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FROM THE BLOG

the-best-way-to-build

There was a guilty tone in the resolute “no” that my four year old son exclaimed as I asked him if he ate a cookie before dinner. The chocolate on his cheeks did not help build his case. He is a very honest kid and respects authority, but I knew we were stepping into an essential teaching moment. This was the first blatant lie my son had told me to my face. I gave him a few more chances to fess up, then got right into the reality that I knew the truth and he was not telling it.

He broke down in shame and after his punishment, we gathered to learn our lesson. Your words and the honesty you have is more important than almost anything. I explained to him more about trust by using the “peter cried wolf” story and gave him an example of when I had been dishonest and how it hurt someone I loved. At the end of this scenario, he understood the ramifications of not being honest and the importance of doing what you say you are going to do.

As recruiters, we are on the front line with folks seeking to portray themselves as well as possible. This portrayal is not always genuinely truthful and we must be aware of how candidates twist their words. We are grateful for the opportunity to help others in their major life decisions, but are not naïve to believe everything we hear. Way too often people we do business with do not do what they say they will do and often have no remorse for dishonesty. I believe this has come about due to the realities we face in communication.

It is commonplace to never meet the people we do business with face to face anymore. In fact, we do a fair bit of business via email and text message as opposed to the old fashion phone calls or personal get togethers. These less personal forms of communication lead to a psychological shift.

This psychological shift reduces communication from a relational experience to a transactional experience. The factor of the persons emotions, their feelings or their self-worth lessen when communication becomes transactional. I believe one is less likely to have concern over the feelings of another when they cannot see them. Nonverbal communication is said to make up over 90% of communication. If this is true, then we are missing a lot of realities by not doing business in a more personalized manner.

I am not venting (well maybe a little), but with this psychological shift comes a duty for those of us that are on the front line to counteract this trend. We must be intentional about not just what we communicate, but how we communicate. We need to discern when a text message is not appropriate. We need to realize that tough conversations will only lead to growth if had in the right manner. We need to understand that hollow promises conveyed will lead to lack of trust and sustainable relationships.

If I say yes to something, I want to live out that yes. If I say no to something I want to live out that commitment. Loyalty and deeper relationships will be the product of honesty and deliberate communication. So, let’s join together and create another shift… a shift towards honesty, integrity and commitment with those we communicate with.


Finding Peace, Love and Joy Amidst the Fluxlove-joy-peace

I want to genuinely thank each of you who wished me congratulations as my 11th year anniversary fell recently of starting and maintaining a small business, AGI Management Inc. With each passing year as an entrepreneur, I give thanks for sustaining it one year further. Beyond that, I give thanks for the many lessons that being a small business owner has taught me about life. As we reflect on 2016 and start planning ahead here are a few lessons I’m grateful to reflect upon this year:

  • Peace: Being a small business owner is a true roller-coaster ride; there are high highs and low lows. It is often a lonely position to lead a small biz. In many instances, you are never a subject matter expert but yet a jack of all trades. I drive revenue, sell business, lick envelopes, clean the toilets and take calls on the weekends. So how does one find peace amidst such a diversified flux of good, bad and ugly? Simple, you put it into perspective! The bad and ugly of being a small business owner does not compare to the good. If there is one thing I promote to those seeking to launch a business it is that if you do not take advantage of the perks of the role, you will quickly burn out from the tough parts. The rollercoaster will always be there, but if you are able to recognize the good perks and stay focused on the blessing of them, you will be able to skim right past the hard days with an eye on the prize of the next.
  • Love: The challenge of sustaining a small business amidst a competitive environment literally has me whistling on my way into work. I love the people I work with genuinely… as family. That type of work environment is rare in a larger business, but our small business culture allows genuine love for each other. I can’t say I love all our clients with that same consistency; however, we are truly blessed by our clients and those relationships. We certainly must stay focused on sustainability and our economic engine, but the people around us is what causes me and the others on our team to genuinely find love in the work days.
  • Joy: People often interchange the words “joy” and “happiness”, but they are not the same. Happiness is a temporary feeling while joy is a permanent state of being. When you generally love what you are doing at work, when you are doing it for a higher purpose and are good at the propensity of it, joy greatly increases. I can honestly say that is the case after eleven years at AGI. Fueling life change through providing better work for those in the restaurant business is a call on my life. It brings me joy each and every day no matter what circumstances take place.

Thank you so much to all those that have supported AGI, supported me through developing my ability and for being there amidst the good, bad and ugly. I am hopeful the Peace, Love and Joy we feel here has somehow impacted you in a good way.

I pray that as the season comes to a close you find great fruit of the Spirit as well in your work and home life.

 


Thank you for your vulnerability and letting us in your intimate space.


As I grow older and life teaches me, I have learned that the experiences I have on relationally intimate ground are the experiences that impact my life the most.

I have a fresh 7 week old baby girl at home. Lydia has been a gem. As the third child in our family, my wife and I have had less stress and more joy throughout the whole process of raising her thus far. It has been an abundant season of reflection, working through adversity, and constant focus on being the team we need to be to surround Lydia with love. As I rocked Lydia back to sleep this morning, before the birds were awake, I had such peace and joy in my heart. When reflecting in gratitude, on this joy and peace, it became clear that, in my life, the areas I had grown the most were in the new births of my children, the death and dying process of those that I loved and the times when vulnerability of others or myself led to greater self-awareness.

Birth and death are obviously intimate space. These two life realities cause one to ask a lot of questions that will define belief and drive behavior. Beyond these, I am grateful for those intimate opportunities to do life with others. Among these intimate grounds are the many people who have opened up their life story as we walk with them through the process of selecting a better career path. Navigating through the process of career transition is very uncomfortable to most. It requires deep reflection, intentionality and a process. Through a time tested process, we have the privilege to watch the progression towards greater career fit awareness. This is a true blessing for us!

The career seeking process also carries many emotions, especially when the individual has already left a role or been let go. It is said that the most common grieving takes place during death, divorce or loss of job. We get to experience this often in our workplace and do not take for granted the feelings of grieving needed when job loss occurs. It is not rare that an individual will try to sweep the feelings of job loss under the rug and move on.  It is those sweet moments and sweet people that allow us to speak into their lives by ask probing questions that will lead them to greater self-awareness and the vulnerability that follows that is mutually impactful.

Brene Brown is a leader in the space of research and conclusion regarding vulnerability. She concludes that vulnerability takes courage. There is no doubt. We see this every day and are the benefactors of many career seekers courage to open up and better themselves. Doing so benefits our lives more than you can imagine. Thank you for serving us through your courage, truth and trust. This intimate ground is not taken for granted and has forever changed who we are!

Neon Night ClubChicago, IL


connectication

In all the relational circles I spend time in it seems there is a growing grumbling and concern for the trends in communication. With the realities of busyness and reliance on email, texting and social media correspondence less people genuinely connect in communication these days. This is why I am coining a new term for where we need to focus on in all levels of our relationships: Connectication

Connectication is a hybrid of communication and connecting. Psychological research shows that human connection is a major variable to happiness in one’s life and I am concerned that true connection is on the decline because of some of our world’s communication trends; therefore, I am going to make 2016 a year where I focus on connecticating.

To connecticate one must value the person that is being communicated with. Genuine value for another can only better relationship. It seems with the quantity of people I communicate with each day it is harder to realize the genuine value of each person, but that is no excuse. I am seeking to have high quality relationships in my life not high quantity. I have found when life gets tough and I need to lean on others those who step up are the genuine relationships so I seek to deepen quality relationships this year, not expand my rolodex with quantity of shallow relationships.

One of my core focal points to better connecticate this year is to look for opportunity to be empathetic to create genuine value in relationships. I believe the difference between sympathy and empathy is the ability to truly relate to another’s circumstance. For example if my friend gets in an accident and breaks his collarbone I can have sympathy, while if in the past or present I have also broken  my collarbone and I truly understand the nature of the hardship, inconveniences and pain then I can have empathy. To take more of an empathetic posture in my relationships I am having a keen ear to listen to other’s life circumstance that I have or am also experiencing. Doing so will help me listen and relate genuinely with the ability to help, speak into and pray for that persons hardships.

I am excited about building deeper relationship through intentionality and connectication.  Please help me and others learn how you are connecticating and maybe we can change the growing grumbles and concerns for the trends in communication towards depth, empathy and richness.


The Conscious Candidate: Understanding the Trilogy of Time

One of the greatest ways a candidate can convey self-awareness in an interview is to be able to understand and clearly communicate all the aspects of their past, what has made them who they are and their vision, for where they want to go.

This relationship of the past, the present and the future is what I call the trilogy of time.

PAST: The conscious candidate can speak clearly about their past failures and their past successes in their work. In regards to mistakes made, the conscious candidate will be able to pinpoint the details of what they would do differently. They will not pass the buck and they will show willingness to learn from the experience. They will, essentially, be able to make lemonade out of lemons. The conscious candidate will also be able to talk about their success. They will able to articulate the importance of those who have mentored them and made them a better leader. They will be able to pinpoint the types of environments that they are most successful in and the essence of a job that they find most rewarding. Ultimately, the conscious candidate will be able to communicate exactly what of their past career highs and lows have taught them about who they are in the present moment.

PRESENT: The conscious candidate is highly aware of who they are in the current season of life. They must be able to speak to their specific motives of career change. They must have consciousness and intentionality about why they are seeking a specific company they are interviewing for. They must be aware of the aspects of the organization they are trying to join and connect the dots as to how that organization and themselves are a great fit. To do so, the conscious candidate must have done their homework on the organization they are interviewing with and have taken the time to retreat and reflect on who they have become through the journey of their career.

FUTURE: The conscious candidate must have vision for the future and be equipped to clearly communicate where they want to be in their career in the future. There is a fine line between realistic ambition and over ambition. Just the right level of ambition can be a great selling point to a prospective employer, while over ambition will concern the hiring manager that the candidate might be a flight risk and will minimize offers. Patience and desire to absorb as much as possible are traits that are highly desired. The conscious candidate will have thought out how they want to convey the vision of growth for themselves and their future. They should do so in light of the research they have done on the organization so that their growth plan is feasible for the organization.

The conscious candidate is prepared, intentional, and aware. Understanding your past work experiences, your skill set that has been derived from these experiences, who you are today because of these experiences and detailing a vision that is consistent with the structure of an organization will help you ACE that interview and increase great opportunity.

Connect with AGI Hospitality so we can help you gain better awareness around who you are and how you can better your opportunities today!


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