The fastest way to get better
At... well, anything!
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The fastest and most effective way to change and get better is surprisingly simple.
Change your inputs.
It’s said that you end up becoming the aggregate of your five closest friends: If they are funny, you get funnier. If they are ambitious, you become more ambitious.
I bring this up because talent acquisition tends to be very… narrow with it’s inputs. Sure, if a recruiter listens to podcasts (and that’s a big “if”), they listen to other recruiters talking about how they recruit. Employer branders listen to other employer branders about how they do employer branding, etc etc.
When you put people in situations like this, when they hear the same voices over and over, saying the same ideas, you get an echo chamber. And the goal of an echo chamber is to figure out what ideas resonate and amplify them. You kill nuance and different view points as some ideas become the “norm.”
So let this act as a call to action: get different inputs. Here are some things you could be reading to help you expand your horizon and find new ways to do great work:
Podcasts
Want to better understand what your bosses are thinking about? 2Bobs, Coaching Real Leaders
How to be be heard in a crowded market place? Everyone Hates Marketers, LinkedIn Branding Show, I Want To Know, Positioning with April Dunford, and any podcast with Jasmin Alic or Mark Ritson.
General perspective change: The Knowledge Project, Let Make This More Interesting, Tetragrammaton.
Newsletters
Strat_scraps, The Ruffian, Ted Giola, Stratechery, A-Mail, Superhuman, Workfutures, Make Work Better, Strategy Breakdowns, Kat Kibben, fate v/ future, The Steal Club
Books
Anything by Nassim Taleb, Annie Duke, Michael Lewis, Anthony Bourdain, Adam Morgan, and Alex Osterwalder
Video Series
There so much… look. Think of one part of your work that you’d like to be better at. Email outreach? Content creation? Interviewing? Attracting attention on LinkedIn? Copywriting? There are classes, videos, and series designed to help you learn that stuff WAY BETTER than you understand it now. I’m helping my daughter level up in math with a series called Math Antics. She’s 9 and understands the basics of algebra now. There is SO MUCH great stuff on YouTube, that you should just go ahead and add it as a channel on your TV.
Also, search YouTube for Taskmaster. It’s a British TV that is stupid and funny and weird and delightful. Start on season 9 or 13 and work up and down the chain from there. You’re welcome.
Transform is one of the biggest HR/TA conferences in the US. What were people talking about? Check out this short video to find out! (Thanks to Energage for sponsoring the video)
🍀 Brands are just promises until you prove them »
☘️ What companies think of as “clear” is anything but to the candidate »
🍀 Can we love an employer brand? »
☘️ How to overcome ambivalence as a leader of change »
🍀 Examples of killer opt-in emails »
☘️ Do you have an employee engagement strategy? »
🍀 Yes, data is great, but there’s more to building an effective brand »
☘️ Trust is a brand’s lifeblood »
🏛️ All 2,300+ articles from this newsletter are in a searchable archive. Go get ‘em!
Bud Caddell had a career as a well-cited digital strategist cut short by a family emergency. When he emerged back into the professional world, he did a massive career pivot and started an agency to help organizations and companies transform. And as change is our stock-in-trade, he has a lot to offer us.
If you’ve missed any of the previous episodes with Rory Sutherland, Jasmine Bina, Alex M H Smith, and Chad Sowash, check them out. And tomorrow, you’ll hear from social recruiting expert Joel Lalgee.
The Definition of Insanity podcast is available on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Classes, podcasts, videos, downloadables, all to help you take advantage of your employer brand. Where? At employerbrand.ing
***This Newsletter Contains No ChatGPT***
-James Ellis [LinkedIn] [Website]
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