Inside the Mind of Hiring with Dr. Mickey Fineberg

Inside the Mind of Hiring with Dr. Mickey Fineberg

By Dr. Mickey FinebergBusinessCareersManagement
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Inside the Mind of Hiring with Dr. Mickey Fineberg episodes

  • Another Leadership Lullaby?
    Is USA basketball asleep at the switch, just like the WNBA seemed to be during the All Star game? Team USA  (represented by WNBA players) had a chance to show the world the quality of its team at the FIBA World Cup in Germany. At this juncture, the Us played 3 games against China, Italy, and Chechia. The coach Kara Lawson (coach at Duke) was emphasizing veterans in her starting line-up. While younger stars, including Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese, are getting some playing time, the coach was still placing the spotlight on older and more experienced players, apparently due to their sophistication in international play and their reliability toward the end of games. 
     

    After the third game, I heard commentary from 5 knowledgeable sports commentators and podcasters: Three black men, one white fellow, and one white woman. They agreed strongly that Caitlan Clark, and possibly Paige Bueckers, should be starting at point guard ahead of veteran Chelsea Gray. While they described Chelsea as a good shooter who can bring stability and sophistication at crunch time, they viewed Caitlan and Paige as providing a quicker pace, creating more scoring opportunities, taking better advantage of open players, and as more versatile scorers. There were feelings that Kara Lawson, the coach, undervalues Caitlian’s play and potential contribution by describing her as a “young player who is feeling her way through.” This description is contrary to Caitlin’s record going into the tournament, and her actual tournament play, particularly in two of the three games. Paradoxically, after one game, Kara described Caitan as markedly picking up the pace and enabling the team to capture a big and lasting lead. (contrary to a young player feeling her way through)  In the game against Italy, there was criticism that 3 veteran players were freezing Caitlan out when they should have been feeding her the ball. These pundits all agreed that there should be a more optimal mix of veterans and younger bench players in the starting lineup to max scoring, sustain defensive pressure, and optimize excitement.
    29 min
  • Meddlesome Mentoring of a Reluctant Successor
    I’ve had numerous experiences in my career as a business psychologist with multi-generational companies. Not too long ago, I encountered Dan,  a Gen Z, third generation family member who was contributing in a line-leadership job within the fulfillment operation for a regional bricks and mortar retailer who also has a significant on-line business. He currently manages 30 people. He is considered a potential successor to his father, the second-generation CEO, in 10 to 15 years. Prior to his present role, he worked in department and store management, and as a buyer for 6 years. Before joining the family business, he was employed by a major on-line retailer out of college for 4 years. His last job was distribution center manager supervising about 100 people.
    Dan is perceived as a nice guy and bright manager, and as developing a solid, well-rounded knowledge of the business. However, his performance is considered adequate at best, but not  impressive, and he appears to have gotten bored relatively quickly in his various placements. He has been quick to identify problems, but unwilling to suggest and implement solutions.
    He has put in the essential time, but not much more. His Dad, the CEO, is a successful entrepreneur in the way he has significantly grown the company. He is considered a good leader who effectively blends a results and humanistic focus. He regularly carves out time each month to mentor Dan. He views his son as a bit of an enigma, and is not sure Dan truly wants to be in the business. He has asked Dan often about what he wants to do, but doesn’t get a definitive answer.  As an heir, with another sibling in the financial department, Dan has participated in an equity sharing program beyond his salary and is viewed as wealthy enough not to work. Apparently, that arrangement cannot changed if he continues to work at the company.

    Dad engaged me to help him gain insight and a developmental strategy.
    28 min
  • Can Leaders Be Smart Before They Get Stupid?
    A few of weeks ago we talked about Leaders sabotaging Leaders. Our program revolved around a manufacturing company where a new COO, John, was hired to help the President focus on shaping the business’ future and spend less time with day-to-day operations. The business had just gone through a major space increase, and significant upgrades in equipment and technology to meet customer demand and boost competitive advantage. The COO’s expectation is to sustain an efficient operation but also enable incremental vs major improvements. After about 2.5 months on the job, the President was sensing that John was having difficulty establishing credibility and influencing and connecting with his managers.
    I also noted that John, age 42, had good knowledge of manufacturing, but his experience was more focused fixing troubled operations than developing them over time
    30 min
  • Encore: The 2026 Executive
    As a result of Covid and technology shifts, there are three major changes for executive hiring:
    1.      Rise of Hybrid Leadership
    2.      Stronger focus on Traits vs Tenure and Experience
    3.      Growth in Shorter Term Leadership Models
     
    29 min
  • A Leadership Lullaby
    This episode is a continuing commentary in our recent series on questionable leadership practices. In some cases, leaders may sleep at the switch so to speak, even when they have a great opportunity to capitalize on strong momentum. A recent example was the WNBA All-Star Week. As many of you know, the arrival of Caitlin Clark in 2024 brought a major increase in fan interest and game attendance, media coverage, and league and team revenues. Another new star, Paige Bueckers out of The Dallas Wings, has been complementing veterans with great play and likely adding strong value to the league as well. And then, she blew it. While Caitlin Clark was just named 
     The league’s recent All-Star game was a good opportunity to showcase its best players and further accelerate its good fortune. But it did not go that way. 
    27 min
  • Leadership Sabotaging Leadership: An Ounce of Prevention
    There are plenty of stories on how leadership can sabotage its own leaders. Some of these stories revolve around newly hired leaders who are having difficulty achieving credibility and influence with their new managers, and how a company’s senior execs or owners can make things worse and prompt unnecessary failures. Here is one such story involving yours truly where unintended sabotage will likely be prevented.
    30 min
  • Blind Leaders; Their Self-Defeating Habits
    Blind leaders can create cultures that drive out top performers through bad attitudes and practices, and self-defeating defense mechanisms. They too often compromise trust which is the core factor in engaging people and enabling their talents to flourish and synergize. Blind leaders too often lack the core principles of integrity, accountability and servant leadership we discussed during our last episode. 
    29 min
  • The Futuristic Edge of Leadership
    In prior episodes I described “people for all seasons” as the most equipped leaders for 2026 and beyond in a business environment being transformed by AI. In this episode, I’m going to present two AI innovators from different walks of life who merged their unique personal characteristics and skills to develop an AI product that adds key memory utility to current AI platforms.
    29 min
  • The 2026 Demand for Purpose Driven Leaders. Is it real?
    In our last episode, we discussed the profile of the 2026 Executive as defined by a substantial executive search firm. We didn’t get to the last element of the profile: Purpose Driven Leaders: Those that align business results with a societal purpose: A broader benefit to employees, customers, vendors, communities, and perhaps the environment. As a business psychologist, I do think this leadership standard is real, but I’m a bit skeptical as to whether it is really in higher demand today. I’m glad we didn’t cite this Purpose Driven profile aspect last time because I think it deserves a full show focus today.
    31 min

About Inside the Mind of Hiring with Dr. Mickey Fineberg

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*Step into the intricate world of hiring with Dr. Mickey in "Inside the Mind of Hiring." This show dives deep into the psychology and strategy behind one of the most critical decisions leaders face:…