That WASN’T the case for me at this year’s Fordyce Forum 2010 at the M Resort in Las Vegas from June 9-11.   It was another great conference, and was just the shot in the arm I needed after a few [...]]]> Sometimes you don’t realize the value of something until you get a little distance from it.

That WASN’T the case for me at this year’s Fordyce Forum 2010 at the M Resort in Las Vegas from June 9-11.   It was another great conference, and was just the shot in the arm I needed after a few months away from my desk and my businesses.

In four short years Fordyce Forum 2010 has become the most important training event for search and placement professionals that I attend every year.  This year was the best Fordyce Forum to date.

It had been a year since I was able to travel, in fact my last trip anywhere was to Las Vegas for Fordyce Forum 2009, which was also at the M Resort in Las Vegas almost exactly a year before.  Lucky for me, and thanks to some good health care and a little groveling to my MD and wife, I was fortunate enough to attend the 4th Fordyce Forum this June, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Again this year it was the phenomenal gathering of search and placement practitioners, owners, vendors and trainers you would expect from a brand as respected as Fordyce.

Though I have not yet completed my final written review of the event, I thought those who attended, as well as those who didn’t, might enjoy the photo and slide show below that was used in different iterations during the event.  I hope you enjoy it, and I hope to see you for Fordyce Forum 2011, which will be held in Las Vegas in early June, 2011,  for it’s 5th Annual gathering of the premier search and placement practitioners our profession has to offer.

Jeff Skrentny, CERS, had an inauspicious start in the search/recruiting profession as his first placement quit after 93 days.  Then he was sued by his client.  Despite that start, Jeff  has been a thriving executive search entrepreneur for the last 23 years; and has also been a trainer, author and motivator for his profession for the last 15 years, as well as a business consultant and advisor for its producers, managers & owners for the last 10 years; all while still running his search business, Jefferson Group Search, in Chicago. You can email Jeff directly at AskJeff@JeffersonInc.com.

If you haven’t, you should.  Doesn’t matter if you are an owner or a producer on a desk, this could be a game changer, and for much more than just LinkedIn messages [...]]]> Did anybody else read this most recently emailed NAPS Legal Update for June?

If you haven’t, you should.  Doesn’t matter if you are an owner or a producer on a desk, this could be a game changer, and for much more than just LinkedIn messages and contacts.

In this email which NAPS Legal Counsel Bob Styles typically sends out on a monthly basis, tucked between two updates that didn’t have much application to my desk/business, was the below two paragraph notice about a yet to be adjudicated case titled “LinkedIn Messages As Evidence in Non-Compete Case“:

Did anyone else just feel the ground shake?

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to wonder about who then “owns” LinkedIn contacts?  And by extension Facebook, Twitter, and for that matter any social network/media contacts that one compiles in pursuit of success as a search/sourcing/recruiting professional while in someone’s employ.

And please don’t misinterpret my intentions for bringing this up.  I do not believe that anyone who signs a non-compete should EVER violate that agreement.  If you leave one employer to work for another employer or to start your own business, do it the right way, take the high road, and honor your non compete.  If you are that good, you don’t need to do anything illegal to get started on your new job or your new business.  EVER.  Period.  There is always enough OTHER business out there for you.

Still, this case will bring up a whole new set of questions our profession, its owners, producers and lawyers will need to address.  Not only can messages on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter now likely be used as evidence that you violated your non-compete, it can’t be long before “ownership” of those contacts comes into question as one leaves a job as a search or sourcing professional to begin a similar one somewhere else or on their own.

That’s why, in my mind, is case could become a game changer for how search professionals will use and manage the online social networks and social media tools that are now considered essential to success as a modern day sourcing and search professional.

What do you think?

I sure hope Mr Styles, Esq, will keep us up to date on how the case is finally adjudicated.

Oh, and for those interested, you can see the full Legal Update at skrentnyspeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/NAPS-June-2010-LEGAL-UPDATE-LinkedIn-As-Evidence.pdf because, as of this writing, NAPS does not yet archive these informative missives.  I hope they will change that someday soon as they update and revise their new web presence.

I would love to read your thoughts on this, you can share them below.

Jeff Skrentny, CERS, had an inauspicious start in the search/recruiting profession as his first placement quit after 93 days.  Then he was sued by his client.  Despite that start, Jeff  has been a thriving executive search entrepreneur for the last 23 years; and has also been a trainer, author and motivator for his profession for the last 15 years, as well as a business consultant and advisor for its producers, managers & owners for the last 10 years; all while still running his search business, Jefferson Group Search, in Chicago.

Should that really be your answer?

This Saturday I met with my Board of Directors in Chicago for the first of three meetings we will have this year.  I was exhausted after our day of hard work together, which of course was followed by margaritas and Mexican cuisine.  I have already begun [...]]]> Most of you answered “No one.”

Should that really be your answer?

This Saturday I met with my Board of Directors in Chicago for the first of three meetings we will have this year.  I was exhausted after our day of hard work together, which of course was followed by margaritas and Mexican cuisine.  I have already begun thinking about and working to get ready for my next meeting with them which will take place May 7^th, in Baltimore.  This group makes me think, and think hard.  They don’t let me off the hook for much.

Now some of you are asking yourselves, “Jeff, I thought you were a search entrepreneur?  How and why do you have a Board of Directors?”

Fair question, let me explain.

Even back when I worked a placement desk before I struck out on my own with Jefferson Group Search, I always met a few times a year with a group of trusted advisors to help me manage my desk.  See, I never really found the management at the company where I learned my craft to be particularly helpful in pushing me to new levels of success.  I was their top producer, and that was good enough for them, despite the mediocrity I would later learn was my “top performing” success.  Apparently, enough mediocrity in one place makes for a good living if you own the place.

If I was going to get the important critical feedback to help me grow and build the skills that would make me into the recruiting professional I wanted to become, I was going to have to get that advice from someplace other than my management team.  But from who?

I don’t recall which trainer it was, but somewhere along the way it was suggested to me that I create my own board of directors from my clients, candidates, professional peers and training mentors.  That is exactly what I did.  Boy did it ever make a difference to get their input.

When I began working with my first board of directors I was in my mid/late 20’s, and though I understood recruiting and clerical placement well, I really knew nothing about being a successful business professional.  Though it took awhile for a candid relationship to develop with those I initially picked for this personal board of directors, once the trusting relationship was cultivated, and they realized I really DID want the critical feedback to become a better sales and business professional, they poured it on.

And then they poured it on even more, as I had a lot to learn.

I was a sponge.  It served me well.

Before I was promoted into management, this arrangement educated me, resulted in my first ever letters of testimonial, introduced me to new prospects that would become incredible clients, referred to me some amazing candidates I would place, offered incredible suggestions for process improvement (one of my BOD members worked for one of the most exclusive retained executive search firms in the nation where I placed executive assistants for their executive search practitioners), helped me get accepted to an MBA program, and they helped me grow up quite a bit.

What did they get out of it?  A recruiting partner that worked hard for them year after year to continuously improve so I could do better recruiting and placement for them and their companies.  And I did just that for them, which made them very happy clients!

Then, because they began to take a rather vested interest in my success, I cultured some exclusive and very loyal clients that worked for me to succeed, and let me know if they felt or heard I wasn’t.

Sure, there was a bit of pressure with this arrangement, but the kind that makes you better.  The kind that top performers thrive on.

Doing this was one of the best bits of training advice I ever took back to my desk.  Yet, as I was promoted into management, stopped working a desk, opened a new business segment, and then began my own search practice in 1996, I let this group disband:  One of the most unwise moves of my career.

As well as that worked for me, I was never wise enough to put a group like this back in place as I struggled to get my business started, worked hard to close each and every search.  I was simply so busy working in my business that I failed to see how working on my business would continue to be important for my business.  Things were going well enough.  Add to that my training business for other search and recruiting professionals which got wings of it’s own, and suddenly balancing my two businesses, a new wife and young family, and my multiple other interests (marathon running, MLB ballparks, Cubs baseball, Shakespeare Theater, birding), meant I was always too busy to get back to this great feedback formula.

Years passed.

Business had its many ups, and, yes, a down or two (can you say DotCom bust).  Still, I remained busy, happy and prosperous.

Then in 2006, almost as if the past was reaching out to remind me how I once found the input of others to be one of the most important means for me to push myself to new levels of achievement and success, I got a call from a peer and trusted advisor.  He was part of a group of search entrepreneurs that met a couple of times a year to serve as a board of directors for one another.  Would I be interested in learning more about the group?

Let me think?  How soon?

I passed my “audition/induction vote” and my first meeting was in the fall of 2006 in Chicago.  I have now met with this group of peers 2-3 times a year ever since.  They challenge me, prod me, hold me accountable, and open my eyes to new ways of thinking about both my businesses; and me theirs.  I have come to think of them as one of the most influential groups of peers I can count on for candor, creativity and brass knuckle ass kicking’s when necessary.

How did I manage to go for more than a decade without a personal board of directors?

And so, Search Entrepreneurs; “How do you go without a board of directors?”

It doesn’t matter if you work a desk in a large recruiting organization with multiple offices worldwide, or if you work for a search entrepreneur like me, you can build your own personal BOD with clients, candidates and/or peers.  If you are a search entrepreneur who owns your own business and you are ready to hold yourself accountable to what you never quiet seem able to achieve, when you KNOW you have the potential, such an arrangement might just what the doctor ordered for you, and building a peer BOD might be something you may seriously want to consider for yourself.

It won’t be easy, as finding others who are like minded non-competitive peers isn’t a snap.  Getting a peer BOD set up might not be the easiest thing to do, but it is so worth the effort.

I was lucky; I didn’t have anything to do with beginning the group I am in now.  They had been meeting for three years before I joined them.  They came together as an offshoot of a Top Echelon Big Biller advisory panel; it was a natural progression for them to move into peer review with one another to grow their own businesses as peer advisors for each other.  I had the good fortune that they invited me to join their group in their year three.

But despite the initial challenges that one might face organizing a group such as ours; which we call the RoundTable Leadership Forum, those difficulties are worth every bit of payback that one gets as a result of the candid input from a trusted peer BOD.  It has just been over three years since I first joined their group, and over the years we have had some owners leave us, and some new ones revitalize the group as replacements.  Now, I can’t imagine running my business now without their input three times a year.

It is an arrangement every serious and growing search entrepreneur should be part of with 6-8 trusted peers.

It is not always easy, and I may not always like everything they have to say as I present my business plan, or as they hold me accountable for progress I have failed to make on an initiative I shared with them.  Still, they are always the first to congratulate me when I push myself to new levels of success, and often have a great bottle of single malt scotch there to celebrate those achievements with me and the rest of my peer BOD team because more often than not, we deserve it.

You do too.

.

Interested in learning more about how to build your own peer BOD?  Feel free to shoot me an email at AskJeff@JeffersonInc.com.  I would be glad to share what perspective I have.  Or if you would like to take the interim step of hiring me as your mentor, I can do that too…I currently have two openings for my Search Entrepreneur Mentor Program.

Jeff Skrentny, CERS, had an inauspicious start in the recruiting profession as his first placement quit after 93 days.  Then he was sued by his client.  Despite that start, Jeff  has been a thriving executive search entrepreneur for the last 23 years; and has also been a trainer, author and motivator for his profession for the last 15 years, as well as a business consultant and advisor for its producers, managers & owners for the last 10 years; all while still running his search business, Jefferson Group Search, in Chicago.

“Let me be as clear as I possibly can:

Both have been using their eMarketing force to invite those in our profession to join Jen for her upcoming webinar, which frankly looks very  interesting, but in the process seem to be openly endorsing Ms Lambert’s contemptuous [...]]]> Have you been reading the recent NAPS and According to Danny promo emails about Jen Lambert’s upcoming Recruiter Revival webinar?

Both have been using their eMarketing force to invite those in our profession to join Jen for her upcoming webinar, which frankly looks very  interesting, but in the process seem to be openly endorsing Ms Lambert’s contemptuous mocking of Barb Bruno.

In Ms Lambert’s personal message to those of us who might consider attending her session, Ms Lambert enthusiastically writes:

“Have you been to a training recently and noticed, well, all the *B.S.* when it comes to selling from the desk and building a sustainable flow of revenue?”  (should you want to see the complete text of her message, see the links below)

Clearly her emphasis on *B.S.* can only be an unambiguous jab at  Barb Bruno’s No BS Newsletter.  Is this the type of contemptuous innuendo we want from a new voice of “leadership” for our profession?

I think not.

And to see NAPS and Cahill’s ATD endorse this negativity and mocking innuendo of Barb’s work by distributing this message to their eMarketing networks, unedited,  suggests to me at least tacit approval of this cheap shot at Bruno.

Lambert, Cahill, and most surprisingly, even NAPS may believe that Bruno’s newsletter and training is just *B.S.* and they are welcome to that opinion.  But to so openly disrespect an award winning leader and volunteer from our profession who has given freely to the profession to move it forward to continually higher levels of ability and professional success as Barb has done for the whole of her career, seems imprudent and disrespectful.

I was shocked, and those of you who know me well know I haven’t always been the most tactful in my past.  In fact, that I am even writing this censure is most amusing and highly ironic.

Barb Bruno needs no defense.  She will likely turn the other cheek and continue to do what she has done for years, inspire and motivate those in our profession with what she has done and through what she trains.  Do I agree with everything she trains?  No.  Can I say I have read or benefited from each of her Barb Bruno’s No BS Newsletter’s?  No.  But do I show my disagreement with what she trains or shares freely with open contempt just to “Ring the bell” to draw attention to myself?  No.  No need to.  I highly respect her contribution to our profession, and think she has given more to it than any single other trainer/leader in our profession today.  She has, and should continue to be, honored for that.

But I cannot say I have not made a similar rookie mistake as an overly enthusiastic new trainer for our profession.  I have.  It was a tough lesson to learn from.  And as I recall, it was Danny and some NAPS leadership at that correctly reigned me in, and showed me that taking the high road was always the right way to market yourself. Have they decided to throw that advice out the window by allowing Ms Lambert to market herself so with such a cheap shot at Bruno?

Let’s hope not!

You would like to think in professional circles we don’t need to join the curb dwelling smack down culture that is so pervasive in our society today.

So should you join Ms Lambert for her session?  I have met Jennifer, she seems like an intelligent, engaging, capable, successful and insightful practitioner of our craft.  She is currently the Cahill ATD new trainer du jour, so clearly she must have some interesting thoughts to share, as Danny doesn’t let just anyone train his recruiters.  So, yes, I am compelled by her message of enthusiasm and new thinking that makes up the second half of her personal message to her readers, which is compelling enough.

But I just don’t think her negative and contemptuous marketing are necessary.  She can think what she wants.  But the circle of those who are privileged enough to train our profession is small.  There is not a lot of room to hide if she is going to go around and sell negatively against her training peers at every turn.  And she doesn’t have to, as her message seems interesting without the distracting opening slurs with which she begins her marketing message.  Not necessary to get our attention Jen.  Ring our bells with your good training and useful techniques, don’t ring them with your negative opinions of a training leader and icon.

As for Cahill’s ATD & NAPS sending this announcement out without editing of Jennifer’s announcement, in the end that may be the most shameful mistake of all here.  Cahill should know better.  I can tell you from personal experience from a slight I made that was far more accidental and more ambiguous, that he does not respond well when this type of message was innocently leveled at him.  How he could tacitly approve of this kind of message about another trainer who opened so many doors for him simply by the trails she blazed years ahead of him, I can’t say?  Seems uncharacteristic.

And as for NAPS failing to edit Jen’s announcement.  Maybe they thought it was funny.  Maybe they just didn’t read it.  Is this how they want “New” Trainers referring to their past Harold B Nelson award winners?  I think we should expect more professionalism from our national professional association.  I think they would agree with me, and hope this was just an oversight on their part.  One I hope they won’t repeat.

Let’s stick to the high road, and stick together as a profession.  We have enough outside forces working against us.  No need to work against one another at this time of recovery.  Most practitioners are interested in what many training voices have to say, not just one or two.  It may not be quite as Bell ringing, or attention getting, to take the high road in our marketing, but is this negative type of marketing what professionals do?  I think not.

Don’t you agree?

NAPS Lambert webinar announcement email 100106

ATD Lambert webinar announcement email 100107