Finding great team members

China's Communist Party has a woman problem. At the end of the Chinese Communist Party's 19th Congress, the new Politburo Standing Committee was revealed: seven middle aged men in dark suits, without a woman to be seen.

Here's a little secret: women make terrific co-workers, just like guys but different from guys. Oh, another thing: never ever feel castrated when a woman rather than a man does better. The women in my team are every bit as motivated, if not more, when it came to achieving great results.

The task of a leader is to assemble the best team possible. How many leaders can say with absolute certainty that their hiring decisions are based solely on job-relevant criteria?

Perhaps the most malignant obstacle to recruiting great team members is what psychologists call halo effect. Studies show that a single positive characteristic - like a winning smile can distort our view of people's abilities. Good looking people are perceived as more intelligent, competent and qualified than their less attractive colleagues despite not being objectively better at any of these things. In a 2013 study, when images were photoshopped, a 6' 4" man was rated to have more leadership ability by participants than a 5' 4" version of the same person.

But wait. It gets worse.

Research about interview bias suggests that we can't help but favor those who remind us of ourselves.

While similarity among team members can foster smoother interactions and better working relationships, too much similarity can actually stifle certain elements of performance. If we surround ourselves with people exactly like ourselves, without diversity of opinion, we run the risk of ideas grinding to a halt.

There is no formula for guaranteed success in hiring. My personal way to minimize my interviewing blind spot is to include multiple interviewers. I leverage my best team members to co-interview with me. This method has been relatively reliable to help me reach better hiring decisions. But it is not foolproof. I have encountered a well-prepared candidate who aced her interview and everyone liked her just fine. But one month after hiring her, we can't help noticing that she is not a good fit.

No matter how we lead, how often we recognize, or how generously we reward, there's no substitute for selecting talented people and placing them in the right roles. It's a matter of opening our eyes.

 

Shit happens. Stay in control in stormy times

#MeToo is a campaign whereby women shared their stories of sexual harassment in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations. More than two dozen women - including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow - have made accusations against the disgraced film producer. Lady Gaga, Monica Lewinsky and Rosario Dawson have all identified as victims of sexual abuse using the hashtag #MeToo

Shit happens in life. It's so important to deal with the pain when it happens instead of allowing yourself to accumulate all of the anxiety, hate, anger, embarrassment or whatever other negative emotions and allowing it to eat away at you and cripple you for years to come.

Negative emotions are an inevitable part of life. Think about it this way: everyone wants happiness. No one wants pain. But you can't make a rainbow, without a little rain.

We cannot always control the thoughts that come into our minds but we can control the thoughts that we dwell on and our behavior. In stormy times, everything depends on whether we allow negative thoughts and emotions to dominate our actions or whether we control our thoughts and actions in spite  of our emotions.

Some may deny there is a power greater than all of us, but I am a believer in Divine Intervention. People come into my life at the right time. I have been in situations that appeared hopeless, and yet I survived. Coincidence, it has been said, is God's way of staying anonymous.

At this point, I must tell you two of the most important lessons I learned from challenges and obstacles I have faced: Don't dwell on disappointments.....determine to do your best anyway. The second one is this: we don't always know what's best.

I asked God, "Why are you taking me through troubled waters?"
He replied, "Because your enemies can't swim."

 

Are you happy?

A bad marriage. That's how Bloomberg BusinessWeek describes the disintegrating union between Barcelona and Madrid.

Things are never going to be perfect, so just enjoy the moment. That quote is something I often remind myself of. It's an important reality.

There will never be an end to our problems and commitments. I have accepted this reality. We simply cannot afford to allow these things to rule our lives and close us down.

It is not easy to behave constructively in the face of negative emotions - and not easy to say a kind word when we feel angry or sad. But whether or not life is easy, our behavior determines how we live.

Extensive research has shown that people who are happier also have fewer strokes and heart attacks, have better work performance and more professional success, have more fulfilling and longer-lasting relationships, are more financially successful and live longer.

One of the central findings of this happiness research is this: We believe "once I become successful, then I'll be happy" or "once I find that relationship.....once my income is high enough.....then I'll be happy."

But that's not how it works. We think it does and we assume that's the ways things work. In fact, the research says it works exactly the opposite way. Once we raise our everyday level of happiness then we will become more successful, then we'll find that relationship.

Albert Schweitzer put it beautifully: "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success." I love that.

That really made me stop and think.

Happiness born from the achievement of success would be very short-lived. Once you have climbed that mountain, you will cast your gaze to the peak of another, higher mountain. I have met enough successful people to know that success cannot be equated with happiness. Some of them are tremendously happy, others are desperately miserable.

In every moment of our lives, we  choose happiness or misery.

Choose happiness.

Authenticity - just be yourself

Chewbacca socks. Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau wore socks with the face of Chewbacca on them last month —in New York while attending the Bloomberg Global Business Forum. It's not the first time. In May  he wore mismatched "Star Wars- themed socks while meeting with his Irish counterpart, Enda Kenny, in Montreal.

Most people will respect us far more for being real than any elegant positioning we can concoct.

Real is a two-way street. Our teams want to see us for who we are. They also want to know that we're telling them the truth. It takes real confidence to tell the truth.

Our teams would rather we show up real, and devote our energy to supporting them than to keep up a façade. If your team senses you're playing games, they'll spend a lot of time to figure out the rules of that game rather than doing productive work.

To be real with my team, I first have to be real with myself. I know that I'm not perfect and I have so much value to share. I don't consider myself more valuable than my team.

Everyone who has ever lived has had weaknesses. I don't worry so much about what I can't do. I just do what I can as only I can do it.

The people around me know that I am hyper driven, and when I go into activation mode, they are there to calm me down. I may not be a details person. It's just part of who I am. I surround myself with detail-oriented people who bring me back down to earth when I'm spiraling into orbit.

If you think you're a leader and you turn around and no one is following you, then you're simply out for a walk.