Quack!

Ockham’s razor.

If you’re like most people I meet in audiences across the US, many of you have heard of it.  It, like all other philosophical razors, is a mental shortcut we use to reduce complexity around decisions and issues.  Ockham’s razor, sometimes spelled “Occam”, was invented by monk and theologian William of Ockham in the 14th century, and it essentially states that when we encounter multiple explanations for something, it is often the simplest one that explains it.

Which brings me to my favorite of the six razors I discuss in my forthcoming book “Using First Principles Thinking to Solve Our Hiring Heroes Problem”, the Duck Test!  It’s an audience favorite too!  It always elicits laughs.

I tell our veteran hiring candidates that hiring managers talk a certain way, behave in a certain way, and dress in a different way, which makes them distinct.  They talk about productivity, plans, “KPIs”, which stands for Key Performance Indicators, performance, mind set, and “P&Ls”, or Profit and Loss statements.  It’s how they keep score in business.  They speak the language of “management”.  And speaking of management, as managers, they are paid to plan what their individuals, teams, and departments do, to what standards, how, with what resources, and by when; organize the resources necessary to fuel their plan; hire, train, and lead the people executing their plan; and control organizational performance by monitoring performance versus plan and taking corrective action.  Actions are behavior, what we’re observed doing.  And they look distinct somehow, often in dress, Oxfords instead of polos, polos instead of Ts, or their cubicle is slightly bigger, or they have an office, or their safety vest or hard hat is a different color.  Managers are often distinguishable from those they lead.  If management ducks look like management ducks, walk like management ducks, and quack like management ducks, they must be management ducks.

Therefore, when we train and certify military veterans’ experience in recognizable industry credentials civilian management ducks hold themselves, they become very familiar to the hiring managers.  They talk about the things and do the things they do; they sound like them and behave like them.  And when we prep them for interviews and provide them proven Executive resumes, they look like them too, they’re familiar.  The manager is looking for a management duck, and sees a management duck they can hire.  The veteran is now familiar to them, no longer alien.

Create competitive advantage for your team and your organization today, hire a veteran; they are amazing management ducks!  www.vets2pm.com/skillbridge

And veterans, learn to quack (certify), walk (dress), and swim (behave) like a management duck with Vets2PM so you land a meaningful, lucrative post-Service career: www.vets2pm.com/training

Finally, be on the look out for my forthcoming book, Using First Principles Thinking to Solve Our Hiring Heroes Problem.  The Keynotes and journal article derived from it have been well received by the audiences exposed to it so far this year.  You can DM me on LinkedIn if you’d like to learn how to receive an autographed copy when it drops!  Thanks!  Cheers!