are the milestones they are fully obligated to met for their leadership to be effective, and fully approved by the organization.

It is important that leaders know what are the rewards their leadership will bring along, because they are leaders committed to the organization, and they deserve wage benefits, admission to exclusive activities of the organization, and merit distinctions, promotions, delegated authority over certain matters of the organization. Of course, always in accordance with the results of their leadership.

When training a staff to lead, the future leaders must feel that the organization trust them, that they will be respected. Conversely, training must state that the organization expects dedication and concentration from their leaders. Teaching the leaders’ rights and duties within the organization is at the core of educating for leadership, of promoting a doctrine of respect between the organization and its leaders.

2. Train leaders for success

Leadership development means that you must train leaders to continually grow and mature. Leadership is not a static concept; leadership is a dynamic, mutable, adaptative process. More than training leaders, you should train successful leaders.

Some leaders fail distinguishing between successful leadership and being a leader and feeling successful because of such status. There is a great difference between being a leader who thinks he is successful because he has reached a leader status, and being a leader who has set out to achieve things, worked hard, and has achieved his success because he conquered his goals. The later one has the right attitude. Success is not a random thing, success is achieved when one is out to reach a goal, and has managed to reach it.

If you do not want to have mediocre leaders, teach them to differentiate between what a leader is and what it means to be successful leaders. You must train leaders so that they understand that having a leadership position is not everything: having a status, an office, an appointment, maybe a team, does not mean to be a successful leader. In order to qualify as successful, a leader has to:

• Have a clear goal she wants to reach.
• Such goal comprises general and specific objectives to be achieved.
• Arrange such objectives in estimated time intervals.
• Identify the required steps to achieve each objective.
• Know limitations and obstacles, and possible solutions for overcoming them.
• A leader does not to stop, a leader does not get discouraged by adverse outcomes: leaders are perseverant, they keep going on.
• Stand firm despite attacks and impediments.
• Do not stop until he reaches the end of the goal.
• A leader, no matter victories and defeats, is carefully enough to keep the right target. No deviations are allowed.

All these steps tells us that being a leader means more than just only a status. Trying to keep leadership according to these parameters will allow the leader to achieve success in everything she undertakes.

3. Leaders stand out for their excellence

Excellence is synonymous of perfection. Often as leaders we are pleased with our accomplishments, but… are such result true accomplishments, useful for our organization, or are they just a matter of personal satisfaction?

Sometimes we count small steps as huge accomplishments in our leadership, but they are just that: small steps that give us an approximation to the path of success that we want conquer, but which rarely deserve the big spotlights we point at them. A leader has to meditate on their achievements, to ask himself whether such results were the best that he could have been done.

When you train leaders, train them to do their tasks, of course, but also train them to excel at such tasks: a leader’s results must set them apart from the non-leaders.

Excellence in leadership also means that the things a leader does attain the best possible results, and processes are carried out in the best possible way. Leaders propose the best models and the best ideas. If when we evaluate what we do we realize that there was a better way to do it, or a better idea, or that we could have done it better, then, we must realize that it was a good performance, but maybe far from an excellent performance.

When training leaders, teach them to think, analyze, evaluate and consider what are the best tasks to achieve their goals, the best path. Leaders must find joy in a work of recognized excellence.

4. Challenge them to their full potential

All human beings have a potential within, probably unknown to us, because we don’t know how to hone our skills, or how to develop them. However, when circumstances are adverse or difficult in the extreme, that is the time when our struggle to survive and overcome the problems of life lead us to discover our talents, gifts, skills and abilities. Hard times help us to realize our qualities.

When training leaders, teach them to do their best, to keep trying even when they don’t feel enough confidence in themselves, perhaps because they feel they don’t have the skills or knowledge. Demand them to do the best they can do, no matter how difficult the task, no matter how weak their self-esteem as a leader, no matter the level of difficulty. Require them to always do their best.

Demanding their best means that they necessarily will have to discover how to achieve what lies ahead, no matter how much they have to sacrifice, or how much they have to fail on the road trying to succeed. Leaders do not surrender to the challenges of their work, because leaders know how to harness energy to overcome challenges.

When you demand these things, you are challenging them. A leader says to herself: I can, I’m able to achieve it, I have the potential to attain my goals, I have the abilities, I have everything I need to do it, I will succeed and my work will be a success.

5. Discover their achievements and talents

Sometimes, leaders tend to assess more the disappointments they’ve found during their work: they tend to minimize their achievements, their true talents.

Sometimes leaders know their accomplishments and their skills to perfection, but when the organization is not aware of the leader’s capabilities the leader may feel discouraged, lacking enough motivation, because after all no one is aware of what they do, or how well they perform. This way, organizational ignorance about their leaders might devalue their work.

As a trainer you also have to highlight the importance of an organization which recognizes its leaders, specially the favorable results of their work and their capabilities and skills. Further, teach leaders how to discover other people’s talents, how to set higher goals, how to develop new skills. That is, teach them to understand that success requires continuous personal and professional improvement.

Teach them to set goals which are intended to become defined achievements, and teach them to exercise specific actions to ensure such achievements.

6. Give them tools to work

Leading is not easy. Leading requires tools. There are many ways to give tools to a leader. Now, what is a tool? A tool is a useful device or technique for a job. There are several types of tools:

Physical tools or materials. Examples: a hammer, a computer, a blackboard, depending on the type of work to do.

Cognitive tools, knowledge and expertise. This is one of the most universal tools that exist, among the first things organizations must convey to their leaders: knowledge and education concerning the areas they should know, which are closely related to their work.

Conceptual tools. One thing is to have knowledge, and another thing is to have concepts and ideas developed in terms of knowledge. If the organization manages a vision or a way of doing things in a particular or different fashion from the rest, these approaches should be transmitted to the leaders. When a leader shares the concepts of his organization, he will perform a lot better.

Strategic tools. These are made up of all the techniques, steps, procedures, and forms of work that the organization has set as parameters and standards to ensure their achievements and successes.

A lot of organizations hire unqualified personnel, which is being evaluated for performance, but which has not been taught anything about leadership, lacking useful tools, only expected to try to learn fast. This is a serious error.

Most companies prefer to hire people with experience, but very few are committed to working towards empowering inexperienced ones. The same goes for the leadership: leadership prefers to delegate responsibilities to people which have been leaders in other organizations, and the only valid option for someone to fill these positions is that his resume says that he executed the same function in other organizations and has had experience in it, for a significant period of time. This situation has its very understandable reasons, because it saves investment in staff training, effort and time. However, organizations that invest in staff training and ongoing training, have remarkable successes that remain in time.

7. Diagnose possibilities

Diagnosing involves assessing scenaries that may occur, depending on the current reality. If  you want to know what things could happen in the future, do not sit to wait for the arrival of the future. Be active. Assess the present, and analyze any data the current reality provides.

Evaluate your staff, study their behavior, habits, strengths, weaknesses, talents, values, prejudices, self-esteem. All of these factors have to be taken into account: they can turn into an impediment to progress and achieving success.

When exploring possibilities, consider good and bad possibilities, likely and unlikely scenaries, spot business risks and dangers.

Based on this concept, we can conclude that if you do not make a diagnosis, you are exposing yourself to be defeated by harmful eventualities. Protect from catastrophes by means of planning. Train your leaders to diagnose scenaries, and also to evaluate what is necessary to evaluate, to change whatever is urgent to modify, and to improve everything that has to be improved.

For more information about leadership, take a look at The 7 Attributes of Leadership.

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Lot 1: 4,400 m2 (US$ 29,000)
Look for the green arrow in the following map:
Map of Lot A

Lot 2: 3,000 m2 (US$ 19,000)
Look for the green arrow in the following map:
Map of Lot B

This is a residential zone (San Juan Bautista), with mountain climate. Several houses are already built up around these lots. There are plenty of schools nearby. Access to all services. Furthermore, you’ll be dealing directly with the lot’s owners (no intermediaries, no commissions).

Please, leave a comment if you’re interested, and I’ll write you back. Thank you.

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Leaders radiate their happiness, and convey energy rather than absorbing it. People wishing to achieve success and raising to the top must be full of positive energy, and project it to the things they do. Willpower alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by a good deal of energy to undertake new businesses and projects, and to bear any hurdles along the way. Energy, when effectively conveyed to other people, allows us to lead them positively. Leaders are, in essence, sources of energy, and people will follow a true leader if they feel enhanced, relaxed and supported by their leader’s energy.

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We should differentiate clearly between beliefs and ideas. An idea is the mental image, devoid of action, which subsequently creates the belief. The belief, in turn, is a deeply-rooted conviction which influences our behavior and is present in our decision-making process. Beliefs stem from ideas, bearing positive or negative nuances. An idea can turn into a positive belief which will help us to personal growth and self-improvement. Our problems start when ideas are limiting, creating limiting beliefs, and dangerously constraining our behavior.

Furthermore, beliefs are affected by a series of events which surround an individual and influence his ideas. These events are: cultural background, job, opinions, accumulated experience, and the circle of influence. On each of these events a person develops her own ideas which will ultimately be reflected on the beliefs she embraces.

The constant search of negative references and the mental repetition of limiting phrases such as “I’ll never make it” lead us to unconsciously adopting negative behaviors. In this context, we are subjugated by the negative suggestions that we repeat to ourselves incessantly. The only way to break free from this constraining spiral is to be aware of our power to change negative approaches. Change has to start right now.

That’s why it’s so important to have and to form positive ideas, in order to let them to turn into deep, automatic positive beliefs. In this way these positive beliefs will influence our behavior, and will lead us to a successful life, full of victories. Hence, the first sentence of this post: If we believe that we are able to do something, we’ll do it. If we believe we cannot do something, we won’t do it.

Exercises

• Repeat 5 times: “I am a positive person, I can achieve my goals and I…” (complete the phrase)
• Identify a negative idea you have. Think about how you could turn it into a positive idea.
• Meditate about your main goals right now. Are they realistic, are they attainable?
• Do you fear failure? Meditate about this: Fearing failure is natural. Everyone fails. The problem is not failure, the problem is to halt after failing. Winners, leaders keep trying, and that’s why they’re are successful and different.

A version of this post, in Spanish, can be read here.

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Leadership can be defined as the will to control processes and events, to understand what is required to focus all of the involved activities in a specific direction, and to yield the power to complete tasks and distribute resources, properly harnessing and directing the abilities of each person involved in the project. Summarizing, leadership is about control, focus, and also about effective management of people and resources.

There are two kinds of leaders:

1. Nominal Leaders: The main goal of nominal leaders is to establish, between her organization and its environment, a set of relations which allow the perfect execution of a project’s tasks. A nominal leader defines such tasks and monitors them to verify they are carried out entirely.
2. Concrete Leaders: This kind of leader expresses and represents the perspectives of her group. It might happen that the nominal leader will not properly represent or understand the emotions of her people, and under such circumstances, a concrete leader could emerge and oppose the inpetitude of the nominal leader (and even replacing her.)

This tell us a very important fact: groups follow the person which is able to quickly and clearly connect with their emotions. Leadership is, then, also an emotional journey.

Some leaders are more effective managing small groups, instead of huge organizations. Other leaders are able to inspire great masses, but are little respected by their immediate collaborators. And there is a third group of leaders, the best leaders, whose followers are everyone: masses and close collaborators.

Regardless of the cognoscitive field a leader adresses, they have several interesting characteristic which distinguish them from everybody else. The 3 most visible characteristics of leaders are:

1. They have achieved incredible success in their work and in their private lives; it’s often said about them that they have the Midas touch.
2. They seem to own an unlimited luck.
3. They are rich, and they are getting richer (even right now).

There exists a wrong belief about leadership being a hereditary, genetic issue. And some people think being a successful, real leader is a matter of luck. Nothing further from the truth. Leadership has to be built, has to be shaped, and (very important) has to be mantained. And there’s always room for improvement.

All of we are able to achieve professional success. But we have to study, we have to observe, we have to learn which are the traits of leaders and the keys for success. Obviously, success can be achieved, taught and learnt: we have to reshape a set of our behaviors, and suit them to the profile of a successful person. We have previously touched upon 3 visible traits of leaders. Now it’s time to delve into this point. And now we’ll discuss the two key traits of leaders:

Motivation

Leaders are like tireless motivation machines. Leaders are continuosly motivating themselves, and they renew their motivations easily, almost effortlessly. Leaders communicate and convey their motivation to the people around them. Leader are always motivated, and always motivating their people.

Perseverance

And motivation is the fuel for the kernel of success: perseverance. They are entrepeneurs and innovators. Generally, successful people have faced harsh beginnings. What distinguishes them is their faith in what they are doing, in what they are pursuing. Leaders believe. Leaders insist in their projects, goals and tasks. They set realistic tasks, and they fight over and over until fully completing each one of such tasks. How many times do common people abandon their startups at the first view of difficulties? How many projects are never realized just because of plain laziness? It’s in that initial moment of doubt when leaders raise above the crowd. Leaders keep going forward, because they are relentless fighters. Note that leaders are perseverant in work and effective use of their resources. Perseverance without a rational application of forces and use of resource will only lead to an utter failure.

And what’s life but a struggle against the chaotic forces of the universe? Leaders are the warriors who are able to tame those chaotic trends

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1. Buy only what you really need. It’s a matter of responsibility. Get to know all of the responsibilities in owning and using a credit card, and please make wise decisions about the items you really need to purchase versus the ones you simply wish to have. It’s important to learng to distinguish between Need to purchase and Wish to have. By using your cards responsibly we mean you should learn to recognize which things you need and which things you just want. If you use your credit card to buy things you can’t afford today, chances are that you won’t be able to afford it tomorrow, or next month, and you will quick and steadily get into debt. Then don’t live a borrowed lifestyle, be true to yourself.

Responsible purchases help to keep lower balances, which are easier to manage and pay off than those that are higher. Further, lower balances helps you maintain a good credit score, as a large part of your credit score takes into account the levels of debt you have raised. Ideally you should stay within 30% of your credit limit.

Responsibility also means remembering your credit card payment. If you cannot make your monthly payment on time, let your creditor know in advance. Call him, explain the problem and ask that any late fees be waived.

2. Rather than seeing your card as debt or emergency funds, see them as liabilities that have to be paid. It’s about focus. Don’t recur to your credit card to make everyday purchases. Goods and items such like clothing, apparel, and gas shouldn’t be purchased with a credit card. If you use your credit card as a substitute for cash you may quickly grow debt. It’s true that some transactions may require credit cards (buying an airline ticket, renting a car or shipping an overnight package), but prefer cash or debit cards when possible.

3. And pay off your cards in full every month (or at most every two months). It’s about being smart. If you pay your card balance in full each payment cycle, you can use the bank’s money interest free for about a month. If you don’t pay your bill in full each month and make further purchases you will soon find yourself clobbered by debt (specially interest payments) on a rocketing balance. This is very, very dangerous to your financial health and can heavily hurt your credit score. Similarly, keep out of the habit of making minimum-only payments. This bad habit increases the amount of time it will take to pay off your credit card debt, and also increases interest payments. In short: to pay your debts off cheaper and quicker, pay as much as you can on your balance each cycle.

Being smart also means that you should negotiate a lower interest rate whenever possible. Remember that interest rate determines how much you pay for carrying a balance on your credit card. Study your interest rate on your credit card periodically to be sure you are getting the best deal possible. And get rid of credit cards with high and hard interest rates (but take into account that closing cards that still have a balance, or cards which make up a significant part oy tour credit history may hurt your credit score.)

Finally, remember that credit cards are essentially high-interest loans. Using them to buy everyday goods (household items, apparel, food, etc) sounds silly, and that’s why credit card holders who don’t pay their bills in full each month are not being smart. Certainly, if you don’t have the money to pay for an item now, chances are you won’t have it after the credit card bill arrives. So be smart.

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Gene Haas Tony Stewart Racing will be looking to carry over their momentum from 2010 into this year. Both drivers for Gene Haas Tony Stewart Racing had strong finishes last season and are legitimate threats in 2011. Will they be able to dethrone Jimmie Johnson? The point scoring system has changed for this season so the field may be wide open for anyone to come in and grab the Sprint Cup. Fans are looking forward to what 2011 will bring for Gene Haas Tony Stewart Racing and NASCAR.

The New Point Scoring System For 2011

NASCAR officials shook up how races are scored for 2011. In the end, it looks like the entire season will be more competitive as it will be more difficult for a hot driver to pull ahead of the rest of the pack, especially early in the season. The winning driver now scores 43 points, 2nd place is good for 42 points, and that continues all the way down to 1 point for the last place driver. This tightens up the leader board as compared to the 5 point spread between finishes that existed last year. In addition, the lap bonus has been reduced from 5 points to 1 and the winner of the race receives an additional 3 points. Overall, this year’s standings should be tighter with a greater emphasis on winning races in order to make it into the Chase at the end of the season.

The entire Gene Haas Tony Stewart team is anxious to get started on another great year.

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The book’s structure is lovely simple. Fifteen chapters which focus on specific management issues:

Chapter 1 – Adopt a serving attitude: Be humble, serve and love your team (but don’t let your team members to walk all over you either… balance is the key).
Chapter 2 – Teach: Management is a teaching experience. Improving your staff skills, sharing your knowledge, will yield better results. I liked the book’s suggestion about hiring people with potential, rather than focusing solely on experience.
Chapter 3 – Provide Honest and Timely Feedback: This is related to the previous chapter. You have to provide feedback to your people, both positive and negative. However, feedback is a subtle issue (you don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, or to praise them excessively)… regarding this issue, the book provides a few guidelines about how to do it right.
Chapter 4 – Share Information: What’s the point of hoarding information? You have to share information with your team in order to complete projects! This chapter points out the way.
Chapter 5 – Listen: Dedicate your attention to your people. And be an educated listener. They will trust you more easily.
Chapter 6 – Treat People Like Human Beings: They’re not machines (they’re better than machines). Put yourself in other shoes, and you’ll have a better perspective about each of the members of your team.
Chapter 7 – Set Goals, Plan and Execute: You must set the example for your group. Be logical, realistic and organized, and they will follow your approach.
Chapter 8 – Learn: Life is about learning! Don’t ever let any learning opportunity to pass you by. Take your time to read books, articles, to learn from your uppers and from your team.
Chapter 9 – Do the Right Thing: Be good. Be human. You’re not an automaton. You’re a human being. Awareness of your human condition is a key requirement for being a successful manager.
Chapter 10 – Embrace the Uncomfortable: A good manager knows how to approach those boring, complex, uncomfortable tasks. This chapter provides rationale and motivation for doing that.
Chapter 11 – Clean Up your Own House First: You set the example, and teams tend to reflect their manager’s nature. Be positive. Again, be good.
Chapter 12 – Persist: Don’t ever give up! I love a phrase from this chapter: “Don’t succumb to the pressure of those who worship the status quo. You can do better -and so can your organization“.
Chapter 13 – Do What You Say You’ll Do: Good managers complete their task. Good managers set and achieve “realistic” goals (which sometimes means saying “no” to unrealistic requests).
Chapter 14 – Always Follow Up: This chapter discusses the (oftenly overlooked) issue of following up with clients, team members, bosses, etc. Learn here how to do it right.
Chapter 15 – Plan Your Week: Planning is at the core of management. Plan for your work, and plan for yourself.

Further, the book includes 7 appendices, which summarize some ideas of the book, provide some tools for assessing your progress, and offer a few expansions to the knowledge discussed in the book. Overall, the book promotes “balance”. The language is direct. After reading this book, one acquires a lot of rich notions about “practical” (and thereby useful) aspects of management. Reading this book is a first step toward becoming a better manager.

All in all, if you wish to improve your management skills, I totally recommend this book!

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Networking means building a list of contacts. Contacts are people you’ve met during your business or social activities. More often than not, such friends and acquaintances will provide you information about job openings, companies and industry leads. Moreover, they’ll introduce you to other so that you can grow your network. Therefore, it is important not only to inform them about your job search, but also give them some résumés.

This list will provide some hints about the people and organizations we should include in our network:

• Relatives
• Friends
• Recruiters
• Former Employers
• Neighbors
• Professional Organizations
• Other Job Seekers
• Academic Contacts (School, University)
• Business Associations
• Merchants

Organizing your Network of Contacts

Please, organize your network. Save information about your contacts in a spreadsheet or a database. Include their names, titles, company, address, phone and fax numbers, and email. It’s also important to register a few notes about the way in which any of your contacts is valuable, for instance, what do they know?, who can they refer you to?, and so on. Further, organize their business cards.

Besides, you should register the dates of communication with your contacts. Don’t be afraid to communicate with your contacts and ask for their help. This way, you’ll be connected to your network of contacts. Occasionally, check the progress. A phone call, SMS or email should suffice.

A few notes about Networking and Job-seeking

• Looking for a job is a job in itself. Develop a strategy, set goals. Look for a job by following a typical work schedule.
• When finishing a relation with an employer, please try to leave the best possible image. Remember that people in your company can be very good contacts. And also, it might happen that your future employer will call your previous company to ask for professional references about you.
• Create an attractive business card. Take your time to produce it, avoid spelling errors and, if required, look for professional advice. The idea is to have a genuine business card presentation.
• Finally, remember to keep your network informed of your progress. After you’ve got a job, remind to thank them for their help. Keep your network alive, as you don’t know when they will prove helpful again. Oh, and remember: you’re also a member of the network of each of your contacts. Share the love.

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you have to research your potential employer beforehand

…that will give you a very important lead. Get as much information as you can about the business, and also about the potential interviewers (you should research their style and attitude… that’s very important). If you know someone who has previously taken an interview in that company, talk with them about their experiences in the interview. Try to extract pure information, i.e., don’t let them to influence you (specially about the job being impossible or, on the contrary, being too easy).

1. First Approach

Remember that you have to dress with a professional look, according to the nature of the job. You are a professional… thereby each and every aspect of you must communicate that fact. Now, during the interview, take into account that Interviewers will ask questions related to their company, for example, why would you like to work for us? They may ask you about your opinion on the company’s products or history. Typically, this information is available on the company’s website, and by knowing it you demonstrate a genuine interest for the job.

2. Virtues and Limitations

Talk about your virtues, but not excessively. In this regards apply balance and good sense. Answer this question presenting your virtues in the context of the requirements of the job you’re applying to, with a clear and concise language. However, other almost granted question they will do is about your defects, thereby you must also be prepared to answer that. Furthermore, the interviewer may ask about your abilities and limitations: prepare an answer beforehand in order to allow you to present your defects as a new opportunity for keep improving.

3. Expect the Unexpected

You have to be ready for anything… a group interview, a forum about some specific problem of the company, a written exam, and so on. Carry any material you think you may need: think of the interview as your first day of work.

When entering to the interview, greet to your interviewer with a smile. Visual contact must also be direct and firm (but not exceedingly). Remember that, no matter the circumstances, you have to act formally instead of dared or zany (refer to your interviewer using his title… Dr., Mr., Engineer, etc.), unless they demand you to treat them informally (but that’s relatively rare; read point 6. Be on the alert). Listen to your interviewer very carefully. Sometimes the applicants are so focused in the things they want to say that forget what they are really being asked about. No answer is good if it does not truly answer the matter asked about.

4. Language

Be careful about the expressions and style you use to communicate your ideas. Don’t use inadequate, informal or excessively colloquial phrases.

5. Gestures

Be careful with your corporal language too. A firm handshake transmit self-confidence. A good posture also reflects confidence. Don’t act disturbed or nervous. Lean sligthly towards your interviewer in order to show interest in his words.

6. Be on the alert

Expert interviewers know human nature very well. An expert interviewer will quickly create a relaxed and trusting atmosphere for you, in order to expose your real behavior and ideas. However, never forget that he is there evaluating you, so no matter the confidence and comradeship he shows, you must always act as a professional. Novice interviewers, on the contrary, often act very arrogantly… fight off their arrogance by showing yourself relaxed and breezy (never answer the interviewer’s arrogance with more arrogance!).

7. Keep your moral high

Regarding this point, I recommend reading the posts The Winner’s Mind and The 7 Attributes of Leadership.

8. Secrets of a Critical Thinking Interviewer

Finally, good interviewers know how to distinguish good prospects from bad ones. They know that two people with the same job title may differ in at least one of the following ways:

• ability to perform the work
• interest in the work
• experience with similar applications
• experience with similar tools
• experience with similar techniques
• experience with similar working environment
• training
• ability to communicate with others
• ability to share responsibility with others
• management skills

Each of these characteristics can affect an individual’s ability to perform productively. These variations help to explain why one employee can complete a particular chore in a day, whereas another requires a week. The differences can be critical, not only to schedule estimation, but also to the entire success of the company’s projects. An expert interviewer knows that.

I wish you good luck on your interview and hope that you get the job!

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