Forgiveness

Don't cringe too hard. This isn't going to be a political diatribe. We've always thought that business and politics are bad bedfellows. We just noticed a recent and interesting shift in the way that Human Capital is valued in the American (USA) culture. Disposable Nobel Prize Nominees are simply the tip of the iceberg. The real question here is what we do with people who make mistakes and how we judge their reformation. The Tookie Williams case (convicted murderer, founder of the Crips street gang and Nobel Peace Prize nominee) is simply the most extreme case.

Parenthetically, isn't it odd that a reasonable opposition to Capital punishment and serious questions about a proactive military as a prudent foreign policy are enough to brand you as a radical.  The culture is less roomy/inclusive these days. That's the real meat of this story.

We know that failure and mistakes are far more likely than success to produce wisdom and sound judgment. The leaders of our organizations and government pay big bucks to have consultants (business, creativity, and strategy advisors, in particular) who remind them of this fact. It takes falling down to know where the pitfalls are. This is an underlying reason for the preference of film majors over MBAs in a few firms. Experimentation produces disaster as well as success. The lucky ones get to see the disasters.

This doesn't seem to be the way we do recruiting. The heavy emphasis on credentials, references and background checking creates an environment in which blemishes are hidden and successes inflated. A long look at what works, what doesn't and who knows the difference is rarely the subject of an employment conversation. When you give it a moment's thought, it's clear who causes the resume inflation problem.

We do.

By treating candidates as if the game were a dog show contest for "best pedigree" and dumbing down our reviews to bullet points, we oversimplify the questions we're asked to answer. Restrictive cut lists and winnowing processes force us to look away from potential and deep capacities. Giving in to process owners who demand simple decisions, we push the harder, better possibilities to the side in the name of reducing cycle time.

We are the reason that people inflate their resumes.

- John Sumser

Don't forget to read the Bugler!