The unedited transcript of Phalana Tiller's interviews with George Anders and Teresa Amabile for the January 2012 episode of Drucker on the Dial entitled "Prospects + Progress = Prosperity." First, George Anders, author of the book entitled The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else, says that far too many employee searches are done on an overly tight set of specifications that are tied to looking for the perfect resume, rather than looking for the perfect person. Anders discusses why it is important to relax some of these constraints so that you can do a better job at finding people with certain soft skills. He explains the 5 to 1 test that he developed, and the difference between a perfectly capable and confident person, and a standout superstar in a job. Anders believes that resilience is an absolutely crucial trait, and that it's a trait that most employers don't look for. Anders shares what he believes the education system needs to prepare people for, and he explains the difference between organizations that do a great job at identifying talent, and ones that stumble. Anders suggests that you try to bring out some of your unique capabilities since you can be limited by how visionary the person hiring you is. He says that we need to redirect hiring towards looking for the characteristics that really do determine success, rather than the ones that just make for an easy screening process. He goes on to say that he would like to be remembered for bringing interesting ideas into the world, ones that help people and are positive and constructive. Next, Teresa Amabile, coauthor of the book entitled The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, says that the single most important thing that makes people feel great at work in terms of their emotions, motivations, and the perception of what they are doing, is simply making progress on meaningful work. She says that it surprised managers to find that recognition was not nearly as prominent on people's best days at work as progress was. Amabile describes her research for the book, and how she collected data. She says that her first discovery was that inner work life drives performance, and that people are more likely to come up with a creative idea on days when they have more positive inner work lives. She adds that the negative affect of a setback on inner work life is 2 to 3 times stronger than the positive affect of progress. Amabile discusses what the best managers can do for their employees, and the importance of establishing an environment where people have the opportunity to succeed. Amabile then talks about the results of a survey that found that only 5% of the managers taking the survey ranked progress as number 1 in importance. She goes on to say that she would like to be remembered for having improved the everyday work life of millions of people around the world in her professional work.
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