The Winning Manager’s Playbook

Never try to teach a pig to sing

The previous story features Bill, one of our favorite guys. Bill learned that picking the right people, just like picking the right noodle, was the key to his success.

In Bill’s earlier experiences, he did what many of us have done—he tried to work with the wrong people. He may have done this for any number of reasons: no one else was around, the person had been with the company for a long period of time, or perhaps the person would finally “see the light” and do a really fine job. Bill’s belief was that he could save these people and make them into high performers. Bill was certain that he could turn a person who was a lost cause into a blazing success (like he tried to do with the wet noodle).

One of our strong ...