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Great concept, right? Walk in someone else's shoes to appreciate where they are coming from, to know how they view life. If we could do that effectively we would be more effective managers, and more effective leaders in our respective organizations.

But how do you do that? The first step is to understand where the other person is coming from- how they view life. Question - does our perspective in life depend on our intellectual level, or our behavioral style? It's actually far more behavioral than intellectual. A person's drive to "win at all costs" comes from their behavioral nature. So does that desire to be liked and appreciated or the desire for clear and concise marching orders before moving forward. In order to effectively walk in someone else's shoes you need to know what size shoe they wear, so to speak. If you do know that, then you really can look at life the way they do, and find a way to communicate more effectively with them.

Clients that have used the profiling tool to better understand the nature of their internal team members as well as candidates understand this. They use the information to better understand each other's strengths as well as appreciate each other's perspective on life. As a result, they build a greater sense of trust for each other. And that, as the MasterCard commercial says it, is priceless.

Given that certain positions require specific behavioral traits (such as good people skills, patience, attention to detail, or aggressiveness), then it would seem to be a good idea to know exactly what already successful people look like, and be able to compare and contrast your candidates against that data. And that is exactly what you do when you are able to measure your candidates against a top performer profile. The software we use is actually quite sophisticated, so in addition to getting the essence of a person's personality profile "right", we are also able to manipulate the data to be able to contrast and compare your candidates against that top performer data. We've also done some research over the past three years, and we have found that the retention rates are almost 300% better when the clients match up their candidates to their top performer profile.

That said, there are some caveats. First and foremost, you need to really determine if you are trying to hire for the same position as the top performer profile. If the top performer profile is for a "similar but different" position, then you need to consider the differences.

For instance, maybe the top performer model you are utilizing is for a new account salesperson, but you are trying to hire an inside salesperson. Given that you are looking at the inside person as a lead generator/qualifier that will hand the prospect over to an outside salesperson, then you would expect a slightly different style - perhaps the dominance trait wouldn't be quite as high, and perhaps their patience trait would be higher. Knowing that, you could then modify your "job match" to accommodate those differences, and utilize the top performer data just fine.

Recognize that the more you know about your candidate the greater your odds of having that new hire be an effective member of your team. Not everyone will be the perfect fit for your top performer profile, but that doesn't mean that you might not have a good place in your organization. Let us work with you to help determine the best possible match of talent and requirements. We've been doing this for 17 years. We've gotten pretty good at it.

Tom Peters Essentials: Leadership By Tom Peters

So what is Tom Peters thinking now? His first book, In Search of Excellence, was named the greatest business book of all time in a poll conducted by Bloomsbury Publishing. He has followed that with a string of international best sellers. Here is a book with passion and energy and color. You will not agree with all of it. Peters is always a passionate, provocative and fun read.

"Five Most Common Mistakes Made in the Hiring Process, and How to Avoid Them"

September 12

"The Six Things Management Does to Kill Morale and Employee Productivity, and What You Can Do To Fix It"

September 26

We'll have more book and Webinar suggestions for you in future editions.