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comment THE DULLNESS OF CAM-
PAIGNING BY NUMBERS
Ben Colman
AUSTRALIA’S GOT PLENTY
OF YOUNG TALENT
Adam Joseph
CEO Readership director,
Colman Rasic Herald Sun, Melbourne
‘Stand Up’ or ‘Move Forward’? That’s the prosaic Last year Seek published its annual Satisfaction &
choice of bodily motion major political parties are Motivation report, which identified the top things
suggesting Australians contemplate for the dura- employees most hated about their current jobs.
tion of this election campaign, in what is shaping Number one was the quality of management.
up to be perhaps the drabbest in modern history. Number two was personal stress levels. Number
Both slogans, and the campaigns they support, three was lack of feedback. And the fourth highest
are an abject study in the blandness of outcome was career development (or the perceived total
achieved by a purely research driven approach. lack of it). This suggests many of Australia’s boss-
To be clear, the precision of the wording, the es aren’t all that great when it comes to develop-
presentation of issues and check-a-box approach ing the talents of their direct reports. And this has
to policy outline from both sides is masterful. led me to the conclusion that talent development
Check out content of the opening advertising is something better not to outsource.
constructions from each party. Both candidates On this note, I’d like to volunteer three top tips
are for a strong economy. Genius. Tick that box. for young talent:
Border security? Tick the Labor box to ‘stop peo- Tip 1. Be your own ‘Talent Manager’. There’s an
ple smugglers’ and choose Liberal to ‘stop the old cliché that “there’s no ‘I’ in Team”. I’d like to con-
boats’ – each word carefully tested and crafted. tribute to the cliché yearbook by adding: “There’s
The precise use of the term ‘boats’ chosen to evoke no ‘U’ in Talent... but there should be”. Ultimately
the term ‘boat-people’ and tap into the fear of a your personal development is down to You. Young
certain constituency. Sustainable population. Tick. talent must take full responsibility for career
Schools and solar power. Check. development rather than leaving it to The Boss.
Research shows Tony Abbott has a problem Let’s face it, nobody is ever going to care as
being perceived as truthful? The solution? Arm him much about your career as you.
with a signed ‘Action Contract’ complete with offi- Tip 2. Manage Your Personal Brand. OK, so in
cial looking seal. Leave aside the impression creat- truth people are people and brands are brands.
ed by a man who needs a document as a proxy for But if you think of the professional identity you
his honour – make no mistake the device is a care- project as being your ‘brand’ then it might help you
fully crafted response to the data. avoid some talent pitfalls. The biggest mistake
For Julia Gillard, her strategists will have ‘high young talent often makes is a failure to manage
fived’ at the duality of meaning in the line ‘Let’s their image, especially when social media is
move forward together’. It distances the PM from involved. Professional embarrassment is poten-
Rudd’s demise and positions Abbott as a throw- tially only ever a Google search away. Be careful
back to Howard’s era. That we are left with no real what you post and tweet and be careful of the pho-
sense of where we are moving to doesn’t seem to tos you tag.
matter: we can be sure the line tested well. Tip 3. Patience is a Virtue. David McDonnell,
Then there’s the predictable ‘heard it all before’ learning & development manager for The Herald &
swag of negative attacks ads. Increasingly these Weekly Times, has some words of advice for Gen Y:
feel like they do more to denigrate the political “Being so keen to progress, I think young talent can
process than land a killer blow on either candidate. get a little ahead of themselves at times, with con-
The result of this numbers-driven frenzy is fidence sometimes outweighing capabilities.
work from both sides devoid of vision or inspira- They must be very careful to ensure they don’t
tion, or worse, any compelling sense of personality. burn any bridges with older generations within
Arguably, Australia stands at a pivotal moment. their network who may not understand their ‘must
As a nation we’re starting to grasp that our recent get there now’ mentality, when these older work-
economic performance is a function of our new- ers may well have spent 20 or more years getting
found place in the world’s fastest growing time- to where they are. The advice here is: “slow down
zone. We are starting to look forward to the future to speed up.”
with a mix of genuine opportunity and optimism As for me, the single best piece of career
TO MAKE A tempered with a concern for global issues such as advice that I’ve ever been given is to strive to
climate change. Lamentably, both campaigns are make yourself become “indispensible”. Make your-
COMMENT EMAIL devoid of any real connection to the potential self very good at the one thing people around you
EDITORIAL@BANDT.COM.AU watershed occurring within our national psyche. at work can't manage well without.
10 BANDT.COM.AU AUGUST 6 2010