[agla]

JohnK, I think you are right as well as JW. I think the first part of managing is to understand yourself and both the opportunities and limitations that go with it. It is when one type of person models his business in a way that requires a different skill set than he has that things don't go well.

You see it both ways. The go getter guys who don't take the time to learn good practices take on meticulous work and treat it like a mow, blow, and go. Then you get the meticulous guys bidding on commercial work and getting roped into doing way more work for the money than is required. It is not as easy as hiring your way to success.

[johnkeegan]

Agla, I agree with what you stated. But it seemed as if what JW was saying was that,

Natural born leaders are extroverts.

While I agree that many are, there are also those that lead quietly by example.

Perhaps it's just that when given the opportunity, introverts and extroverts, lead differently. And, perhaps, we notice the extroverted leaders more because they make sure we notice that they are leading.

[jwholden]

You are correct John that extroverts are natural borne leaders. The question is what type of leader do you need?

I agree that introverts are great leaders as well. The question is what type of leader do you need? I don't want some chatterbox leading the team of surgeons that is going to replace my heart, that is for darn sure. If I want somoene who is comfortable, heck even enjoys, running a crew who will do fairly routine work in a changing environment I am going to go with an extroverted type.

[johnkeegan]

I quess alot of this is based on anecdotal, first hand experiences, which will probablly be different for each of us. But it is challenging trying to get personalities to get along, in general.
At work and in daily life I've found that most extroverts feel cramped by other extroverts. They don't like battling for center stage. And imagine having a whole crew of extroverts. Too many chiefs and no Indians.
On the flip side, having a bunch of introverts on a job site will often mean a lack of communication. And then you put a real yakkity extrovert with a real quiet introvert and everytime you come around the corner, the former is talking (with no production) and the introvert is slaving away.
Now that I think of it, if there were an intovert/extrovert scale I'd probably get the best production from a bunch of guys that were rated '5', sort of in the middle. Not too intro- or extroverted. They will communicate enough and work as a team and not worry who the "leader" is.

[jwholden]

it is challenging trying to get personalities to get along, in general

if there were an intovert/extrovert scale I'd probably get the best production from a bunch of guys that were rated '5', sort of in the middle. Not too intro- or extroverted. They will communicate enough and work as a team and not worry who the "leader" is.

Amen brother!

[malon]

Originally Posted by johnkeegan

If I had to choose between an applicant with a great attitude but little direct experience or one with alot of experience and a lot of bad attitude, I'd pick the former. Many of the "experienced" applicants come with bad habits that are very hard to break.

I've had much more success hiring college kids with a good work ethic and less experience. They can be easily trained and they are eager to work; the only setback is that they are usually not available until sometime in May. Each time I hired someone with past experience they did not last longer than two weeks - that is if they showed up at all! My best new hire this past season was a kid whose mom approached us while we were doing a job across the street and asked if we'd hire her son. One thing I like to do is bring in the new crew members to my house for a clean-up on their first day of work. I can check if they are on time, see how they work, if anyone takes initiative, smokes too much, etc etc. Any red flags and they aren't asked back.