Opposites
Don't Attract
Have you ever heard the phrase
opposites attract? It's wrong. It makes sense to us but it's still
wrong. The reason we say opposites attract, is because we notice when
opposite types of people are attracted to one another. The data on
relationships are completely convincing, that people who are like one
another tend to be attracted to one another. However, because of the
way our brains work we don't notice people who are attracted because
they're alike we notice the outlier, the different ones, the unusual
pairs who are "opposites". Therefore, because we noticed them,
we tend to overcount how many of them there are.
The problem with this "opposites
attract" mentality is that as managers we believe that,
when in fact the opposite is true. In other words, we are naturally
attracted to hiring people who are like us. And, if we only hire people
like us, we will end up with a team of people who have all of our
strengths, and all of our weaknesses.
What's the danger in that? If
you make a mistake, the other people like you on your team are less
likely to catch it. In fact they're likely to not even notice it is a
mistake. Further, they're likely to see it as something that's
absolutely right.
How do we as managers solve this
problem? We consider the various behavioral profiles of the people
we're
considering hiring. If you look at your team and you see nothing but
high I's, it's time to consider someone with a different behavioral
pattern than you in your hiring. We're not suggesting that DiSC or
behavioral patterns should take primacy. We are suggesting that they
should be considered.
And remember if you haven't
considered them, and you're "totally in love with" a
candidate we'd suspect that they're just like you. They may work out
fine, or they may be adding to your weaknesses in a way that you don't
expect.
2011 Conferences
We're excited to announce our
plan for conferences in 2011. The good news is, there will be even more
opportunities to join us. Attendees tell us that even when they've
listened to every podcast, the opportunity to ask questions, practice
and meet fellow managers is priceless.
In order for us to achieve this,
some of our conferences will be conducted by our friend Michael
Swenson. Michael has been working with Mike and Mark for 15 years and
is an accomplished presenter in his own right. He's been helping us
with bigger conferences ever since we started them, and we're excited
that you'll get to learn from his knowledge and experience with the
Manager Tools methods.
We will hold both an Effective Manager Conference and an Effective Communications Conference at all our dates in Newark, Chicago, San Jose, LA, Washington DC and London. At all other locations there will be an Effective Manager Conference only. These dates are tentative pending our
negotiations with hotels, but we hope to see you at one of our
conferences in 2011.
January |
San Jose |
London |
February |
Newark |
Chicago |
March |
Seattle |
Atlanta |
April |
LA |
Washington DC |
May |
Newark |
San Jose |
June |
Chicago |
Houston |
July |
Tampa |
Dallas |
August |
LA |
Newark |
September |
San Jose |
Chicago |
October |
Washington DC |
Minneapolis |
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