Posts by Robert Houghton

There has been a seismic shift in the WDC regional business community regarding working remotely from home. Just three years ago, hardly any of my insurance clients had ‘work at home’ options with their employees. Now the successful ones have policies. They started doing it to retain talent, but now they do it, because it’s the smart thing to do.

Since early summer, I have been devouring Hemingway. No, not the person; he has been dead almost 60 years. His novels. Hemingway is considered by many to be the best writer of the 20th century. But how did he do it? He was a “deep” worker.

It is simple. Grit over Talent. Andy day. Any time. Any place. Recent studies and a best-selling book, “Grit” by author Angela Duckworth make this point. Convincingly. Here are the habits of gritty people. Are you one?

Last weekend, I was returning home from a business trip, and while checking out the magazines at the airport newsstand, I noticed that every other business magazine had a feature article on “Key Performance Indicators (KPI)” or “Critical Success Factors (CSF)” or some version thereof. Metrics, metrics, and metrics!

I have heard many of my candidates tell me, “I can manage my subordinates, but how in the world can I manage my boss?” It’s actually quite easy…identify your boss’s strengths and then feed this monster; do whatever it takes to make them more productive.

In the highly competitive world of professional sports, the experts say that if performance can’t be measured, it can’t be improved. How true. In the business world, time is your most valuable asset. And, yet, few record it, few manage it, and even fewer measure it. Let me explain.

The word “Prima Donna” nowadays is a word most often used to describe an egotistical high-powered sports or entertainment personality. Its meaning almost always has a negative connotation. And every office has one, right?

As you probably already know, my firm recruits only for insurance brokerage firms in the WDC region. We represent 14 of the top 20 firms and many other smaller firms as well.

You’re in the interview room and suddenly the HR assistant puts a personality test questionnaire in front of you. You begrudgingly complete and it is never seen again – sound familiar?

During an interview, the question of “what is your current compensation?” invariably arises during the course of any job interview. It is an uncomfortable question to say the least.