Be the Match, not a match
Indulge me for a moment. I spoke to a friend yesterday morning. As we spoke, he mentioned,
“Miguel, you won’t believe it."
"What?” I shot back. He had dropped his voice into that conspiratorial whisper signalling gossip…you know what I mean.
”The superintendent handed out required reading to all his directors. In chapter 3 of the book, you were quoted."
"Hot dog! Really?” I exclaimed. “Think they’ll hire me now?"
"Not a chance.”
My fellow edubloggers, we face a greater challenge than simply being perceived as over-qualified by nature of our cumulative work on the Web. Jeff’s (The Thinking Stick) highlights a truth that had escaped me until I read it in his blog. It is a frightening assertion because I have never heard the question asked, but now, I fear it is THE question in people’s minds. How long before we can speak this aloud in an interview?
Imagine the following interview question: “Could you please share with me the extent of the learning network that you would bring with you to this job?”
An answer: “Well, I bring 1500 readers from my blog, over 400 Twitter contacts, 30+ Facebook friends, 50+ Skype contacts, and a Ustream.TV station that at the last live event saw 40+ people attend. I bring with me one click access to a knowledge base far greater than any single hire can bring.” This is the conversation my wife and I had: that when you are hired to work for a school, you are not the only one working for that school but you bring your social network to that school too, and that social network, that social presence is working for the school as well.
What a phenomenal interview question, don’t you think? The questions that come to my mind is, what kind of administrator does it take to hire someone that shows up with this kind of learning network, and what can I do in my current role to support that kind of courage?
I always liked Andrew Carnegie’s tombstone quote, and it’s one I’ve aspired to in hiring my own teams of folks. I find that most administrators that screw up—and there’s a lot of those—in regards to their people are the ones who are afraid to take the advice of their own people. A leader’s strength flows from those he leads. A lot of bosses simply ignore their people, treating them like brainless tools. And, while that may work for a time, in the long run, it causes more trouble. I’d rather Carnegie’s quote…
“Here lies a man who knew how to get around him men much cleverer than he.”
Knowing all my faults, I can honestly say that Carnegie’s epitaph is one I can lay claim to. Thank goodness, if nothing else, I did something right.
