by Beth | Oct 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
Anyone who knows me knows that I hate snakes. I mean I HATE them! So why did I read a story about snakes on Facebook? Not sure, but I did.
I read a story on Facebook about a girl who had a snake. She took the snake to the vet, and the vet said, “This snake is very small for its age, and it should definitely be much larger. What size tank do you have it in?” The girl told the vet the size of the tank and was informed that the tank was WAY too small for this type of snake. The snake can’t grow in such small surroundings. She immediately purchased a larger tank, and the snake grew rapidly. The snake stretched out and grew.
My third book, Power Hire, is now available on Amazon. You would think that by the time I wrote my third book that I would be comfortable putting it out into the world; however, you would be wrong. While I love writing books, I really hate the actual putting it out into the Universe. It is so uncomfortable!
Every time I write a blog, I stretch myself. Every time I write a book, I put myself out there. Every time I present a new idea, I am leading with a bit of vulnerability. Staying in a small tank doesn’t do anyone any good, but the discomfort… wow. It can be hard to manage, even for a seasoned writer and professional.
It would be so much easier if we could stretch ourselves first, THEN change environments, but that isn’t how things work. You have to change your tank first; make it larger, and then you can stretch yourself into new places that allow for growth.
Like the snake, once this book is out in the world, I will feel better and grow faster.
But for today, I am feeling a bit like hissing,
Anyone felt this way before?
POWER THOUGHT: Change your tank, and growth will happen. And that discomfort you feel? Completely normal.
by Beth | Oct 4, 2023 | Attitude
While I was fostering Stella, my plott hound mix, we worked heavily on walking on a leash. I’m quite sure she had rarely been on a leash, and the job of a foster is to get your animal as fully prepared to go into a home as you possibly can in a short amount of time.
We were walking one day, and she was at the end of the retractable leash, when suddenly, she got spooked. At 50 lbs and all legs, she yanked me along behind her. By the time I got my bearings, she had pulled me under a pine tree, and I ran headlong into a huge spider web.
I screamed like a banshee. My arms flailed trying frantically to get the web off my face, my arms, my legs, and I was completely freaking out on the location of the damn spider. (If you have seen my hair, you know a spider could hide in it for a year, and I wouldn’t know it. Spooky!)
All the while, Stella wanted to go home, so she wrapped the leash around my legs trying to convince me to get her out of this situation. It was a disaster! Finally, I got my act together, and we sauntered home, completely exhausted.
Mistakes happen, and they cling to you like a spider web to your clothes. My mistake was letting her go too far on the leash before I knew her better. If I had known that she got spooked so easily, then I would have managed the situation more effectively. Oops!
Here are 3 steps on how to manage your mistakes, so that you learn from them.
- Freak out for a minute. Literally shake it off. You know you want to, so give yourself permission to just freak out. Get all that adrenaline out of your system.
- Assess the damage. Check your hair for spiders. Wipe the web off your arms. Check around you and see how things are.
- Do the next right thing to clean it up, whatever that may be. For Stella and me, it was getting back to the street, comforting my dog, straightening my clothes and her leash, taking a big deep breath and walking back to the house. In addition, I did some damage control by apologizing to my neighbors.
I never did find that spider, but I did find a chunk of web on my shorts later that day. It served as a reminder to read my foster a bit better before letting them walk out too far on their leash. Lesson learned.
POWER THOUGHT: Mistakes don’t have to be scary or spooky!
by Beth | Sep 20, 2023 | Good Management
Fostering animals is so rewarding! This past month, I fostered dog number 51… a plott hound mix named Stella. We are fairly certain that Stella had never been in a house before. She was super skittish, hid in the corner, and flinched when I would pet her. It was heartbreaking.
Walking her was an adventure! I don’t think she knew what a leash was and that it was mostly for her protection. She tried to lean on my leg as we walked, she hid behind my leg, and once when we encountered another dog, she turned around and ran home with me flying behind her!
After a few days, she got the hang of it, and she walked out to the end of her leash. She began sniffing bushes, exploring her environment, and her tail even wagged! Her transformation was a beautiful thing to see.
Many of the CEO’s that I work with will say, “I need this person to just jump in immediately. I don’t have time to train them!” These CEO’s don’t want to invest in training new employees, because they consider it a waste of time. It is easy to understand why: 2/3 of all hires are found to be a mistake within the year, so why invest in employees who aren’t going to stay?
Here is the problem with that line of thinking: Even the best employees can’t be great if you don’t train them to walk out to the end of their leash. You must coach your people to know the boundaries of their role and push beyond those boundaries while simultaneously respecting those boundaries. It is a gray area that must be explored together.
Every dog must be trained to be a great dog. Every employee must be coached to be a great employee. There is no getting around it.
POWER THOUGHT: To prevent ruff experiences, train/coach/mentor your people.
by Beth | Sep 6, 2023 | Interview Process
In 2009, I started writing my first book. I knew that I had a lot to say on the subject of hiring, so I sent my family away on vacation, I scrubbed the grout with a toothbrush, I super-cleaned my bathrooms, and when I had done all that I could do in the cleansing department, I sat down to write.
The first draft was terrible. The second was even worse. I threw out the first, second, third and fourth drafts and I felt like a complete failure. One day, my editor said to me, “You have to quit writing someone else’s story, write your own.” Finally, I got it. It still took a few years after that, but the writing was so much easier after that. I published Why Can’t I Hire Good People? in 2017.
I didn’t REALLY want to write another book… I mean, the brain hemorrhage! But, alas, I couldn’t help it. Hire Power only took about 2 ½ years. I still have to spend all this time cleaning, and I still threw out a bunch of writing, but in general the process was much easier.
That leads me to book #3 Power Hire which comes out October 1st of this year, 2023.
I am getting better, and I am getting faster and more efficient, because it is getting easier for me to tap into the writing mindset.
Last week, I met with a potential client who needs to hire an executive for their team. Invariably, the question is asked: “How long does this process take?” And here is my answer: Hiring is a mindset. The faster you can tap into that mindset, the faster and more efficient your process is. You can’t be in a hurry, or you will make mistakes. You can’t shorten it, or you will make mistakes. You can’t skip parts, or you will make mistakes.
And the ultimate irony is the more you try to control it, the longer it takes.
Here is the good news: I just made a hire for a company that I have done a ton of work for, and it took 6 weeks from start to finish. I had another client that I worked a lot with, and we hired a Controller in 10 days over Christmas. Once you learn the mindset, it is faster and easier.
In efforts to help you with the mindset, my third book is designed to help you get into the Hiring Mindset faster and easier. I hope you enjoy “booking it” through the hiring process!
POWER THOUGHT: Getting your mind wrapped around the hiring process is easier with the books Hire Power and Power Hire.
by Beth | Aug 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
When my daughter, Katy, graduated from college last May, she came to live with me for 8 weeks. We had dinner together every night, we went shopping together, and we watched extensive seasons of Yellowstone. We ate a ton of sushi, explored new restaurants, and hit the frozen yogurt place more than my pants liked!
Then she left. I was bereft, because this was the last time that she would spend that kind of time in my house. She left for Dallas in the middle of July, and she is thriving in her new job and her new life. I am SO happy for her.
A client of mine called a few weeks ago and told me that his right-hand person was leaving him after many, many years. She was the one he bounced ideas off of, collaborated with and relied on for new processes. He depended on her for so much! She was completely changing her life and going back to school. She was SO excited about her new life! She gave my client a month’s notice. And, he was not completely surprised by this: she had indicated that she might go this route. He is bereft. He is also very happy for her, but so, so sad for himself.
Then, I realized that I had all this time on my hands, and I got to completely redefine my life. My client realized that this was an opportunity to re-define his operations.
I got excited! I still missed my baby girl, but I was excited. My client got excited! He was really going to miss working with his right-hand, but he is looking forward to this opportunity to transform everything for the better.
Change is never easy for us human beings and it has taken time to figure out what I want to do, just like it has taken my client some time to figure out how to transform his operations. In times of uncertainty and shifting, anything is possible. It is perfectly okay to honor the sadness, just like it is perfectly okay to feel excited about new opportunities. Human emotions are nuanced, and embracing both of these feelings is important to our growth.
POWER THOUGHT: In every ending there is a new beginning.
