What that means is, “I don’t really like that.  Under normal or ideal circumstances I wouldn’t do that.  But if push comes to shove, and it looks like it has, I could do that.”  The problem with that type of thinking is those people are not functioning in their “wheelhouse.”  That means they are working outside their talent base.

It’s also likely that those people will be unhappy in their work.  When you do something you love and something you’re good at, you’re much more likely to be successful.  When you do something you “could do,” you’re not.  You’re not as successful.  You’re not as energetic and you’re just plain not as happy.

If you’re changing jobs (whether by your choice or by the choice of someone else,) make sure you focus on getting a job in a field where you have a distinct talent and where you’ll be doing something you do well.  Avoid the “I could do that!” trap.  In the long term, you’ll be glad you did (and so will your employer.)

While the response has been good (in terms of numbers,) the ability of the potential candidates to sell themselves has been — well I don’t think it would be too strong to say it has been pathetic.  As I’ve listened in, I have to wonder how many of these people got their last job.  They’re horrible interviewees.

Let me just say this.  If you have to interview for a job, find someone who is knowledgeable in interviewing job applicants and video tape yourself being interviewed.  Then, after watching the video, ask yourself, “Would I hire this person?”  If not, make some adjustments.  Have the interviewer make suggestions on area in which you could improve.  Then get to it.  Perfect your ability to interview, and it will pay big dividends.

The bottom line is this:  We’re talking about what could potentially be hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years.  Why would you go into that opportunity cold — without any preparation?  That’s crazy.  You need to be practiced and polished.  You need to be able to convince the interviewer that out of 100 (or potentially many more) candidates, you are the one with the right stuff.  You need to convince that interviewer that you are the only logical choice for the job.

As the old saying goes, if you can do that, nothing else matters.  If you can’t do that, nothing else matters.  (All of which is true at least until the day you start your new job.)

Accompanying me in the interview were a couple of key managers and the owner of the business.  The owner had taken the lead in the conversation.  It went like this:

Owner:  “Well, Eric.  Your experience looks good, but you’re sure young.”

Eric:  “I may be the youngest applicant, but I assure you I also have more energy than the others.”

Owner:  “Hmm.”  He knew, as did we all, that the job ahead of us was monumental and that it would require a ton of energy.  That was definitely the right answer.  “I like that you have a lot of energy, but with all due respect, I think we were looking for someone with a little grey around the temples.”

Eric:  Without missing a beat Eric came back with the best response I have ever heard in an interview, before or since:  “I understand why you want someone older.  You want to be sure they’ve seen it all and done it all, and that they’re going to do the job the way it needs to be done.  I can appreciate that.  But let me ask you one question:  would you rather have someone with 20 years experience doing it wrong, or 6 years experience doing it right?”

That was the finest example of thinking on your feet I have ever seen!  Not only did he strengthen his own position, but somehow, he cast a shadow on applicants that had three to four times his experience.  The interview was pretty much over at that point and we gave him the job.  He was the best financial person I’ve ever worked with.

A lot of times we go into an interview with managers who are looking for the “right” person for the job.  If you’re going to get the job (and edge out all the other candidates,) you’re going to have to convince them that you’re the best (and if you’re going to keep the job after you get it, you’d better be the best.)

Eric was a master at making even his weaknesses look like strengths.  Every time someone brought up an objection, he had the right answer.  And at the end of the day, what he said was true.  His energy level was well above most people.  He knew how to do it right and he knew how to do it right now.  He was quick and accurate.  He had more data tucked away in his mind than you can imagine.  He didn’t have to look anything up.  He knew his business and he knew his job and he did it well.

If you’re going to compete at the highest level, you have to know how to do those things.  If you can’t do it now, have someone help you.  You should prepare for an interview like you’re preparing for the big game.  Getting the job could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, not to mention the job satisfaction and happiness that is possible.  Don’t ever interview unprepared.  Make sure your interview was one of those things that the interviewer just don’t ever forget.

His reply surprised and somewhat confused me.  “I am wondering if you have the ability to be alone,” he said.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I immediately wondered, “What does he mean?  Do I have to do this job from some remote island or something?  What does he mean?”  So being brash (and not willing to endure the curiosity one more minute, I asked, “What do you mean, ‘be alone?’”

“Well,” he replied,  “I know you have the talent to do the job.  I know you have the leadership skills.  I know you have good judgment and that you’re honest and your integrity is above question.”  At that point I’m thinking,
“Okay, I’m qualified, just give me the job.”  But then he continued, “But what I can’t decide is whether you have the ability to be alone.”

There it was again.  Did I have the ability to be alone?  “What exactly do you mean?”  I asked again.  This was his response and it has stuck with me all these years.  He stood at the white board in my office and began to draw.  He drew a triangle with the point facing up.  He put a dot in the middle.  “If you’re here,” he said, “You have all these people (indicating everyone who was above that dot) to communicate with.  You can talk to them, complain to them, ask questions from them — whatever you want.  If you’re here,” he said drawing a dot right next to the top, “You still have at least a couple of people you can talk to.  If you’re here,” he said, drawing a dot right on the tip top of the triangle, “You are all alone.  You have no one to talk to.  Nobody to complain to.  Nobody to be your mentor.  You are all alone.  You make the hard decisions and then reap the accolades or storms that grow out of them.  You decide who stays and who goes in hard times, taking the brunt of those decisions.  You set the direction for the company for better or worse.  But through it all, you’re alone.  What I’ve wondered and what I’m still wondering, indeed what I’m asking you right now is, do you have the ability to be alone?”

I assured him I did, citing times when I’d been mostly alone, and assuring him I could do it.  But deep in my heart I wondered if I could be all alone in difficult times.  Since that time, I have learned I do have the ability to be alone.  And through the years as I’ve had the opportunity to hire new managers I have asked that same question.  What I know from my own experience is that many people think they can be alone, but they really can’t.  It is lonely and it is difficult and different than you think.  But on the other hand, it can be tremendously rewarding as well.  But until you’ve stood naked to wind, face into the whirlwind, you probably have no idea whether you have what it takes to be truly lonely.  Entrepreneurs have it.  CEO’s have it.  Many middle managers have it.  But many don’t.  How about you?  Do you have the ability to be lonely?

How is that?  My assertion that there is always room at the top applies everywhere.  If you are good at what you do (meaning if you are in the top 10% – 15%) there will always be a place for you and you will always do well.  It doesn’t matter what field you’re in or what your place is in that field.  There is always room for someone who’s great at what they do.

What if you’re not in the top 10% – 15% ?  You have three choices: 1) get enough training / education that you can be, 2) change to a field where you can be, 3) accept the fact that you’re never going to reach your potential.  Why anyone would want to work in a field where they were always struggling and never getting ahead is beyond me, but they do.

I think I’ve told the story before about a brilliant marketer who decided to become an accountant.  Not only did he hate his work, he wasn’t very good at it.  And the truth is, he was never going to go very far in that field.  Like you, he had three choices: 1) go back to marketing and make the big bucks, 2) stay where he was and make half what he made before, 3) find something else.  He went back to marketing.

Make sure you are good at what you do.  A love for what you do, coupled with talent and ability is unstoppable.  Don’t languish in a field where you will never succeed.  Get out now while you still can.  Follow your dreams and leverage your talents and abilities.  That’s the high road to success.

Some people are like that.  It seems like nothing comes easy to them.  Everything they have they had to fight for.  They are often opinionated, intense, and not very patient with the unfocused among us.  They have worked hard for what they have and they wonder why everyone else doesn’t do the same.  They see opportunity where others see roadblocks.  They see snatch success from what others would consider a certain failure.  They are single-minded, they are focused — and in many ways they are winners.

What kind of person are you?  Does it seem like you are always swimming upstream?  Do you ignore the obstacles and the pain and go after what you want?  Or do you just kick back and go along for the ride?  What about your employees?  How do you treat those who go after what they want vs. those who are just along for the ride?  Do you value those who go against the flow, or do they make you uncomfortable?  What is your opinion of those who constantly go against the flow?

The fastest way to do that is to watch for the dog to do something that is sort of what you’re looking for and reward him.  He goes, “Wow!  That’s cool.  I do this, I get rewarded.”  And so he does it again.  Only this time, he has to be just a little closer to what you want to get the reward.  The dog says, “Oh, I see.  You want this, not that.”  And so it goes until the dog is doing exactly what you want, at which time you can begin to phase out the reward for that thing and start working on something else.

So what does that have to do with business?  We’re not training dogs here, but we are training people.  Every day we have to get customers, employees, vendors, etc. to do what we’d like them to do.  We do that in business by making it easy to do what we want, and more difficult to do what we don’t want.

Let me give you en example.  I ordered a DVD from a company about two weeks ago.  They sent me a confirmation that they’d gotten my order.  When I noticed they hadn’t yet hit my credit card, I went to find out why.  On the website, they have a place to send an email, or a phone number if you want to call.  Being one who hates phone trees, I decided it would be just as fast to email.  I sent the question and waited for a reply.  That was three days ago, and still no reply.

Now what would you predict I’m going to do now?  That’s right.  I’m going to call.  There’s no question it’s more efficient for the company to respond via email than to do so via phone.  It is cheaper, more efficient and in their best interest in every way to have me email.  But what do you think I’ll do next time?  Of course.  They’ve shaped my behavior.  I know the most efficient way for me is to call.  I don’t care that it costs them more.  I just want to be helped and they’ve taught me that calling will get me what I need the fastest with this company.

I guess it’s like bringing my wife flowers.  She’s shaped my behavior well on that one.  The first time I showed up with flowers she made a big deal out of it and gave me a big hug and told me I was the best, etc.  I liked that.  It wasn’t long before I brought flowers again to get the same treatment.  I know my wife will tell me I’m the best whenever I bring flowers, so I do it all the time.  That behavior is well ingrained in me now.  And why not?  We both get what we want and we’re both happier for her having shaped my behavior.  I know what she wants and when I do that for her, she gives me what I want.  Win / win.  Everyone gets what they want.

In effect, we’re all shaping behavior (for better or worse) in every thing we do.  We’re doing it with our spouse and children, with our employer, with our customers, with our vendors, with our friends — everything, everyone, everywhere.  We tend to think our actions occur in a vacuum.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Every action, every decision, everything we do has far reaching consequences if we stop and think about it.

Think about how what you do shapes the behavior (in some small way) of those around you.  Are you getting what you want?  If not, chances are you’re rewarding the wrong behavior and ignoring the right behavior.  Take some time today to think about shaping behavior and you’ll see there are opportunities you never knew existed.

“You don’t read blueprints,”  I pointed out with some disdain.

“How hard could it be?” he asked.  “My dad is head of the carpenter’s union here in town.  I’m sure he can show me how to read blueprints.”

Well, that’s what happened.  He got a crash course in reading blueprints from his dad.  He interviewed.  He got the job.  He got rich (at least by high school standards.)  We were all making $2.00 per hour, just happy to have a job, and he was cutting the fat calf at $8.53.  I have never forgotten that incident.  It taught me that we often sell ourselves short.  My friend could have said, “Oh, I don’t read blueprints,” and got a $2.00 an hour job just like the rest of us, but he didn’t.  He upgraded his skills and got a huge raise for doing so.

Did he lie when he asked for the interview?  Not really.  By the time he got into the chair, he could read blueprints.  Did he stretch the truth about how good he was with blueprints?  Undoubtedly.  At the end of the day, was the employer unhappy with my friend’s performance?  He must not have been.  My friend worked there until he left for college.

The moral to this story is don’t sell yourself short.  The key question is, “How hard could it be?”  All you have to do after that is get to work.  If you don’t qualify for a better job, get busy and do what you need to do to qualify.  You are the only thing holding you back.  Get moving!

The ex-employer is angry the manager left the company, because he was very good at what he did and the company flourished under his leadership.  Even though he almost single-handedly led the company forward, he’s now considered a traitor of the worst sort and simply mentioning his name can generate a tirade of horrendous proportions from the owner.

So the obvious question is, why did the manager leave?  He left because he wasn’t treated fairly (in any sense of the word.)  This employer has a long history of fighting with ex-executives.  He’s notorious for treating his people badly.  To be fair, he pays well, but the working conditions are horrible.  So the short summary of what happens is the owner recruits and the brightest stars in his industry.  He pays them well and everything’s great during the honeymoon period.  Then the owner starts in on his mis-treatment and the managers leave.  Then he sues them and makes their lives miserable.  What a guy.  It’s one of those deals where the owner engenders the very behavior that makes him crazy.  Go figure.

From my perspective I can’t help but wonder why this owner doesn’t support, sustain and nurture these fine managers.  He’s gone to all the trouble and expense of getting them there, getting them trained, and then he drives them away.  It makes no sense.  If you treat people well, you don’t have to sue them when they leave because they have to reason to leave.  They’re happy so they give you their very best every single hour they’re at work.  They like you.  You like them.  They respect you.  You respect them.  What could be better?  Why would you try and use the old intimidation method?  It never works over the long term.  It produces results in the short term, sure, but nothing but bad feelings in the long term.

When you add up all the costs of recruiting, training, severencing, suing employees doesn’t it make more sense to just treat them well and get a hundred times the return on your investment?  After all an employee (any employee) is just as much an investment as buying a share of stock.  What would you do if your accountant was buying stocks with your money, then doing everything in his power to drive down the value of that stock?  You’d cut him loose (and rightfully so.)

Protect your investments — every one of them.  It’s only good business.