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I constantly get asked questions about who to hire.  Hiring the right person is an art.

Once you list all of the tasks you need done and the candidate has the skill set necessary to accomplish those tasks, it still comes down to a decision based on your gut.  Those that are great at hiring decisions are usually very successful.  Logic doesn’t always work.

Here are some quotes from Steve Jobs about recruiting and hiring that give you some insight into how Apple became so successful.  The things I love is how he trusted his gut, wanted smart people who most importantly would fall in love with Apple.

“Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? I ask everybody that: “Why are you here?” The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for. It’s the meta-data. ”
Steve Jobs

“When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself. They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else.”
Steve Jobs

Conventional wisdom says not to sweat the small stuff in life.  In business, paying attention to details can be the difference in getting a promotion, getting a client, referrals or more business from that client.

At my daughters college graduation from the film school at USC, Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks talked about how he rose through Disney to lead projects like the “Lion King” and “The Little Mermaid” by sweating the small stuff.

If something had to be done in ten minutes, he got it done in five.  If it had to be across town at 4pm, he got it there early.  If it took two days to do, he had it done in one.  He told the graduates that if they pay attention to details and make them important, they would be very successful.

So when that client or manager wants something done, do it down to the last detail, produce a great work product and make that synonymous with anything you undertake.  If it’s associated with you make it great!

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”  Peter Drucker

Once or twice a year write down every task you do and evaluate it based on it’s relevance to see if it should be dropped, outsourced or delegated.  Jim Collins calls this a “stop doing” list.

How effective we really are may depend on us completing tasks that really matter.  Great leaders lead themselves by an honest assessment of what they are doing that they no longer need to do.

You might drop clients or customers who annoy you and take up a lot of your time.  Fill that time with meeting more ideal clients, more important tasks and/or people who energize you and you’ve hit a home run.

Be strategic when it comes to managing yourself.  Stop doing the things that get in the way of making your organization great.

Incorporating practices to reduce stress can increase the civility in our profession.  (more…)

In a recent article in The View from Harvard Business, Sean Silverstone talked about the damage that email, answering the phone and surfing the web does to productivity. (more…)