Wisdom from Wallis -- Duchess of Windsor

She upended an empire when King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry her.  Madonna has just premiered a movie -- W./E. -- about her life with the subsequently titled Duke of Windsor.  She wasn't movie star gorgeous...but was a style icon anointed in the International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame. 

So....what kind of va-va-voom did Wallis Warfield Simpson have going for her?  It's still a controversial and gossipy subject for debate.

What's certain is that she had some very effective managerial and leadership skills.  She was famous for her sense of style and hospitality.  Her housekeeping skills were par excellence. 

She was a style mentor to Winston Churchill's daughter who later became U.S. Ambassador to France, Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman.

Here's a key tenet -- the underpinning of the Duchess of Windsor's managerial success -- something we can all follow in personal/professional/community endeavors.

In running a spectacular operation, you don't have to do the cooking yourself, she told Harriman,  but you must understand the process.  In other words...as per Christopher Ogden's Life of the Party: 

"You can't say to a cook no matter how much you are paying him, that you don't like something.  You must be able to say, 'I want it done this way.'"

Be informed about what you are overseeing.  Give specific input.  Then let the experts deliver what you want.

Granted, the shrill and scandalous divorcee from Baltimore is not an obvious "best practices" leadership icon.  But keep this in mind.  She got a King to follow her. 
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The Reality of Job Postings

If you are a jobhunter focused on internet job postings, you might be feeling frustrated by the lack of "deal flow" -- i.e., responses, interviews, offers.  Here's why.  Scope this infographic from The Wall Street Journal in a story today on Your Resume vs. Oblivion. 

Thus, when outplacement firms and campus career office expound the gospel of personal relationships and networking as a means to finding a new opportunity, it is a message to heed!  Get in there and sell yourself to a company before a position is formalized and posted to the world!

In a down market, the glut of resumes submitted for jobs posted accelerates. It doesn't mean that all applicants are 100% qualified for the job. But it means the selection process becomes cumbersome. And, with automation as a solution on the hiring side, the process also becomes less personal.


Large companies with significant talent needs at the non-executive level have built hiring machines that rival military invasions.  They have invested millions in systems that rely on sorting and key word searches.  They have leverage in negotiating for better pricing to post jobs in various on-line venues and spider consolidaters, not to mention their own websites.

Entrepreneurs and middle market companies have a greater challenge when going to market for talent.  They typically have no dedicated HR resource with up-to-date hiring savvy and budgetary prowess.  It is not cost-effective to do so when you are hiring in fewer numbers. 

Yet a wrong hire in a smaller company has a bigger impact.  The downturn has a double-edge impact.  Just because there is an abundance of talent doesn't mean that it's easy to find The Perfect Fit.
Front-end targeting, planning and messaging will dramatically and favorably influence the result -- whether
the hiring decisionmaker uses a search firm or takes the do-it-yourself path. 

Who can help smaller enterprises navigate?  Watch for a new breed of expert:  The Talent Concierge. 

Kind of a middleware service offering.  Less investment/commitment than a full premium-priced retained search.  Empowering improved results from lower-cost contingency firms who operate on speed and volume -- by providing specific input/criteria/messaging that is customized for you.  Or enabling low-cost/no-cost do-it-yourself, with a spin of strategy and savvy.