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SNL, Lorne Michaels, and Jim Collins

Tuesday 10/27/2009

I recently read an interview with Lorne Michaels in an airline magazine (not sure which one) that caught my attention.  Not just because I am a fan of so many SNL spinoffs, but because it reinforced my belief that selecting your work based on your strengths (talents) will bring you success.  And in the case of SNL, a lot of fans.

In the interview, Michaels explained that he was still in the process of selecting the final cast for the new season of SNL scheduled to begin in a few short weeks.  In describing his process, he said he does not determine a profile of the specific talents and abilities the SNL cast should include, then go out to find those talents.  Rather he described a process of searching for people with interesting talents (strengths),then putting them together to see what results.  Michaels has been keeping us entertained with SNL for almost 35 years, with one hilarious cast season after season.  This is definitely a process that works!

In selecting the cast, Michaels is using a process very similar to that proposed by Jim Collins for hiring organization leaders in his book “Good to Great”.  Collins describes a process of looking for capable, talented people, getting them together on the bus, then figuring out where the bus will go.  Because if you have talented people on board, you will go to interesting places and achieve interesting results.  In the real world, very few corporations follow Collins advice.  I am glad Lorne Michaels does.

Are you starting a company and trying to hire for key positions?  Or looking to fill a corporate leadership role?  Or did you just meet an exceptionally talented individual and think they could do great things for your organization, even though you have a hiring restriction in place?  Maybe you need to follow the approach of Lorne Michaels and Jim Collins.  Perhaps new talent is exactly what is needed in your “cast”.

Or are you the frustrated individual who is wasting your natural talents because you are working at a job that doesn’t really fit you?  Can you imagine the ways your life might change if you were truly focused on using your natural abilities rather than just filling a role in an organization?  Doing work you love because it doesn’t even feel like work?

So again I advocate:  Identify your natural talents!  Build them into strengths!  And expect great results!

Back to Basics on Strengths

Monday 07/20/2009

Many of you know that I am a proponent of knowing what your strengths are and finding ways to base more and more of your work and life activity on what you are naturally good at - and to do less and less of the tasks that you don’t have a natural gift to do.  If the differences aren’t clear to you, I suggest you start tracking your energy.  (And read everything you can on strengths and positive psychology.) Knowing which activities energize you and which activities drain you is a good start at getting in touch with your natural abilities.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  Some traditionalists and boomers are saying the very idea of work means doing things we don’t necessarily enjoy, that frequently sap our energy and leave us feeling drained and lifeless (but more adult I guess).  To that I say:  STOP! STOP! STOP!  Life and your work do not have to be that way!

Since leaving the mandatory work hours and position requirements of the corporate world this past year, I am clearer than ever on my strengths and my passions.  I keep discovering new aspects of my talents as I enter new situations in the world of entrepreneurship.  I am learning ways to develop business and engage with people using my natural gifts that are so much more satisfying than constantly meeting the demands of someone else’s mission using their “proven” methods.  Imagine that - being who I truly am is actually generating business for me!  And I diligently track my energy as I am on this new journey.  I am getting better at sensing which business situations will make me come away with a whole new store of energy and which will make me wish I had spent that time at the dentist.

I share all of this to encourage you to be aware of  your strengths.  Understand your natural talents and gifts.  Stop right now and mentally review your day.  When did you feel energized?  What were you doing?  Identify those moments of strength. Mesh them with your passions and I believe you will find a career or a focus for your life that will constantly keep you growing, energized, trying new things, discovering new enjoyments, on the road to fulfilling your vision for your life!

Are you on this kind of energizing journey?  Tell me about it.  I’d like to hear your story!