Bloggers, Journalists, Corporate Communications Specialists, and all varieties of writers: Please do not use analogies unless you understand the nature of your analogue!
Murdock over at Flyfish Magazine noted this gross misappropriation of fly fishing tropes to make a point in a business advice column. As he observes, you see a lot fishing lingo and concepts misapplied these days, but this is among the worst examples. The analogies don't make valid or telling comparisons--they couldn't because the writer has only the most superficial grasp of what fly fishing involves, and at points, he or she loses even that. And this is only a symptom of the larger problem: the writer doens't appear to have thought through any of the ideas he or she presents or to understand anything about the situation he or she is writing about. For a fly fisherman who is also an English teacher, this is a piece of raw meat waiting to be skewered, roasted, and devoured. Start the grill.
In the early stages of your company's growth, you may experience a hiring Catch-22.
To grow your business to the next level, you need an experienced sales, marketing or operations manager; however, you can't afford to hire experienced managers until your business grows to the next level.
To resolve this quandary, you should consider three essentials of fly-fisherman wisdom.
First, when you are angling for the right person, you must equip yourself with the right fishing gear.
Second, when you find the person with the credentials and experience you need, be sure you are using the right bait. Third, once you have set the hook, don't give up and turn the catch loose without a good fight.
We're talking about fly fishing, right? That means you don't use BAIT! Maybe the writer understands that the terms "fly" or "pattern" would be less likely to register with most non-fly fishing readers. But if that's the case, shouldn't you choose a different analogy instead of rendering this one erroneously?
The rest of the advice here is too generic to be meaningful. Unless of course the writer expanded on these points to explain what the right gear, the right bait, and the right way to set the hook are. Did that happen?
With the resourcefulness you've shown in growing your young business, you should be able to apply the same ingenuity and determination here as well.
However, before trying to land the big one, first ask yourself a soul-searching question: is this truly the right person for your business?
Nope, not yet. The writer actually begins to leap between discourses. With "soul searching," he or she veers into the realms of spirituality or self-actualization psychology, which seems off the mark: wouldn't business people base such a decision on the needs and dynamics of their company?
Experience is not the only key ingredient.
Suppose you decide on an experienced, inflexible, superstar loner with his/her own way of doing things.
I'm sure that's the first choice of every personnel manager or company owner.
This could cause friction and discontent among your staff while making the superstar ill at ease. The resulting discomfort would probably cause the superstar to quit soon, leaving behind resentment and confusion.
Not to mention relief!
Instead, strive to find a highly motivated individual who relishes the challenge and dynamics of a team-driven environment.
In short, someone who is a walking buzzword.
Such a person should mesh well with your management team and the way you do business. Once you are convinced you have the right candidate in terms of experience, credentials, personality, flexibility and team dynamics, it is time to get creative.
That time has come and gone.
Let's assume you have set your sights on Jane McKenna, a marketing manager with 15 years of experience, who is perfect for your director of marketing.
But there's a slight hitch: she is earning $65,000 a year, and the best you could offer is $40,000.
Should you throw in the towel?
Not without a fight.
Are we talking about fishing or boxing?
First, look at your sales figures. Try adding a bonus commission based on sales. A $40,000 base with a $20,000 commission considerably reduces the disparity between Jane's former salary and what you can offer her.
Is her current salary 65,000? You'd better be able to offer a lot higher comission potential than you have. Why would she take a job that came with a $5,000 pay cut even after she'd maxed out on commission? You apparently believe your ideal candidate is a moron. Of course, money isn't everything.
Try changing the title to vice president of marketing, so Jane perceives she'll be making a move from manager to executive.
You're hoping that if she isn't a moron, she's at least gullible enough to fall for a semantic trick. If Jane is the highly competent and experienced manager you think she is, she's going to research your company and see through this flattery.
Consider throwing in some stock options. You want Jane to believe your company will be a smashing success, so she will want to reap the benefits of ownership.
What if you still can't offer enough to lure her on a full-time basis? Then try to land her part time, initially offering a generous commission in lieu of salary and additional compensation for participating in strategy meetings.
Finally, modify your company growth plan to show at what point you could offer Jane the compensation package necessary to bring her on board full time.
With all this in place, you can include a person of Jane's stature and credentials as a paid adviser in your business plan (with a path to joining the firm as a full-time executive at a specific time).
However, if Jane's present post precludes a part-time position with your company, use her as a periodic paid consultant to help you develop your company's marketing strategy. You can even bait the hook by asking for her recommendation for marketing manager while keeping the vice president's position vacant for her to consider when you are able to make her a better offer in a year or two.
Is it credible that any of this would lure a person who already has a successful career? If the firm they are already with is a competitor, would the person risk that job to advise your company on how to outcompete their present employer? Hard to believe unless there is a very substantial raise in the offing, you already know that Jane is interested in part time work (perhaps to spend more time with family), or the work you offer is especially compatible with her values or her desired lifestyle (say, if Jane is an avid fly angler and your company is in Missoula, MT). Maybe you are in a field (other than Jane's current one) that is growing rapidly and might attract people looking for new challenges. Those non-financial incentives are never considered, though they would be tempting flies to drift by her, provided you've got them in your box. (Now that's how its done!) Instead of trying to juggle finances to headhunt someone who'd already doing well, why not look a little harder at what Jane might want, and what beyond the numbers you have to offer. Scribe, heed your own advice: It's time to get creative.
At least we did get back to fishing, briefly. Still, we're talking about bait! FLY fishing was set forth as the operating analogy at the beginning. One more time: If you don't understand your analogue, don't use it! The ignorance of fly vs. other kinds of fishing aside, which of these things represent equipment as opposed to bait? If you're going to lay out three distinct categories, go on to delineate each of them.
Chances are, if she has helped you mold the marketing strategy, hire the marketing manager and continued to consult with you periodically, she'll be interested in joining you when the time is right. And you can still list her in your business plan as a paid consultant.
Maybe. But that's a big if.
For long-term success, take your time finding the right candidates to help grow your management team.
For long term success, learn to write well. And learn to view potential employees as more than one-dimensional oppportunists who are only interested in the size of their paycheck (which can be off-putting even to people who want to earn a good salary and have the skills to command it). But if you do, or if you find people who are like that, make them an offer big enough to be tempting.
Once you have identified a critical individual, be patient, persistent and creative (with bonuses, commissions, stock options, and perks) and you just may be able to reel in this big catch.
Now there is actually decent advice here (and throughout the article) about thinking beyond the obvious when trying to compete for talent with limited means. But it's offered in generic terms and based on unrealistic assumptions about the people you're chasing. Fly fishing actually would offer a lot to illustrate the challenges a businessperson would face in trying to make this hire. The sport demands thoughtful and artful stalking of the quarry. It requires you to adapt when the currents or obstructions in a pool put you at a disadvantage. A skilled--and informed--writer ought to be able to draw upon these themes without waxing too esoteric for the non-angling reader.
Despite all this, I will concede the writer has made a very wise choice: the article is unsigned.
Tags: Fly Fishing; Writing
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