It’s not easy to find good people. 

A lot of time, money and effort goes into the process – not only of finding them, but acclimatizing, developing and retaining them.

So when we find someone isn’t performing as we expected, it’s imperative that we do whatever we can to make things right. 

"I don't like him, he's really rude and obnoxious." 

"I really like her - I can count on her to tell it like it is, so I know where I stand." 

There's a fine line between these two perspectives. We value one but not the other. Rightly so. At the same time, there are people out there who think they're one of the above when they're actually the other. (Surprisingly so, at least to those around them). 

If you're passionate about what you do and the organization you're trying to build, hiring the right folks for the right roles becomes a critical task.

It's also a very difficult one because there's no real 'science' to the process. Sure, you can administer aptitude tests, utilize case interviews, or deploy structured screening questionnaires (among other techniques) in an effort to identify those with the 'highest propensity for success'.

The nature of what I do and where my clients are located is such that I am on the road just about every week. 

Which means, I spend a lot of time on planes. A lot.

And even more than the time I spend on planes, is the "incidental" time that I spend sitting in airports waiting for my flight (never mind the time getting to and from the airport). 

In sales, as in life, I'm a big believer in taking responsibility for your results. Whether you're making the sale or you're drawing blanks, you need to own the process, the tactics and the results. 

Take, for example, the sales call. (Not the cold call. These are worthless.)

When many of us in this part of the world sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, the conversation will inevitably (directly or indirectly) turn to what it is that we are thankful for. For most of us, there will no doubt be many things on the list - some material, some social, some to do with friends, some to do with family.

One of the best predictors of success in any venture is the quality of the relationships amongst those involved. The better the relationships, the higher the probability of success. 

Our troubles begin when those relationships aren't working. When you don't know what I'm thinking or, worse, why I'm thinking the way I'm thinking.

ometimes, when we miss the gold medal, we tend to think we should double down and do more of what got us to this point. 

But sometimes, depending on the nature of the miss, doubling down just isn't good enough.

It isn't going to help you elevate your standing, improve your role or change your environment (at least not in the way you want it to change).

When you lose a big client, a plum job, an exciting opportunity or suffer some other sort of material setback, it's difficult not to be consumed by it.  To let it become all-absorbing. To be able to think of anything but the loss. Especially when it was one you expected to win hands-down.

If I want you to follow me - in business, in a social cause, in politics - I have two choices by which I can convince you to join my quest.

One is through fear. 

I'll tell you about everything that can go wrong. What you stand to lose. Why your children will...

Back in my early days in sales, I thought I had a pretty good handle on who would be a good client and who wouldn't. In fact, I felt pretty darn good about my ability to judge who would make a high potential prospect and who I shouldn't waste my time on. 

Interviewing for a job in management consulting isn’t a simple process. It’s not a case of ‘a couple of interviews and you’re done’. Consulting interviews involve multiple rounds and plenty of rigor.

This makes sense when you consider that the role is an extremely demanding one

In sales as well as business in general, there's nothing quite like closing a deal. 

No small feat, closing a a sale takes a solid knowledge of your product, a deep understanding of client issues, careful preparation and an ability to convey your pitch in a convincing way. Not to mention, a sense of human behavior, an ability to gauge corporate politics and of course, a bit of showmanship. (To varying degrees, of course.

“Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.” Tony Hsieh - CEO, Zappos

It's enticing to go after the 'sweetheart' of the day. To buy the hottest stock in the market. To put all your money into a business or a market that's the talk of the town.

"(Hardware/software) has made (hobby/discipline/craft) so easy that you don't need to have talent to be able to create great art."

We've all heard some variation of the above sentence over the last decade or so. For the above parentheses, insert:

Any time a collective (economic or otherwise) grows beyond a few people, politics becomes a reality.

And inevitably, politics ends up influencing roles, positions and careers. Because politics is about managing perceptions, one way or another. And perceptions influence how you consider an individual, their capabilities and their potential

Once a working group – a function, department or organization – reaches reasonable scale, we naturally tend to put people into buckets when conducting performance evaluations.

Who are the high performers?

Early in my career, I was staffed on a study where my job was to help a client improve their performance in a specific functional area. My specific role was to help drive the assessment – establish the baseline, conduct the required research, develop the analysis and then prepare the recommendations for the client.

So those who know me (even remotely well) know that I am a massive Arsenal Football Club fan. 

Arsenal is a club that I've supported since I was 9 years old, through the great years and the bad years. It is the longest relationship I have held outside of my immediate family and my love for the club is emotional, irrational, illogical and wonderful.