The Ascendence Group

Chris Brogan recently asked a brilliant question. Actually, he asked 5 brilliant questions:

1. How could new ideas change education?
2. How can younger generations learn from the body of work of their successors?
3. How can we marry up all the great resources of people who know something great to those of us who could stand to learn more?
4. How can I help those of us who lived in the cubicle farms, and what can I do to share that information in a way that will empower others?
5. How can we equip our youth and/or our students and/or our business professionals?

Each of these questions dances around a singular issue: Today’s learning models are inadequate.

This message is similar to one Charlie O’Donnell has been spreading: “Structures for industry specific learning, particularly when it comes from learning from the accumulated wisdom of successful and experienced professionals, is horribly inefficient.”

So, we’ve got two really smart guys highlighting the exact same issue. Could this spell business opportunity? Methinks so… …

Today, I was alerted to this tweet.

After seeing it, I felt compelled to reply for two key reasons:

1. I enjoy making new connections: You never really know where friendships or opportunities will come from in life. So why not take the “more is more” approach and connect with as many people as you can?
2. I care deeply about TAG: I want to make sure that people fully understand the company I’ve been building. “Paid mentorship” is an entirely new concept within the Educational Services sector. It’s important that I communicate exactly what TAG is, and exactly what TAG isn’t.

So here’s my reply… …

Q: Why do most mentorship experiences fail to meet your expectations?

A: Because the existing mentorship model is broken.

And I am not the only one to recognize its flaws. In the words of Charlie O’Donnell, entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, “Structures for industry specific learning, particularly when it comes from learning from the accumulated wisdom of successful and experienced professionals, is horribly inefficient.”

TAG is my attempt at building a new structure to make experiential learning more efficient. TAG is my attempt at fixing the traditional – and broken – mentorship model. Let me explain… …

Today, Dr. Sullivan shared some frightening statistics about the efficacy of the talent management industry on ERE. To put it simply: it appears that the talent management industry is a catastrophic failure.

• 70% dissatisfied — 70% of the external customers (applicants) and 28% of the internal customers (hiring managers) indicate they are dissatisfied with the hiring process (Source: Staffing.org).
• 50% customer regret — 50% of the processes users (both managers and new hires) later regret their “buying” decision (Source: The Recruiting Roundtable). In addition, 25% of new hires later regret taking their new job within one year (Source: Challenger, Gray)
• 46% turnover — 46% of new hires leave their jobs within the first year(Source: eBullpen, LLC) and 50% of current employees are actively seeking or are planning to seek a new job (Source: Deloitte).
• 46% failure rate — 46% of U.S. new hires must be classified as failures within their first 18 months (fired, pressured to quit, required disciplinary action, etc.) (Source: Leadership IQ). In addition, 58% of the highest-priority hires, new executives hired from the outside, fail in their new position within 18 months (Source: Michael Watkins).
• Only a 19% success rate — only one out of five of the process output can be classified as unequivocal successes (Source: Leadership IQ).

• 66% regret hiring decisions — Nearly two-thirds of hiring managers come to regret their interview-based hiring decisions (Source: DDI)

With my hedge fund background, if these statistics represented a publicly traded entity, I’d short the be-jesus out of it. As it stands today, it’s fair to say that the time has come to rethink most talent management processes.

How? What’s the new model? First a bit of background… …

Sheila Curran has a radical idea.

The timing of this idea, coupled with the credibility of its protagonist, could finally be the catalyst for positive change within career services departments everywhere. Side note: I am not the first to believe that change is desperately needed…

Our situation is not unlike General Motors in that our profession has been operating on an outdated model which doesn’t necessarily speak to what consumers are looking for. Or how jobs get filled. The one size fits all approach definitely has seen its day.

~ Skip Sturman, Director, Dartmouth Career Services

So, what is this “radical idea?” Put simply,

Guess what? …