

The Kinds of Employees You Want to Hire - cwan
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/sep2009/ca20090922_894897.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories

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danielrhodes
I like how the author not so subtly compares the less self-driven employees to
retarded people by saying they are like Forrest Gump.

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ApolloRising
Forest wins in the end so not sure that is such a great analogy :-)

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RyanMcGreal
He wins at the end because the movie is profoundly authoritarian and
conservative: _keep your mouth shut and do what you're told, and you will be
rewarded._

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ApolloRising
Interesting point but totally not my interpretation of that story. I read it
more like Explore the world, find a trusted partner, figure out who you are,
and then just do you thing.

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adrianwaj
I would have liked to see a direct link to the research paper, and told more
about it: name, release date, length, sponsor; especially since the whole
article is based on it.

This might be it:

Judge, T. A. (2009). Core self-evaluations and work success.

Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 58-62.

<http://www.ufstudies.net/tim/VITA/Judge-CSE.pdf>

\- but there are lots of similar papers linked from Judge's site.
<http://www.ufstudies.net/tim/VITA/>

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hegemonicon
His work seems closely related to the concept of 'locus of control', a pretty
well-studied area of psychology. People with an internal locus of control tend
to be healther/more successful than those with an external locus of control.

Wiki page: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control>

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JacobAldridge
I've experienced plenty of different business and personal coaches, and
probably the most important lesson (hat tip to Open Up Communication [1])
links into this article: "I create and choose the whole of my own reality".

Not just the stuff I can control. Not just the stuff I think about and want to
create. The WHOLE of my life.

Of course, it makes no intellectual sense. And it's tempting to water it down
into Stephen Covey's 'Circle of Influence'. But as a guiding principle it's
awesomely powerful.

I go through life knowing that I can personally take responsibility for
_everything_ that happens to me. Which means I am empowered to change things,
to make things happen, and to create exactly the life I want.

(Application of the principle is, of course, much more difficult. Still, even
imperfectly applied, I see the results and I know I feel much better about my
life than most of those around me.)

[1] <http://www.openup.com.au/>

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adrianwaj
"I create and choose the whole of my own reality".

This may be true, but it can't be known without massive self-awareness. I can
only start off with that as a belief that may one day end up as knowledge from
experience.

It's a good notion to use to test one's day to day experiences and see where
they began internally to be manifested externally.

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JacobAldridge
I suppose I intellectualize it a little like Pascal's Wager - I'll never know
whether it's true or not, but when all things are weighted it's far better to
believe than not.

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adrianwaj
Keep an open mind about God - beliefs will only block God out, or construe God
in some pre-defined way. How does one keep an open mind? By not closing it.

To me, "God chooses your and its reality through you" is a better maxim to
live by than "I create and choose the whole of my reality." Same thing
actually, but in the latter it would be God saying the statement, rather than
a person, or else a person very close to God.

"It is all futile" said Kind Solomon.

I am limited to choosing my reality to the extent that I can choose my dreams,
which is basically impossible (unless lucid dreaming), but it is possible to
choose the way one reacts to life events.

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JacobAldridge
I guess my response to that is filtered because I don't believe in an
interventionist God, but you make two good points.

Firstly, that an open mind (about anything - I made an analogy to Pascal's
Wager but didn't introduce God into the discussion) is important. So often "I
know" means "I say No" to possibility.

Secondly, I was initially inclined to think that giving God some agency in
one's life defeats the initial argument I wanted to make about choice and
power in life. On reflection, if you do believe in a God that can influence
your reality, and believe you can communicate with her, then it's just another
way of choosing dreams / goals and working to create them, and feeling like an
important part of the whole universe.

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tetha
Hm, and where am I on this scale?

I am pretty convinced that there are two types of events, those I can control
and those I cannot control. I cannot control idiots in cars, so I cannot
control if someone runs me over on my way to university, killing or crippling
me, so I cannot control this change of my live.

However, I can certainly control that I get a good university degree and
become a good developer and get to know people (even though this is always a
hard internal struggling for some strongly introverted person like me).

But I guess, overall I agree with this article, which coincides with my basic
principles (basically everything boiling down to: Failure is progress. Make
things better or fail trying.), so yeah. With those remarks: good article :)

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jimbokun
"I cannot control idiots in cars, so I cannot control if someone runs me over
on my way to university, killing or crippling me..."

You can improve your dodging skills. Maybe play more Frogger. :)

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jongraehl
Great - one more signal to fake in interviews. If enough interviewers believe
that this is a discriminating sign (because they read it in businessweek), we
have no choice but to flash it.

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mrbgty
"history repeats itself, try and you'll succeed. never doubt that you're the
one and you can have your dreaaams. you're the best... around..."

