Happy Phriday & Happy Book Lovers’ Day
Quote I Am Considering
Schopenhauer’s excellent distinction between talent and genius — “Talent is like the marksman who hits a target which others cannot reach; genius is like the marksman who hits a target… which others cannot even see.” Arthur Schopenhauer
Old Schopenhauer brings fun and laughter to any party.
Sammie Says
Hiring, Part V cont’d: The Interview
Use a Scorecard
Write out your questions beforehand. This helps guarantee you that will ask the same questions of each candidate. The scorecard will give you a tool to rate each candidate’s response. So, when you are done with the interviews, you will have scores to compare. Believe me, if you have done a long day of many interviews or there are days and weeks in between the interviews, this score card can help the 4 or 5 braincells you have left to make a cogent decision.
Have some questions for each of these categories:
Do they have the skills to do the job?
Do they have motivation to do the job?
What is their problem-solving ability?
Do they work in a team or alone?
Do they present the Achiever’s pattern?
The scorecard helps you stay on track in the interview. However, don't be afraid to venture off the card if your candidate gives you reason. Some of my most revealing interviews have been when I went off script and chased rabbits. This left the candidate less guarded and more candid. That got me some good information. Sometimes this is good for the candidate and sometimes it is not but it is always good for me. And after chasing a rabbit, the scorecard helps to get you back on track.
Please make notes. Otherwise it is like when you get back to the hotel room after house hunting all day and you are into your second margarita and you are trying to remember which house had the sea-foam green bathroom and which house had the mirror over the bed and which house had the jungle room. Make notes on your scorecard to explain the score you gave each response. I am telling you this is magic.
Keeping score might imply that the highest score wins. But hold on. You don’t automatically give the job to the candidate with the highest score. Here is why: Not all of your prepared questions carry the same weight. If you have one candidate that scored high on four of your categories but does not have the skill sets to start of day one, you gotta ask yourself: How will I bridge that gap? Maybe you wont want to bridge that gap. Either way, a scorecard gives you a comparative perspective.
The best predicter of future performance is past performance. Next week I will discuss reference calls.
Mike’s Friday Funnies: Bells
You probably already know that Alexander Graham Bell helped revolutionize telegram technology in the 1870s.
But you probably didn't know that years earlier, Leah Amber Rex-Galland was already working to revolutionize anagram technology.
(I had to look up that one on the internet.)
On March 10th, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call.
Moments later, he learned his auto warranty had expired.
I got a strange note in my bag at the Taco Bell drive-thru last night...The lady at the pick up window seemed very frazzled and the note said "help there are two armed men inside."
I drove off laughing, thinking "well yeah it would take forever to make tacos with one arm".
Years ago, while ringing the bells of Notre Dame, Quasimodo caught his fingernail in the rope and his fingernail was pulled out.
It was the first time the people of Paris heard a hunchback wail.
Putin was visiting a school in Moscow to promote the nations power on the world wide stage.
The children were allowed to ask questions before lunch.
Little Alina speaks up and says to Putin:
“I have two questions”
“Why did Russia take Crimea?”
“And why are we sending troops to Ukraine?”
Putin responds:
“Good questions,” but before he can say anything else the bell goes off and the kids go for lunch.
When they come back to the classroom, there is time for more questions.
Natasha speaks up to Putin:
“I have four questions”
“Why did Russia take Crimea?”
“Why are we sending troops to Ukraine?”
“Why did the bell go off 20 minutes early?”
“And where is Alina?”
(BTW, have you heard the story of how Robert Kraft lost his Super Bowl ring?)
I asked the librarian if she had a book about Pavlov's Dog and Schrodinger's Cat.
She said it rang a bell but wasn't sure if it was there or not.
(I did not have to look up this one as I took some philosophy in college.)
I once made a small boat out of a large bell.
It was a little dingy.
Book of the Week: The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly
This book was an eye opener for me. It is scary and yet full of optimism. Even though this book was published in 2017 and it does not talk extensively about artificial intelligence, these ideas still hold their value. It seems to me that these ideas will be magnified by what AI has already become. Mark Lipps I ask you, “Will AI and technology kill us?” Not according to Mr. Kelly.
Kevin Kelly 12 technological forces are:
(List taken from Wikipedia)
Becoming: Moving from fixed products to always upgrading services and subscriptions
Cognifying: Making everything much smarter using cheap powerful AI that we get from the cloud
Flowing: Depending on unstoppable streams in real time for everything
Screening: Turning all surfaces into screens
Accessing: Shifting society from one where we own assets to one where instead we will have access to services at all times
Sharing: Collaboration at mass scale. Kelly writes, "On my imaginary Sharing Meter Index we are still at 2 out of 10."
Filtering: Harnessing intense personalization in order to anticipate our desires
Remixing: Unbundling existing products into their most primitive parts and then recombining in all possible ways
Interacting: Immersing ourselves inside our computers to maximize their engagement
Tracking: Employing total surveillance for the benefit of citizens and consumers
Questioning: Promoting good questions is far more valuable than good answers
Beginning: Constructing a planetary system connecting all humans and machines into a global matrix
What Amazon says about this book.
These larger forces will completely revolutionize the way we buy, work, learn, and communicate with each other. By understanding and embracing them, says Kelly, it will be easier for us to remain on top of the coming wave of changes and to arrange our day-to-day relationships with technology in ways that bring forth maximum benefits. Kelly’s bright, hopeful book will be indispensable to anyone who seeks guidance on where their business, industry, or life is heading - what to invent, where to work, in what to invest, how to better reach customers, and what to begin to put into place - as this new world emerges.
Here is one of my highlights from the book: (Okay I have it on Kindle and love reading it on a screen and I love the highlight function and how my highlights are all gathered in one place and organized and I can access them from anywhere and use them to collaborate with others and I like this because it is not easy and not monotonous….hey what the…)
“A robot/computer cannot possibly do the tasks I do. 2. [Later.] OK, it can do a lot of those tasks, but it can’t do everything I do. 3. [Later.] OK, it can do everything I do, except it needs me when it breaks down, which is often. 4. [Later.] OK, it operates flawlessly on routine stuff, but I need to train it for new tasks. 5. [Later.] OK, OK, it can have my old boring job, because it’s obvious that was not a job that humans were meant to do. 6. [Later.] Wow, now that robots are doing my old job, my new job is much more interesting and pays more! 7. [Later.] I am so glad a robot/computer cannot possibly do what I do now. [Repeat.]”
Throat Punch Poetry: Don’t Dare Start
By S. Lewis
Often I’m afraid to begin The train of thought Wherein my mind wonders And wanders. Sometimes I stop me again from creeping towards that Dark pool in the forest Where the nymphs swim. They dive from mossy dead logs Naked as the jaybirds Who are complaining In the trembling leaves above. As The nymphs splash about The muse inches out of A curtain of dense improbability And stands there. Within The muted circle of silver shadows She lowers her downy head To drink from the still surface of Reflected sky above and Presses her Brown lips to the ancient water Beneath which I fear Harbors writhing Biblical serpents And fat black zombie tadpoles. Afraid Am I to frighten the muse With some misstep On dead stick Or a fucked-up joke Or a digital donging Or pathological longing. Me A hillbilly hick Wont Turn back And walk out from it, The dark of the cool, dense forest Where I know I belong. Afraid I'll never return again If I leave.
The Phriday Twain is Leaving the Station
"There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.” — Mark Twain
Moment of Zen
“We artists are indestructible; even in a prison, or in a concentration camp, I would be almighty in my own world of art, even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell.”
–Pablo Picasso
Photo by Willy Maywald
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