Talent Makers

10Changing Minds

Throughout this book we've discussed the common but sad state of hiring in most organizations—and how it does not have to be that way. We've shown you a method for making hiring a valued, core function of your organization, and how you as the Talent Maker can be a catalyst for that transformation.

Even so, we have no delusions about that transformational journey. We know how hard change can be, especially when the ultimate goal of that change is no form of easy street. Even in the best-run organizations with amazing hiring systems, it's still a lot of hard work to make it work. The only consolation prize for all that hard work is to be able to hire great talent at will. We think that's a pretty good prize, after all.

Therefore, we want to give you some techniques and observations that we've found to be helpful when you endeavor to move an organization along the path of change. Please note that there are plenty of textbooks written about change management, and some companies have entire units devoted to program management; this chapter does not pretend to be even an introduction to that large topic. Instead, we want to describe some of the specific challenges you'll encounter, and some of the ways we and other organizations have dealt with them.

Unconscious Pressure

Jon: A friend of mine was telling me about an interesting conversation he had with his wife. They live not far from a Whole Foods market, and also a standard-type supermarket. One day, he noticed ...