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Executive Leaders: Hire for Attitude

Guest post by: Sylvia Lafair

Article Overview: One of the senior executives in a recent Total Leadership Connections program was downsized and "upsized" all within six weeks .The group went through the lows and eventual highs with him, it was quite a ride. He is in the process of moving his family to a small town in the Midwest from a large city in the South. As he tells, it, let's call him Mike, as Mike tells it, when you have prepared for change you can sleep at night.

Executive Leaders: Hire for Attitude

One of the senior executives in a recent Total Leadership Connections program was downsized and "upsized" all within six weeks .The group went through the lows and eventual highs with him, it was quite a ride.

He is in the process of moving his family to a small town in the Midwest from a large city in the South. As he tells, it, let's call him Mike, as Mike tells it, when you have prepared for change you can sleep at night.

Now, that does not mean he didn't have moments of gut knotting anxiety. His wife had a great job, and the two children still at home had their senior year of high school to finish. Boy, he told me, was he glad they were twins so this one last year of school could be handled in one fell swoop.

He started his job and did what so many do; he lived in a long term motel during the week and flew home for the week ends. This will be the routine for the year till graduation. Not bad since his wife is willing to find a job in the new location and he loves the company that is going to be his work home for, he hopes, many years to come.

Not such a dramatic story, so why keep reading? Because Mike is a great example of what happens when you face change without fear, when you decide not to compromise, when you set the bar high and stay a steady course and d believe in yourself.

Mike is courageous; his wife more tentative. She wanted him to take a job, any job. After all they had two children in college and two on the way. He put out feelers for a high powered, high paying job and saw too many places where his values did not mesh with the companies.

The couple relationship was becoming icy. Mike could not help his wife be less fearful. So, he decided to stop being the rescuer, a behavior pattern from his childhood. He simply let her talk about how close they were to the edge of the cliff. He could not make it better. They were there and this was his life, his career.

He would not sell out just for money.

This story has a happy ending. A recruiter called with the dream job. When Mike interviewed he won not only because of his qualifications, he won because of his values.

Now he has been given the green light to put his team together, ten new hires in the new section of the organization he will lead. When he interviews, he told me, he hires on attitude more than aptitude, more on passion rather than on resume.

It seems to be working. Where he has had an amazing breakthrough is with his twin sons who have watched their father's determination to stay true to himself and they are now rethinking their college plans. It's now less about party and more about career passion.

Moral of mike's story is that when you do what is etched with integrity, others will pay attention and they also may change.

And Mike's wife; she is rethinking going back to school for an advanced degree that has always been a far away dream.

We do make a difference in each other's lives, never forget that!

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Article Tags: attitude, executive leaders, integrity, leadership, lows, passion



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