Place The Displaced With Purpose

Created 7 years 31 days ago
by Rita Palmisano

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Categories: categoryCulturecentric Leadership
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by Jonathan Jones

According to a new survey by the University of Phoenix School of Business, 39% of employees hope to own their own business. Many displaced boomers have also taken to putting out their own shingle. This is the “new” economy. So, creativity in taking advantage of available talent is critical. 

One of my clients started what has become a multimillion-dollar enterprise the old-fashioned bootstrap way. Capital was limited, and the potential was exponential. This required creative and performance-based recruiting, so she recruited superstars who she knew were underemployed or unemployed or had given up on finding a new job in their 50s or 60s. 

The key is tapping into those who are not appreciated by the masses – they may feel discarded, unappreciated or simply bored. They may feel as if their brains have been made redundant working at a job at a box store just to keep benefits. These are unmined diamonds to many businesses. Why not offer a part-time job for an affordable wage with a huge upside in performance-based profit sharing? Win-win.
 
One of the employees my client hired said: “I’m so in love with thinking again! I’d do this for free! I’m alive again!” He has tapped into his unrecognized genius that does the research and finds the spin for marketing with science-based information. It is child’s play for him, and he’s engaged, he’s having fun and he has a purpose. Purpose is a wage far greater than money. 

Yes, he will earn much more at his part-time job than he did at the box store, and my client has a loyal, talented, happy, superengaged employee. There is so much untapped talent out there that just needs purpose. The moral of the story is: Think out of the box. It pays.

Jonathan Jones (Jonathan.jones@vistagechair.com or 314-608-0783) is a CEO peer group chair/coach for Vistage International.