It is better
to not be on
the web than
to be on and
not know why
John Sumser

Reality
is more
complex
than
it seems.
John Gall

It's better to
do a few things
really well than
than to do
a lot of things
badly.
If you can't
make the necessary
commitments of
time and energy
to your
electronic
marketing
efforts
scale back
your plan.
John Sumser

All material on this
website is the
property of IBN
(The Internet
Business Network:
interbiznet.com)
You may download
a copy for personal
use. Redistribution
without permission
is strictly
prohibited.
All material on
this site is
© 1995 - 2000 by IBN

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It's a world in which no negative information is exchanged, a sort of Stepford Talent Market. Bland and superficial, one might imagine a Stepford Talent Market Group that polishes hyperbole in search of market momentum. Like many of today's consultancies, no real experience is required. Fluff, flattery and upbeat obfuscation can take the place of results.

It's not surprising that negative information wants to keep a low profile. After all, how far would you get with a resume that said "I've taken the computer at each of my last 4 jobs" or "I enjoy viewing my collection of company office supplies" or "I prefer having my haircut in the mid afternoon" or "I often forget to shut up when I don't know what I'm talking about".

At the same time, who'd apply for a job described as "Responsible for loose ends; scapegoat potential is high" or "Boss has strong inflexibilities regarding the question of who is right" or "Seeking third CEO in a year" or "impossible deadlines with inadequate funds".

But, the Internet has shuffled in an era when the cat is out of the bag. It turns out that negative information is the foundation of early trust. Before shared experience, negative information indicates the strengthening of a relationship. Companies like Vault.com, WetFeet (before they leaped headfirst into the land of hyperbole) and our favorite unmentionable layoff tracker garner huge volumes of traffic by tracking and publishing the "inside skinny". (Read the icplanet story and see if you don't get a clear picture of corporate culture). The stock market message boards (see Webhire, Kforce or CDI) provide volatile conversation with strong swipes at senior management.

We got to thinking about the importance of negative information after laughing hard at the parody site, kfarce. The absolutely wonderful site includes rich multimedia presentations of xeroxing skills, interview techniques and, our favorite, supervisory skills (you'll need a media player). We can imagine that the management and legal teams at kforce, suffering under public scrutiny, have had lots of meetings trying to figure out how to shut it down.

We think that they'd be better off proudly pointing out the fact that someone thought they were worth parodying. When you consider that the alternatives are essentially self parodying, this is a badge of honor. Were it our problem, we'd find ways to celebrate and promote the negative stuff.

Simply, the question is "How do you continue to provide your customer with novel, high value services?". Like we see everyday in Electronic Recruiting, the moment a good new idea hits the market, the competitors begin to copy it. Either market advantage is fleeting and dependent on a continuing stream of innovation or it requires a non-repeatable (or labor intensive) method. We think this question is at the center of the development of a workable strategy in our industry and the rest of the Internet industry.

One approach to solving the problem is to institutionalize a wisdom department. You may remember the scale of value that goes something like "Data - Information - Insight Wisdom". Wisdom represents the highest value, data the lowest. We believe that all wisdom has a half-life. At the half-life point, wisdom degrades into information and can be automated. A Wisdom department would be in charge of developing a constant stream of new wisdom and figuring out how to deliver it to the customer.

The other, more widely practiced approach (demonstrated by the HRXML consortium among others) is to wait until wisdom is totally degraded and becomes repeatable data. This approach, appropriate for a large institutional player, assumes that commodity pricing is a good thing and that low margins are the key to market dominance. In this model, survival is sold rather than the opportunity for a customer to gain real market benefit. We believe that this approach values mediocrity and consistency over innovation. It's much easier to execute (particularly if you are a big player with relatively limitless budgets),

It's one of those puzzles that OD people are great at having in the odd moment. Don't think about your nose.Imagine your office if it were totally different. A mental Catch 22, the search for a new metaphor is what moves things forward.

The airplane languished as an interesting but unprofitable technical achievement until the underlying metaphor was correct. The Wright brothers and their competitors all thought of the the airplane as a bicycle. It was intended for use by one or two people with weight being the primary concern. By the advent of the 1st World War, the metaphor was becoming more car-like. However, it wasn't until Howard Hughes understood that the airplane was a bus that the Aviation industry started seeing regular profitability. Even then, it was not until the 1980s that air travel became completely commonplace..

The trouble with searching for metaphors is that its hard to see how deeply integrated they are in your experience.

Much of our criticism of the current Job Board industry comes from the fact that the central metaphor is a database. That's a slight improvement, after 6 years, from a Job Board is online classified advertising.With these notions, we're limited to "you put it out, someone else reads it". It's hard to integrate targeting disciplines into a database.

In many HR environments, they say, "Recruiting is my biggest headache."

That's why we sometimes say, "Recruiting is advertising" or "Recruiting is direct Marketing" or "Recruiting is precise communications" or "Recruiting is Marketing".

We're beginning to like "Recruiting is the path people take into an organization." or "Recruiting is a relationship that matures into an employment decision". or, like Icarian, "Recruiting is the development of an adequate supply of the right people." (It's a little wordy, for sure).

The underlying metaphor shapes the way you think about the problem. It limits possibilities and focuses solutions.

In many HR environments, they say, "Recruiting is my biggest headache."

Here at interbiznet, we say, "The search for a new metaphor gives us a headache".

If you have a new way of thinking about Recruiting, we'd love to hear about it.

- John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.


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