Advice on Advice
An HR colleague of mine wrote to me as follows: What I am looking for is someone to share ideas with, bounce different situations off of and get some solid feedback. Our company…is…expecting to experience some significant growth over the next 2 years… in Canada and the U.S., so basically I am looking for a HR mentor for suggestions and just someone I can pick up the phone and yell “help, what resources might you be able to share”….with that amount of quick growth, I know I will run into some pretty dynamic situations that will vary from what I have seen in the past. If that is a relationship we can pursue, I would be very grateful and appreciative.
I wrote back my acceptance and offered the following as my first piece of advice — on advice itself:
Once I receive feedback I always assess it first on its merits. Then, if it passes that hurdle, I assess it against what I call my “consider the source” criterion. Good advice from a good source is great. Good advice from a bad source is good. Bad advice from a good source is forgivable. Bad advice from a bad source is to be avoided like the plague. So, first consider the advice, then the source in each and every piece of advice you get — and then act accordingly.
– Ken B. Godevenos
