Every so often you look at yourself and need to ask the question “Am I being a good leader?” This question has come up with me today.

The reason? Well, I am involved with Boy Scouts as a Scoutmaster and tonight I have the Klondike Derby campout. Tonight’s weather forecast for our lovely location of the camp (up in a dark canyon with 4 ft of snow) – a low of -4′ F. Also, in the morning it feels even colder because the canyon is completely shaded. Last year, we had a blizzard the whole night, this year it’s supposed to be windy.

The question of “Am I being a good leader” comes because of this – It’s going to be cold, I’m a wuss, and it’s going to take a lot from me to not complain. I’ve been pushing with the boys (we have a lot of new boys who are barely 12) the importance of a positive mental attitude. I believe that one of the most important thing a leader can do is lead by example. I MUST STAY STRONG. I MUST BE BOLD. I MUST NOT BE A WUSS!

A mentor of mine growing up was a man by the name of Bruce Farmer. When I met Mr. Farmer I was about 12 years old. He moved to Salt Lake City to be CEO of Kennecott Utah Copper and I was fortunate enough to be able to become good friends with him and his family. Mr. Farmer to me is the epitome of a leader. He got to where he was, leading one of the biggest mining companies in the world, without having any college education and through sheer hardwork. He has seen and done it all, before Salt Lake he was living in South Africa and served as an Election and Reconciliation Coordinator (he ran a big mining operation there) for the South African government at the end of Apartheid and his stories of what went on during that time are inspiring. He climbed Everest twice, Kilimanjaro for his 25th wedding anniversary, paintballed (with me), started skiing when he moved here and quickly became an expert.

Most of all, he is an inspiration to everyone that has ever worked for him. In my opinion, he is never the person that demands respect, he commands it.

I believe that a true leader is someone that you know who would never ask someone to do something that they wouldn’t do themselves if they could.

Nothing to me is more inspiring to troops – whether that be employees, friends, family members or Scouts, then when whoever it is, regardless of rank or seniority, you know would get into the nitty gritty right there with you to help out.

Think about it – the times that you remember a great leader, is it when they bark out orders or is it when they have their arms deep into the garbage you are looking through together to find a retainer that a customer threw away by accident (a whole another story about my first day on my first HS job). For me, events like that make me “want to die for someone” in the sense that you will always respect that person and always do what you can to do your best.

Bruce is one of those people. I need to be one of those people. Tonight, I need to brave the cold. Wish me luck.

Mark

Do you have a great example of a leader – Leave a comment about it!

I came across KillerStartups today when we were alerted that HireVue was featured on the site. I have to say that this site is very, very cool and I found a few companies on the site already that I have started using (check out Empressr and ifood.tv)

You can vote for HireVue here -

I recently have read Walt Disney’s biography – Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler and it is fascinating.

Granted, I’m a Disney fanatic but to me what is extraordinary is how devoted he was to talent development in the 1920s and 1930s. Not only did he want to produce the best possible films like Snow White, Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphonies, but he knew very early on that he needed to bring in the best to help educate and train his workforce.

Disney built truly a recruiting machine where he picked off the best talent from all over. In a day and age when communication and travel wasn’t instant or quick, he would travel all over the country courting talent. When it came to open “auditions” as he called them, his standards were strict and only the best of the best (1 out of 1000) would gain a spot on his Disney’s staff. For training, he brought into play mentoring relationships for many of his employees where he would pair newbies with the experienced guys and also constantly offered training and personal development courses for all of his employees to make them the best.

Quite a book. A bit long but so packed full of great stories and information that I recommend it highly to HR and Recruiting folks. Rather than reading today’s business books, I believe a lot more can be learned from people from the past. Think about it, wisdom from your grandparents went a long way.

Mark

We just posted our first case studies about how HireVue can help our client’s hiring processes.

For one client we helped them save 73% on their interview costs and HireVue candidates all the way from the Arctic Circle to the Deep South.

Click to read case study #1

The other client launched a new service center in an area with no footprint, hired 150 people in <30 days and cut 30 Day turnover by 25% attributable to a better evaluation mechanism

Click to read case study #2
A plug for HireVue – As always – for all your recorded video interviewing needs or to find out more about how video can improve your hiring process, contact us today or a mnewman at hirevue dot com

Jim Durbin amazes me each and every time I talk to him. He really is a true asset to the recruiting world.

http://www.DurbinMedia.com is his site

www.stlrecruiting.com is one of his blogs

Him and his wife are the ultimate branding, design and writing Dream Team.

Many people have helped HireVue out as we have grown and we are so grateful for each and every one of them but I must say that Jim Durbin is one of the best!

On TrustedAdvisor there was a post about how giving help can be one of the best marketing tactics you could use. I agree, Jim has won me over. He is always there to give me help, offer advice, introduce people and he full well knows that HireVue may not ever be this big huge customer but thing is I will sure try to get him 10 other customers from people that I come into contact with.

Thanks Jim – if we ever meet in person I owe you a beefsteak.

Mark

When I think of municipal, government and/or college hiring and hiring processes, innovation and being progressive aren’t two thoughts that jump into my mind. What we have found in a great way is that those organizations love to use recorded video interviews, videotaped interviews and love pre-screening video interviews!

I have seen the light! If you think about it, the military (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force) is a recruiting machine that has few peers. And, cities and colleges in many cases are the largest enterprises around in terms of hiring and employment, how do they get there?

We have a new client in the City of Roanoke, Virginia. Their two top HR people, Keli Greer and Carolyn Glover are some of the most progressive HR people I have come in contact with. They have a mandate and a charge to find and hire the best for their city and they take their job seriously.

They got into contact with us when they were in a bind. Evidently, they have used videotaped pre-screening interviews for years and their provider could not turnaround quick enough. They found us and with our quick turnaround time (48 hours to get webcams to candidates, interviews immediately) they were able to get their recorded video interviews in quickly for the city council to review.

We have done this many times, this is our business, it’s what we do but I found out something so interesting in working with them. Basically, we found a whole new market!

After some research, it turns out that video pre-screening, whether it be videotaped, video conferencing or now HireVue recorded video interviews, is commonplace in municipal, governmental and college hiring!

All over the country, cities big and small get candidates to take video taped interviews where a proctor asks them questions for review later by a hiring committee! The usual process has a turnaround time of 3-4 weeks. The municipal, government or college hiring process to receive videotaped interviews to be reviewed later by committee is enshrined in their eyes and from what I have learned in speaking with new clients since signing up the City of Roanoke is that theses organizations are looking to innovate and improve their hiring processes (think HireVue)!

This offers two lessons -

1) You may find great markets in the most unbelievable of places – keep your eyes open!

2) The next time you are looking for great hiring practices – look up the people on top of those bills you pay or grades you receive, wisdom can be found anywhere!