Boris Yeltsin - 1931-2007
Thanks to Scott for allowing me to “guest blog”.
I’d like to note and comment on the passing of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, the first President of the Russian Federation, and a key architect in the destruction of Communism and the ending of the Cold War.
Mr. Yeltsin was as responsible or more than Mikhail Gorbachev for the dismantling of the Soviet Union. In 1991, it was Yeltsin who, as the President of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, gathered the leadership of the Ukrainian S.S.R. and the Byelorussian S.S.R. and formally dissolved the Soviet Union from within. Gorbachev only resigned about three weeks later when he no longer had a country to preside over.
Kudos to Tino Mantella, Laura Heinlein, and the rest of the gang at the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). They recently announced a new initiative, the TAG Leadership Academy. Through this new program, TAG members can participate in a variety of continuing education courses in topics ranging from marketing to human resources to technology.
Too many people place an emphasis these days on retained knowledge. This is especially prevalent within technical fields. Computer programmers are often asked to recite arcane utterings of alphabet soup during job interviews. This isn’t important. What is important, however, is simply knowing where to find the right answers.
I am not one who generally looks back and reflects too much on my past mistakes. Well, I reflect upon them, but I don’t dwell on them. Admitting one’s professional mistakes, and coming to terms with them, is part of the evolutionary process of each of our careers. 
I recently discovered what appears to be the beginnings of a new trend in hiring practices. It is called “five minute jobbing”, and is essentially the marriage of so-called “speed dating” with job interviews. Suffice it to say, it piqued my curiosity, so I decided to look into it.
In my chosen field of information technology, I am accustomed to working with large, diverse teams. These teams tend to work together over protracted periods of time. In order to assist in building team cohesiveness, I formulated what I call my circle theory of hiring.
The other day I found myself, as usual, plugging away on my laptop at my local Starbuck’s. A young lady sat near me interviewing a young man for a job as a salesperson at the EB Games (a video game shop) next door. I thought it might be interesting to capture bits of their conversation, in an effort to provide some critical analysis of it here in my blog (yes, I’m bored).
