Scouting for Talent

Business leaders are always facing the challenge of finding the next generation of talent. Sometimes you search and search and end up with nothing to show for your time. Other times, you stumble right into a veritable army of future leaders without even knowing it.

A couple of weekend ago, I attended a Boy Scout camp with my son. Most of the scouts' time would be spent busily working on tasks that would earn them merit badgets. You can picture the scene...hundreds of scouts, each wielding an axe, and looking for a tree to chop down. (Of course it was nothing like that...but it is a cool image, huh?)

Anyway, as an assistant Scouting leader, I figured I would have a lot of things to keep track of. Tents had to be raised, wood needed to be gather, meals cooked, campfires tended, songs sung--you know the drill. But as the weekend unfolded, it turned out that these intrepid young men were not only energetic, they were disciplined, well organized, thorough, conscientious, diligent, detail-oriented, efficient, smart, and enthusiastic. In short, they were model employees. But since most of these lads were in the 12-18-year-old range, I'll have to wait a few years before offering them jobs at my company.

But American business is watching, boys--so keep up the good work!