Desirable DNA

Posted on by Scott

dna-1811955_640Last year, scientists in Seoul, South Korea, approached Vanesa Semler of Dorado, Puerto Rico with an odd request. They wanted to know if they could clone her dog.

Semler’s furry friend Milly is very small, even for a Chihuahua. In fact, “Miracle Milly” holds the distinction of being the world’s smallest dog by height. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Milly stands 3.8 inches tall and weighs about one pound. Using 50-year-old cloning technology, nuclear transfer, technicians from the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation planned to compare Milly’s original DNA to that of her clone in order to determine what causes her small size.

By focusing on a single, distinctive characteristic the scientists hope to learn better how to identify the causes of other genetic markers. The lessons they learn from Milly and her clones could pave the way to one day preventing various birth defects and genetic predisposition to disease.

Despite how you feel about the idea of cloning, I’ll bet there are attributes of certain people you know that you wish you could duplicate. Managers will often tell me how they would love to transfer the skills and personality traits of one employee to some of the others. And as a customer, there have been many times when, after interacting with a service provider, I’ve thought “I wish everyone who worked here was like this.”

I think these scientists may have a lesson to teach us about replicating desirable traits. Consider how they’re going about it.

  1. They zeroed in. The cloning experiment is focused on just one of Milly’s traits – her size. Eye color doesn’t matter. Neither does the texture of her fur or the sound of her growl. By identifying a single attribute, scientists are able to devote all of their energy to the same issue, and they are much more likely to succeed.

    What’s the single most important trait you wish you could multiply in your team?

  2. They dug in. Initially, the South Korean scientists asked for a 10 clones; nine to research and one for the owner. They quickly expanded the request, producing an initial litter of 12 puppies. To date, 49 clones have been produced; allowing them to study multiple sources for the same DNA markers and to see whether small differences impact the result. In the end, they hope to crack the code and be able apply their findings to other animals.

    How much time and effort do you devote to understanding the drivers behind team performance?

  3. They started with the best. When looking for a basis to compare their results to, the techs from Sooam didn’t pick just any dog, they decided to go with the record-holder. Milly represents an outlier in terms of dog height. They just don’t come any shorter than her. Choosing Milly ensures a strong benchmark for their tests.

    Who represents the absolute best in terms of the behavior you’re looking to duplicate?

The experiment is far from over. Specialists at the Beijing Genomics Institute have been called to collaborate on the next phase of the study. Milly’s clones all have the same eyes and markings on their coat, but they are all slightly different in height. Semler sees other similarities as well. The new dogs are “amazing to be around….they are all so smart, very playful. They are sweet and loving.” Maybe the experiment was a success after all.

5 Things I Look For During an Interview

Posted on by Scott

20120207-195634.jpgA couple of weeks ago I wrote about common mistakes managers make during interviews. Since then, I’ve had a few questions about what I look for when interviewing a potential new employee. So as a follow-up to that post, here are some of the qualities at the top of my list.

1. Skill vs. knowledge.
There’s a difference between knowing how to do something and being good at it. I know how to hang drywall, but you don’t want me handling your next home renovation.

Its easy to be fooled into thinking you’ve got a great job candidate just because they know the right things to say. Luckily, there are interviewing techniques to help you better assess the critical soft skills.

2. Attitude vs experience.
Some managers place a lot of weight on experience. And I admit that, for certain jobs. it’s a must. But I learned early on not to rely too heavily on experience.

When you hire someone, they bring their learned behaviors, good and bad, to your organization. I’ve hired experienced sales people only to learn that their experience, gained with a no-holds-barred competitor, didn’t fit with my customer service oriented approach.

But give me someone with the right basic skills coupled with the right attitude and, regardless of inexperience, I’ll train them how to do the job well. Anyone you bring into your organization will have to be trained on your accepted methods. Just be sure you don’t have to “untrain” them first.

3. Coach-ability.
The best players on my team are always looking for ways to get better. They don’t assume they know everything. By continuing to grow their abilities and adding new skills, the stay sharp and continue to bring more and more value to my team.

So when interviewing, I look for people who appear coachable. They’ve learned from their mistakes. And even when successful, they can articulate improvements they would make given another chance.

4. Team fit.
Teams succeed when they work well together. That takes chemistry. So I always let the team have a shot at any potential new coworker. If the team gets a bad feeling, I know not to hire. They see team fit issues I might miss.

Of course, this assumes you have an existing team that works well together, knows each others’ strengths and weaknesses, and knows they are only as good as the weakest member of the group. If this doesn’t sound like your team, you’ve got a whole different set of problems.

5. Passion.
I’m not looking to fill a position. I’m in the process of building something. So I need people on my team that can get excited about the vision we’re working toward.

During an interview, I look for someone whose eyes light up when they talk about projects similar to what we’re working on. They want more than a job. They want to be part of something bigger.

There you have it. If you’re getting ready to interview for a new job, blow the panel away by demonstrating these characteristics. And if you’re getting ready to interview for an open position, add these qualities to your list. I guarantee you’ll wind up with a better candidate.

If you’d like more information regarding how I structure an interview, shoot me an email and I’ll send you an outline.

5 Mistakes Managers Make During An Interview

Posted on by Scott

They looked so good on paper. They have the right experience, and the interview seemed to go so well. They were so well spoken and and had all the right answers. The decision to hire was a slam-dunk.

But that was several weeks ago. That new employee – the one that was so great, the one you bragged about stealing away from the competition – just isn’t working out. What you thought was the perfect hire now seems like a mistake.

What went wrong? How could you have made such an error in judgement? In my experience, there are five key mistakes that managers often make when evaluating a prospective new member of the team.

1. Placing too much value on experience. Resumes are designed to highlight a job candidate’s qualifications for the job they are applying for. Savvy candidates will tailor their resume to the position you’re hiring; emphasizing the attributes and experience that align with your expectations, while downplaying or eliminating those that don’t fit. An astute hiring manager knows that the resume doesn’t tell the whole story. At best, it provides a starting point for a thorough investigation into the candidate’s potential fit.

2. Not properly preparing for the interview. Too many times, I’ve seen managers rush into an interview at the last minute, apologizing to the candidate as they hastily look over their resume and/or application. It’s obvious they’re not prepared. They haven’t taken the time to think about the important components of the job that need to be discussed or identify specific aspects of the candidate’s background that need to be explored. It takes time to shift your focus from a prior meeting or project to the interview at hand. These managers are beginning one the most important discussions they could engage in and they didn’t consider it important enough to do their homework.

3. Talking too much. Having not taken the time to prepare, managers now begin the interview without a clear direction for the discussion. So they talk. And talk. Unarmed with targeted questions and uncomfortable with the silence that follows the ones they do ask, they seek to fill the void. So they start with small talk and continue filling the time by focusing on specifics related to the company’s history, benefits, and even the dress code. Its not that these topics are bad ones to talk about, but when the hiring manager does all the talking, there’s no chance for the candidate to speak about their qualifications. Ideally, you want the candidate to do 70% of the talking during the interview. Save time at the end for them to ask questions of you regarding the organization or specific aspects of the job.

4. Not asking the right questions. “If you were an animal, what would it be?” “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Useless questions like these tell you nothing about an applicants qualifications or their potential fit for the position at hand. Furthermore, they are so open-ended that its almost impossible to answer incorrectly. You’ll waste a few minutes of interview time, but learn nothing useful.

5. Interviewing alone. A sharp candidate will quickly figure out the kinds of things you like to hear and focus on those topics or buzz words. Interviewing as a team allows for a multi-faceted assessment of the candidate’s experience and capabilities. Each member of the panel will pick up on things the others missed. This allows for a productive post-interview discussion. With the same panel conducting each interview, its easier to compare the qualities of your candidates.

Hiring a new employee is an expensive proposition. A bad hire means wasted time, money and opportunity. Avoid these mistakes and you’ll stand a better chance of hiring the right person for the job.