The Contented Cow Blog

Building Workplaces That Work

Both Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are being considered for important jobs. Their respective supporters have already spent much time bloviating about how little experience the other candidate has, when ultimately, American voters tend to vote not on skills and experience, but on character, values, and attitudes.

Which is exactly what Bill Catlette and I have long advocated is the way employers should hire, but far too often don’t. It’s what we call “hiring for fit”. The best hires seem to happen when we narrow the field of candidates first on character, values, and attitudes - the potential to be happy, productive, and successful in a given job in a given organization - and then refine our selection on other factors, including experience.

Neither Palin nor Obama have the years of government experience that Biden and McCain have. Governor Palin has held elective office for 13 years; Senator Obama for 10. Arguably, Palin has more experience running a government than the other 3 combined.

But when it comes down to making the choice in November, the vast majority of voters will make their selection based on who they feel the candidates are, what they stand for, and what they believe, rather than what they’ve done.

I wouldn’t know much about Sarah Palin, except that I’ve been to Alaska three times in the last 16 months. Alaska’s the only state I’ve been to (and I’ve been to all 50) where ordinary citizens, from across the political spectrum, spontaneously talk about their governor, and only in positive terms. She beat a guy with lots of experience. Because she wasn’t elected on experience, but on values and attitudes. Palin has the highest approval ratings of any governor in America. On my most recent trip, someone gave me a copy of the governor’s biography, Sarah, by Kaylene Johnson. As of this morning, it was ranked #14 by amazon.com, and is out of stock until September 13.

Obama packed Invesco Field this week with 80,000 fans and has energized and enthused more voters and potential voters than any candidate since I’ve been old enough to vote. Millions of Americans are excited about and committed to him, but it has nothing to do with his experience. Again, it’s his character, values, and attitudes.

Americans are values voters. Barack Obama and Joe Biden. John McCain and Sarah Palin. May the better team win.

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