Recruiter, Flat World Thinking

• Author: Amitai Givertz
• Posted: February 15, 2007
• Category: That's Life, Business Matters
• Tags: No Tags
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I was introduced to the concept of flat world thinking in1984 by Lou Tice in a basement flat off the Harrow Road. My friends had acquired a bootlegged copy of his personal/professional development and motivational program: New Age Thinking for Achieving Your Potential.

We watched Lou present his stuff on video, listened to him on tapes and read about his theories on what is now a very tatty Xeroxed manual. At the time, empowered by what I had learned, I gave up smoking and visualized my way into a new job. Cool, huh? Today, I still draw on some of those concepts; they seem to have as much relevance to me now as they did back then.

Concepts like this one…

Flat world thinking describes the type of thinking that is grounded in conventional wisdom and knowledge which, in and of itself, limits the possibilities of a thing and inhibits its potential. It explains the type of cultural trance – a condition that exists when a whole group believes something – that caused Christopher Columbus so many problems with would-be sponsors and crew. Normally, everyone would have been onboard with an adventure sailing around the world on a horizontal plane – how else could it be done – but circumnavigating a globe, what madness!

Similarly, flat world thinking describes those places where “it is what it is” has become a mantra of resignation, a place where the possibilities of creativity, innovation, pushing the envelope and all that good stuff gets stifled in principle and process, procedure and protocol.

In recruiting, flat world thinking describes the kind of things that are accepted as true, even when those “truths” may have been proven to be based on erroneous assumptions. Flat world thinkers might say:

• The CEO won’t buy that
• It won’t work here, no way
• We’ve already budgeted for…
• That will take too long and cost too much
• We only advertise in the newspapers/online
• Hiring managers just don’t get it
• No one wants to relocate here
• We tried that before and it didn’t work
• Turnover is an industry-wide problem; we live with it
• IT manages this and Marketing manages that
• Forever-open reqs. come with the territory
• We can’t compete for talent on what we pay
• Our cost-per-hire and time-to-fill are as good as they’ll get

…and close their minds to the possibility that their world is round, not flat after all.

Today, I dare you to catch yourself thinking thoughts or doing things that put barriers between you and the possibility of achieving something extraordinary. Test your assumptions. Challenge your peers. Press your management.

As staffing systems, recruiting technology and talent management become more complicated and the need to implement greater efficiencies more pressing, surely one of the ways to prosper is to find new ways to think about the world in which we operate. And wouldn’t that be a source of competitive advantage too; even the basis for your own personal and professional development?

Managing change is rarely easy. It seems to me that we run into flat world thinking most often when we are ready to make things happen but those around us – sponsors or crew may be – are not. If you find yourself looking for some free, no strings attached counsel on how you might rise above the fog when others are telling you to get your head out of the clouds, please contact me. If I can’t help you, I’ll help you find someone who can. That’s a promise.