In the previous article we discussed the “it” factor, and a major difference being gut feeling reaction vs. gut feeling response.  How reaction can wave through a person and create self-limiting apprehension vs. sparking one’s ability to confidently take charge of any given situation.  One major component within the “it” factor that becomes inspired to take charge is one’s innate sense of fearlessness.  But fearlessness not as survival defense, or aggressive over-confidence, but rather from a point within that ‘knows’ there is a greater choice to be made.  And when that choice is made, to go for the choice that begets empowerment, the “it” factor becomes fueled for greater success in [it’s] endeavors.  Taking the higher road, so to speak, is a powerful choice to make.  Some refer to this choice as a “rising to the occasion”.  In many ways it is a rising, because this very action of our “it” factor can take us out of the rut, and put us in the groove of things.  A simple truth in life is; there’s a fine line between living in the rut and living in the groove.  There’s no denying it.  So let’s discuss fearlessness.                     

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.  Some people, in reaction to this situation will pack up and leave the problems to everyone else to deal with.  Other people will stay and struggle with the aftermath, and try to hold the old together at every cost (even if the getting tough part means change is on the horizon)…resisting change rather than running from it, and the responsibility it brings.  Responsibility and accountability are both avoided by these polar reactions to inevitable change from old to new.  But where is the third power approach to handle the situation?  When will people begin to solve the issues facing them with a new way of thinking?  A way of thinking out the problem so as to create solutions that do not create a stepping stone effect that will later, in the wake of progression, bring full circle the same problem, but with a twist.  What do we mean by “stepping stone effect”?  The stepping stone effect is the perpetuation of an idea/solution put forth into the world…or in this case, set forth to solve the troubling issues at hand.  

The opportunist, in this situation, will begin to solve the problem by taking advantage of it for profit only, and not really solve the problem at all.  The lower mind will be in total control of every thought to solve the problem being faced, because awareness of the real issue, with it’s looming sense of fear, would bring rise to different thoughts entirely.  This is thinking in primal terms—survival only of the ego self.  It is instinctive in nature, but it does not solve situations as the future unfolds to us.  With the lower mind being full of ego, the ego looks to ‘cash in’ no matter the cost (from other people), but at little cost to the ego.  This is the very thinking that fuels the chaos that creates fear.  But fear of what?  Fear from the chaos.  Fear from the ego sensing the problems not being solved, so the problem will rise again—the ego looks for an exit strategy at every turn, meeting, and project review.  The ego strategy is to survive, which is the self-limiting apprehension in action.   

Then what’s next?  Solving the same problem over and over again, with no new thinking.  Man has done just this for so long the neuropathway is almost impossible to escape.  So what has been viewed by man as “change”, has only been a redistribution of effort to survive.  “How was it stated…  “The world that we have made as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far, creates problems that we cannot solve at the level we created them”, Albert Einstein.  So how do we take this wisdom and put it to use in our time in order to move beyond the temptations and fears from the stagnant neuropathway the ego senses as a safety zone by having control, or cashing in?   We need to think in the new ways… ways that challenge us to transcend the old ways of thinking and acting, and mostly of reacting.  We do this by dealing with the fears of tough times, and discovering the value they bring to us to move to a new way, in order to solve the issues, rather than just adjust to survive.  Or only think about cashing in on them and then skipping out to leave the crash for someone else to deal with.  How many times throughout history have we seen these two reactions playing out in world events?  What do we do now in the new world—the new world of global/yet keeping local, our work, our businesses, our networks, our relationships, our success.  How do we learn to think in this new way?

The new way of thinking is a formula approach.  In simple terms, it’s like a recipe: one part knowledge, two parts experience, three parts willingness to be accountable, and a genuine investment into the learning curve that will take place once the cake goes into the oven to bake.  While baking, we deal with the fears.  We have stepped forward and now must deal with the fears—by baking them out of the end result.  The fearful will rise from the heat of the oven. These are the people that have not yet understood themselves to be the change they want to have happen in the world around them—-but are resistant to open to it.  These people can be detrimental to the success rate of the project at hand.    

Like Chicken Little, they can’t seem to grasp onto the force of success and breathe it in to help them step up and take position within the process.  In quality leadership terms (which have been around since the early 1980’s), these people lack self-motivation, and have difficulty being a self-managing contributor to the whole.  In old quality leadership terms, the new way of thinking is out of reach for these people without failure to learn from.  The problem they bring is a degree of failure into the success rate of the project at hand.  But again, going back to the beginning of this discussion, perpetuation of failure in order to learn over and over again—that failure is a lesson in and of itself—due to the fear of success.  But lessons that are necessary in order to learn come to us individually, by group, by corporation, by state, country, creating the very chaos we live in and the world turns each day.  So—–do we learn?  Do we progress?  Do we spin our wheels in fear?  Or do we perpetuate success?  Do we stay in the rut or move to the groove?

So becoming fear-less is to accept one’s lessons to step up and be counted as the successful solutions to the situations at hand.  To become fear-less by way of accepting the challenge to learn new ways of thinking solutions.  To become fear-less in our level of responsibility, by way of realizing it is our ability-to-respond to changing times that set us apart as successes, rather than keeping us captive in the limiting lessons of fear as failure, once again.  Understanding the entire time, we come to our professions to do good work, not just to play it safe and ride along at the efforts of others, unchanged and unexperienced in a relationship with perpetuated success.  Which is why these types of tough individuals are the most successful and sought after in every industry on the planet today.

So the only purpose we have in our life and in every corporation we will work for is to achieve our highest level of success in everything we think, do, and become involved in.   Actualizing your success by working through the fears, perpetuates into fear becoming less and less capable of feeding on one’s sense of worth, value, ability to step up and take position within the process of success itself.  To realize higher levels of consciousness through our everyday work (i.e., being open to learn and change), is the greatest part of the recipe   For in doing so, it perpetuates a desire for continued success—and sharing in that success with others that also work toward the same goal.  This is where some partnerships thrive and continue, and become a perpetual force regardless of the lessons of the times.  For they have knowledge, history of experience, and a combined willingness to be accountable and possess a high level of response-ability.  These partnerships work to move through the fears to come to the new way of thinking.  Once the fears are taken out of the formula, the success rate has the ability to rise.

It is hoped that this discussion has given you much to ponder in your workday.  I also hope this leads to expanding awareness for your greater success.  For everyone I have had the opportunity to be in partnership with, and continue today, I look forward to continued success in our efforts.  To everyone that has yet to come into partnering with me [Redmond Research], I look forward to the opportunity to do so.  The creative process in our partnerships has great perpetuating results of expanding the creative potential for success for everyone.  So as Penn State Football Coach, Joe Paterno says—-“Believe deep down in your heart that you’re destined to do great things”.  So let’s get going.  Talk to you soon.

Steve Diedrick
Search Entrepreneur
“It’s what I do – It’s in my DNA”

© 2008 SearchInsight, All rights reserved.

• Man looks into the abyss
• And there’s nothing staring back at him
• And it’s at that moment that he finds his true character
• And that’s what keeps him out of the abyss. 

I’m sure at one time or another you’ve been in the self-questioning thought of “I should have my head examined doing this type of work as a profession”. But then you realize you have a ‘knack” for this sort of challenge. You actually…dare I say it here, “enjoy” it to some extent. That very self-question highlights the topic I wish to discuss, as “that” is, the “It” factor in our work. More importantly, the “It” factor in the candidates we ultimately want to hire.

But how do we capture that information in the search/review process? How do we know we actually possess this attribute in order to do our part in our profession, and recognize the It factor in the candidates within the search/review process? Here we sit at the center of the problem…do we need to have the It factor ourselves before we can identify it in anyone else? The answer is Yes. So let’s move farther into this interesting and challenging truth within the core of the hiring process. Read the rest of this entry »

To focus on a frustrating common denominator in the business of search, let’s use the job description as the item of discussion.  We could ask a simple question such as: “What role should a job description play in perfecting a search?”  but that would not help anyone really understand the confusion that is involved in this one simple collection of information.  So it would be better for us to ask, “What are the challenges in conceptualizing a job description that includes the function objectives, as well as subjective and subtle attributes necessary that can be difficult to define, and lead us to the best talent?”  Adding the frustration factor to the equation, we then also need to focus on the hiring manager’s contribution, and the internal recruiting staffing professional’s input.  These individuals are responsible for generating this information, and many times are restricted by internal protocols, and/or time restraints that can cause the project to become a stressful situation.  Here is where the triad of power comes into play to help remove the baseline thinking process and can enable the project to complete itself with a better success rate by having an external recruiting/search professional have input into the job description by being an external review of an internal process. 

Read the rest of this entry »

The Art of Zen Recruitment^© and The Ultimate Recruitment Warrior

As recruiters, how many of us actually understand the true function in our position in the corporate battlefield known as recruitment? How many of us are properly prepared to take the challenge and make an impact in the process of success? As Shakespeare so eloquently wrote, “to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them”, bottom line—it means results, results, results! Recruiters are often told that they are only as good as the last assignment. Hard judgement, high standards, yet recruitment is a professional career we choose. Recruitment is a unique industry that we serve and have great opportunity to excel within. In our work, we impact many professional lives on a daily basis, and at the same time provide so many personal opportunities to shine, for ourselves and those we recruit, by challenging ourselves to higher levels of accomplishment. Bottom line—it means success, success, success. That is the way of the ultimate recruitment warrior.

The Art of Zen Recruitment^© is for the ultimate recruitment warrior to be a willing leader, having no fear of taking others along into the battlefield. Knowing that others also can excel to levels they have only imagined, and therefore have the opportunity to achieve success through accomplishments they may have thought impossible. By providing a greater sense of purpose, the ultimate recruitment warrior takes recruitment to it’s highest level. There is a ‘zone’ that can be reached. Our ultimate goal is to become one with that zone, for that is the essence of Zen.

Read the rest of this entry »