Jeff Black Featured on Radio Program - Critical Mass for Business

Please drag the green bar to the 25 minute mark once the video is downloaded to listen to Jeff Black discuss his search practice, what differentiates the practice and what he believes to be the key to achieving purpose through your career. 

A quick guide:

25:00   My background - How did I get here?
26:45   What differentiates my McDermott & Bull search practice?
31:30   My "Guiding Principle" - A focus on Difference Makers
38:45   The current environment in Executive Search
40:15   Emotional Intelligence
41:15   The importance of FIT as companies add new executive talent
43:15   A key learning - Becoming a servant
44:45   The Future - Staying true to my purpose and vision

Thank you for your support.  I'd love to hear your feedback.  Feel free to send me an email or call.

Jeff Black

Partner, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949   Office: (949) 529-2672
2 Venture, Suite 100    Irvine, CA 92618
black@mbsearch.net    www.mbsearch.net    http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblackmcdermottbull    http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/

"Just Do The Right Thing...Every Time"

A Relationship Story - What They Won't Forget

Sometimes, the unexpected can feel good – a recent email I received was a great example. It came from a fellow that I didn’t know but had invited me to connect on LinkedIn (and I realize this happens a lot for most of us). His follow up email caught me by surprise as it did nothing but thank me and express a willingness to be helpful if possible.

What’s so special about this for me? Well, we all sell ourselves in one way or another, but this note made me realize how different it feels when I’m not being asked for anything.

In my last story I quoted the philosopher Immanuel Kant and warned that I’d be doing it again – the additional Kant point that I knew I wanted to share was a key belief about how to treat others. Instead of treating others as a means to an end (the way so many emails and messages can feel), Kant’s guidance is that we need to treat people as an end in themselves, to consider them on their own terms. Perhaps this fellow’s email felt different to me because it wasn’t based on self-interest?

However, we still have to sell ourselves, don’t we? A bit of a paradox, eh?

I recently came across a quote from the poet Maya Angelou that offers a glimpse of insight that seems to help (at least it helps me): “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Of course it’s not easy to think first about how a message will be received by others – it’s so easy (and almost normal in our world) to focus first, if not always, on our own self-interest. I know this is really hard for me. But when I ask myself who the people and groups are that I most appreciate and respect, I have to admit that they are nearly always the folks that make me feel the most welcomed and valued. What do you find is true for you?

I suppose focusing on how we make others feel might not help us win the X Factor on TV and impress Simon Cowell, but I am hoping that there might be an appetite in our world for a bit more substance.

Here’s wishing all of us a little perspective as we consider how our messages and choices truly serve the other people in our lives.

Thanks for sharing time with me; as always, I welcome your feedback. Please feel free to pass this message along to others who may find value.

Sincerely,

Jeff Black
Partner, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 529-2672
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618

black@mbsearch.net
www.mbsearch.net
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblackmcdermottbull      http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/

"Just Do The Right Thing...Every Time"

A Relationship Story - Corporate Social Responsibility - Survey Results ... and a Twist

My thanks to over 400 people who offered their opinion on the question posed in my recent story entitled: The New Perk – Social Responsibility (the original story is copied below).

The “Yes or No” question was:

“Do you believe that employee loyalty will improve as a direct result of the company choosing to be actively involved in support of charitable causes?”

Yes, there was a clear answer: 3/4 of the responses were YES.

This result does help us understand the “gut feel” impression that most people felt relative to the question. You probably aren’t surprised that I am happy to know that most people find corporate social responsibility to be a pretty good thing.

Now, obviously, the question of employee loyalty is hard to answer in a “black and white” manner. Many responses provided insights into the complexities associated with employee loyalty, and obviously corporate social responsibility is only one of many factors that define the relationship between a company and its employees.

I especially enjoyed one unique perspective that was shared by a few folks: A company should probably ask itself why it puts energy into social responsibility – is it because they “get something out of it” like employee loyalty, or is it because it’s the right thing to do? This idea really resonated with me after having recently read the book Justice by Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel addressing the subject across a broad spectrum of political/social philosophies.

It was Immanuel Kant that really got to me. I had heard his name but that’s all I knew about this extraordinary 18th century philosopher. Among other great concepts (you may hear about him again in a future story), it was his fascinating definition of freedom that fit so perfectly with this question about the motives associated with a company’s social responsibility. According to Kant, real “freedom” is making choices based solely on whether they represent the right thing to do – not making choices as a means to an end, but instead making the choice as an end in itself without concern for consequences, conditions or outside influences. Now I’m not suggesting this is easy – of course it isn’t – but wouldn’t it be nice if we could always just do the right thing?

Of course it’s totally “normal” for companies to think about most everything on a cost/benefit basis; why would we expect that their approach to social responsibility would be an exception without their conscious decision to think differently? However, the survey feedback clearly suggested that employees (and I’d expect customers, partners and everyone else) are enlightened observers as to the real motives behind a company’s approach to social responsibility.

Really, companies aren’t very different from each of us as individuals. Our motives are probably a lot more clear to others than we may realize. Here’s wishing all of us more clarity, conviction, and focus on doing the right thing.

Thanks for sharing time with me; as always, I welcome your feedback. Please feel free to pass this message along to others who may find value.

Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Partner, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618

black@mbsearch.net
http://www.mbsearch.net/   
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblackmcdermottbull http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/

"Just Do The Right Thing...Every Time"

A Relationship Story - The New Perk - Social Responsibility

I want to share an idea and get your feedback.

In my retained search practice I get to see the way a lot of companies approach their business and their people – every company has a set of values that guide their reality and behavior (but these are not always the same as what is posted on the wall, if you know what I mean). As you might know, I find myself drawn to people and companies that value and commit to making a difference in our community. I find myself wondering about how a company’s focus on service to others might be a potential opportunity to better connect with their employees.

Three great examples of companies that do this well are Golden State Foods, Edwards Lifesciences and Panda Restaurant Group. In all of these companies, employees have a clear understanding that their company is committed to involvement in and support for charitible causes, and each company makes a conscious effort to actively involve their employees (and also to let their employees play a lead role in choosing the causes to support).

Also, each of these three companies appears to have a distinctively strong and special bond with their employees. I’m wonderering about the correlation between employee loyalty and these companys’ choice to make giving back a key focus of their cultural priorities and company identity?

Of course, this connection is surely not the same for every employee; great companies include a wide variety of people and beliefs. Sure, it’s easy to assume that employees who are, themselves, actively involved in the community would appreciate their company’s involvement in making a difference beyond the bottom line. Also, it appears that younger workers (the Milleneal generation) are characterized as seeking a high degree of meaning in their work, so perhaps there is some natural affinity among many in this group.

However, many employees are not motivated to be actively involved in support of charitable causes. So does a company’s contributive approach to the community have any positive impact on the connection with these individuals? If a company’s socially-conscious commitment yields reputation benefits and positive impressions from their customers, couldn’t employees that are not active in the community also be positively affected?

The answers to these questions may not be totally clear, and I don’t know that there is extensive emperical data that provides proof. So let’s create some of our own, shall we? I want to get your input on the simple question that follows. I will compile the answers and share them with everyone.

YOUR QUICK INPUT REQUESTED – Please send a quick email back to me with your YES or NO ANSWER to: “Do you believe that employee loyalty will improve as a direct result of the company choosing to be actively involved in support of charitble causes?”

A Quick Business Update: I was thrilled to have been engaged for a search by a leader that had recently been a candidate of mine in a search – after joining a new company she recommended me and told her CEO that her experience as a candidate with me was so positive that she wanted the same approach to be used with candidates for their company.
Thanks for sharing time with me; as always, I welcome your feedback. Please feel free to pass this message along to others who may find value.

Sincerely,

Jeff Black
Partner, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618

black@mbsearch.net
http://www.mbsearch.net/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblackmcdermottbull    http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/

"Just Do The Right Thing...Every Time"

How Candidate Experience Can Impact a Company’s Brand

Recently an executive leader had an unexpected experience in a retained search with our firm. I believe this helps illuminate how candidate experience can be a key to a company’s brand and “success” in recruiting.

The former SVP of HR for a nationwide retailer was a candidate in the VP of Field HR search that I am conducting for the Panda Restaurant Group; she interviewed with the client but found the role wasn’t the right fit. However, her experience with me and our firm would lead to a special next step.

Upon this HR leader taking on a new top HR leadership role, she promptly called and asked me to perform a search for her new company. I was very pleased when she told her CEO how her experience as a candidate with me was the way she wants candidates for their company to be treated and evaluated by a search consultant.

While this has happened other times in my 9+ years as a search consultant, it seems timely to share this recent experience, as I would suggest that any company should be mindful of how they are being represented by a search partner in these vital candidate development relationships. Here are some key reasons:

Impressions Impact Brands: Companies take their internal recruiting processes very seriously, and I have heard the term “candidate experience” from an HR executive to describe it as a key internal recruiting priority. So why would the impression made by external partners be any less important?

Candidates who are enriched and reinforced by their interaction with a search consultant gain a greater affinity for the company who could be their next employer. On a retained search, we find ourselves talking to very influential people in the market. Our client’s brand is materially impacted by the way that we, as a search partner, interact with each candidate and tell our client’s story in a passionate and truthful manner.

In addition, the choice of a search partner also reflects on a company’s business practices, and I often suggest to candidates that their experience with me is a reflection of how my client company makes decisions.

Interviewing – Advocating for Our Client: I believe that interviewing by a search consultant must be a way to both tell our client’s real story and also to get to know the truth about candidates – I believe it must be much more than just a confirmation of achievements and accomplishments. This interviewing approach is what created this recent “candidate turned client” opportunity. Candidates often comment that their interview with me was both self-reflective and also a great way to learn what’s most important to the company they might join.

This process starts with listening to our client from the start – spending time to get to know key people, but more importantly to try to understand the culture, values and foundation of a company, or otherwise stated: “what’s most important”. The way a candidate is drawn to join a company is about a lot more than money or title. I find that most people wish for a professional opportunity that aligns with what they consider most important in their lives.

Interviews for our clients need to be relationship building experiences. In order to really get to know a candidate, sharing insights into the client company is the beginning of building trust. This trust is critical to enable candidates to share real insights into themselves – to help us learn about their motivations, their principles and their ideals. I believe these are critical insights our clients really need. A healthy relationship established with a candidate during our interviews is the beginning of the critically important relationship needed between candidates and their future employer.

A Distinctive Approach to Retained Search

Some think Retained Search is a commodity. My clients seem to believe that what we offer is distinctive.

Of course, our firm is great at candidate sourcing and recruiting and we offer a highly professional approach to representing our clients; also, our consultants’ have career backgrounds (including my own 20+ years) as corporate senior executives, providing us a client’s perspective.

However, the experience of candidates is a critically important element of success for our clients on our search projects. Our focus on candidate experience provides our clients with a tremendous jump start for a successful relationship with a future member of their leadership team.

Please let me know if I can help your company or other growing organizations.

Sincerely,

Jeff Black
Partner, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 529-2672
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
black@mbsearch.net http://www.mbsearch.net/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblackmcdermottbull http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/

"Just Do The Right Thing...Every Time"