Tag: sourcing_talent

Photography and problem solving

Stanley Kubrick, famed film director, once said (edited for clarity):

I had one thing I think that perhaps helped me get over being a school misfit. I became interested in photography.

I started out by getting a camera and learning how to take pictures, and learning how to print pictures, and so on and so on, and finally learning how to sell pictures and would it be possible to be a professional photographer.

And it was a case of over a period of say from the age 13 to 17 of going through step by step without anybody really helping me the problem solving of becoming a photographer.

This particular thing about problem solving is something that school’s generally don’t teach you. If you can develop a generalized approach to problem solving it’s surprising how it helps you in anything.

I think that photography might have been more valuable than doing the proper things in school.

If you didn’t know, Stanley directed “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Dr. Strangelove”, “Eyes Wide Shut”, and other fantastic films. In spite of his fame, he started out a misfit.

Stanley didn’t care for school. If we look at him through a modern day lens, we might not consider him a high achiever. Perhaps we might think he doesn’t sit still and pay attention. If you reviewed Stanley’s early career resume, you might pass over him. Why would you hire someone interested in photography?

Stanley got into photography later. He became fascinated with picture taking — everything from framing, production, and how markets value photographs. Ironic given that his films were often capital intensive.

Looking at Stanley later in life, we see he produced 13 featured films in 46 years… relatively low productivity by a traditional metric. However, if we consider the long run impacts of his work, it’s hard to quantify — Stanley changed the form of film in such a way that many great directors, such as Spielberg, claim Kubrickian influence on their work.

So What

When we look at talent by traditional or conventional metrics — schooling, short run productivity, or other their conventionalness — we may be missing out on the gains from hiring the Kubricks of the world. And there are Kubricks out there and in your industry and function.

As a director, Kubrick became well known for giving the actors a blank page from which to create against. Stanley himself spoke about the nature of talent, letting it express itself, and putting talent in positions that play to their strength.

As an executive, I would love a team that included a Kubrickian manager. And, I would watch the direct reports that report to that manager closely for succession planning purposes.

One Useful Action

In this post I describe my process for hiring people who might not fit the pedigree. Give it a read. It might work for you, and it might be a bit on the margin.

Car parts for resumes.

I read Alex Perry’s piece in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ link) documenting the “The American Solar Challenge“. Engineering students design, manufacture, and race solar powered cars. General Motors started the competition back in the 90’s; it served as a way to identify talent that would play a role in the solar/electric car markets.

These types of events have been around since the late 80s, like The American Solar Challenge, served as a vehicle build a pipeline of talent. Perry writes:

“Such racing events for years have played a key role in training engineers and even laying the groundwork for new technology in the auto industry. A solar car race across Australia in 1987 helped GM develop one of the earliest mass-produced electric vehicles, the EV1. The Darpa Grand Challenge, a race sponsored by the Defense Department in 2004 and 2005, helped accelerate the development of autonomous driving technology.” — click for full WSJ article

My Take

Find creative ways to build a pipeline of talent. These “hackathon”/race style events are not new to the culture. It’s clear that some firms and government agencies utilize this event as a marketplace to identify and retain talent.

I do not use a hackathon event for hiring now. Instead, I give people a data set and ask them to prepare business reviews. It’s not nearly as cool… however… when I’ve designed and executed these events in the past, it’s been through tech/innovation accelerators or schools.

One Useful Action

Identify a talent/startup/tech incubator in your community. Invite them to help you design a challenge that may attract and open the door for talent. It’s my experience that leaders of these groups are creative, and incentivized to help their communities.

What have you to lose?

Scouting Early Finance Talent. Too soon? Or Not Enough?

Wall Street’s talent scouts set their sights on increasing and diversifying their talent pipeline.

Lulu Yilun Chen writes how firms like Citadel and Nomura are tapping into high school talent through innovative training programs in her recent Bloomberg piece (Bloomberg).

Image A room full of teenagers, managing (fictitious) $20 million portfolios. There are shouts of stock ticker names and adrenaline courses through the veins of kids engaged in this high-stakes activity. How well do these finance games identify and nurture early talent? And,

Why the push for younger recruits? The job market is increasingly more competitive. Readers of this blog know that I reference Anton Cheremukhin and Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria working paper often. Since 2015, the number of vacancies intended for employed talent steadily increases — more employers intend to poach talent than recruit unemployed talent. The ramification for the manager is to double down efforts to retain existing talent while building out a pipeline of future talent to mitigate the risk of poachers.

Wall Street firms might be noticing the risk of talent poachers and executing on a strategy to build out pipelines of early talent. Setting up finance games in financial hubs like Hong Kong where opportunities are dwindling gives early talent, students, a chance to get ahead. For firms, it’s about diversifying their talent pool and finding early diamonds in the rough.

My Thoughts

Upside: There’s tremendous value in exposure to opportunity for people who are may not have built-in familial connections or social capital. Additionally, firms get an opportunity to first hand see talent that they may not have seen through more traditional channels.

Downside: What effects will we see in how young people’s horizons get shaped. Might these games narrow someone’s career ambitions and dreams?

One Useful Action

Create opportunities for people to engage in your work. Tech recruiters love “hackathons”. I attended pitch nights at a youth tech accelerator and found that to be a fantastic way of identifying potential talent.

Ultimately – do what you can to put yourself in situations where you can be exposed to new and different talent.