Quote of the week from Jack Lail:

One of the most consistent complaints through the years about newspapers has been they’re too hard to do business with and newspapers artfully managed to reproduce that experience online.

This is crazy.

My wife just bought a dinette table from Sears.com.

By happenstance, she found the same table for sale on the Montgomery Wards online store. It was $20 cheaper.

Billie called Sears.com to see if they would price match.

No, because MW doesn’t have a physical store in our neck of the woods (not in your neighborhood either, since they’re strictly at catalog business now).

The table in question is not available in a Sears store — it’s only available online.  Yet, Sears won’t price match with another online retailer.

Isn’t that crazy?

Slashdot: “Do you tell a job candidate how badly they did?”

My interview process goes like this:

• Sort through resumes and pick the five or six most qualified candidates
• Phone interview, with questions aimed at determining skill and experience level and hone in on whether the candidate has the right stuff for the job
• For those who make the cut, usually no more than three, an in-person interview, where my questions are designed to determine talents and tendencies

On step one, resumes that don’t make the cut go back to HR with no further action on my part. On step two, candidates who won’t get called in for an in-person interview will be told why. I try to be nice, but I also want to be fair and honest. If there is something a candidate can do to improve, he or she deserves to know what my evaluation is. I may be wrong, but it’s up to the candidate to decide whether to take my advice or feedback. On step three, if the candidate is ruled out in that interview, I’ll give some feedback on improvements, unless something has come up that makes me think the person is of a personality type not to care or listen. The hardest call to make is to the guy whom I like, but just got beat out.

In every case where I think the person has a bright future, but just isn’t right for the job I need to fill, I want to be as helpful as I can be. I’ve been around long enough to know that the person I don’t hire today, might be the perfect hire for something else tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s realistic to hire somebody you’ve previously turned down — I’ve never had that opportunity — but you never know. At least, I think people deserve an opportunity learn and grow, and if I can do one small thing to help in that regard, then maybe the process has been worthwhile.

I’ve always believed in the “no asshole rule,” though it isn’t always easy to state in polite company. Still, there is no better way, in one sentence, to sum up a good management practice.

Now there is a book of that title, and Guy Kawasaki has a book review.

I’ve known a couple of executives in my past who would benefit from such a book. Of course, the people who really need 224 pages on this topic are the ones least likely to get the point. If you don’t get the rule in one sentence, a book isn’t going to help.

[tags]business, management, leadership[/tags]

Can a smart mob manage a baseball team? We’re about to find out. For the second half of its season, the Schaumburg Flyers will be managed by fans. I associate myself with Business Pundit’s predictions.