The 140 Second Interview

Q&A: 140 Seconds With Pizza Hut on Its 140-Second Job Interview

By Venessa Wong on March 07, 2013 – Bloomberg Business Week

You’d best talk fast. Pizza Hut is holding job interviews this Sunday at the Hilton in Austin and online on March 14 (via Google (GOOG) Plus), and it’s giving each candidate only 140 seconds. The position: manager of digital media based out of Plano, Tex. In addition to preparing your spiel, be prepared to show them everything on your phone.

How much can you really learn about a job candidate in 140 seconds? A lot, Pizza Hut (YUM) claims. To test the theory, we sat down for 140 seconds with Caroline Masullo, Pizza Hut’s director of digital and social media and the person who will be conducting the interviews.

Explain the thinking behind the 140-second interview.
It literally ties to the way people communicate on Twitter today. We need this person to be super knowledgeable in the social space. They need to be able to communicate with our consumers in fun, quick, concise ways. They need to be relevant, and they need to be on the cutting edge of the social space and keep us at the forefront. In terms of that short an amount of time, we need someone who knows who they are, what they are looking for, someone who’s super passionate, quick on their feet, able to communicate clearly in a short amount of time.

Will you show more mercy if they run over time than, say, the Academy Awards?
If I love them, absolutely.

So no band ushering them away.
We talked about having an air horn or something. If they are amazing, we want to hear what they have to say, but at the same time, we want to hear as many people as we can. The other benefit of giving people 140 seconds is we’ll be able to talk to tons of people within that 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. time frame.

Have you been practicing? Are you talking faster?
Yeah. I spend a lot of time in the social space, so I would say, you know, we’re pretty good at it as a brand. We already have a good presence on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, so this is a space we’re familiar with.

But you’re not looking for a glimpse into the hearts and souls of these candidates.
No. Ultimately it’s like an elevator [pitch]. Tell me in 140 seconds why you think you should be the next manager of ….

Oh! Sorry, we’re at 140 seconds. Thank you for your time.

Wong is an associate editor for Bloomberg Businessweek.

Make the effort

Knowing Jesus and living like Jesus requires more effort on our part than just attending a weekly church service and or a weekly group session. And weekly volunteering doesn’t do it. As Jesus explains in the scripture below, that Pat Morley uses in his book, reading and learning the Bible help us to know the power of God.  

In the next section of the book Morley explains that ‘You can be transformed. God will change your life one verse at a time’. It’s all a result of reading the Bible. Find someone to help you if you need some help or guidance.

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Excerpt from the book ‘Man Alive’ by Patrick Morley

Section titled ‘What’s going on? - pages 10 - 12

Jesus gave us a picture of both the problem and the solution (to a question asked in the previous section. The question is: ‘What do men who lead powerful, transformed lives do differently than their lukewarm counterparts?) in His well-known parable of the four soils. A sower went out and scattered the seed of God’s Word on four kinds of soil: the hard path, the rocky soil, the thorny ground and the good soil.

Most men today would recognize themselves in the first three soils where the seeds don’t grow. Yet they honestly want to be like the good soil where the fourth seed fell – to be men “who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty or even a hundred times as much as had been planted” (Matthew 13:23).

What is keeping men’s lives hard, rocky and choked with thorns when so many urgently want more and when God created us for more – much more?

And, positively, what do men who lead powerful, “a hundred times” lives do differently than their mediocre counterparts? Jesus gave us an insight when He was speaking to a group of confused religious men. He said,

‘Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and

you don’t know the power of God.’ (Matthew 22:29)

Do you see it? Jesus made a direct connection between knowing the Bible and leading a powerful life. Lukewarm men are in error because they ‘don’t know the scriptures’ and therefore ‘don’t know the power of God’. Their capabilities don’t equal their intensions. Without the right training, their soil remains bare, stony and full of weeds. And as you’ll soon see, by ‘know the Scriptures’, Jesus was talking about a lot more than mere head knowledge.

On the other hand, transformed men ‘truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest’. Digging into the Word of God is easily the number one factor that differentiates men who have tapped into God’s power.  

What is a Disciple

Morley provides an easy to remember definition of discipleship. He also points out that disciples are pupils or learners not just attenders (of a church for example). Disciples are in the game for the long term. Attenders are not committed and will show up when convenient (I would have come but I couldn't get up early enough). You don't build churches, organizations or movements with the uncommitted. Ask any great leader.

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Excerpt from the book ‘Man Alive’ by Pat Morley.

 What is a Disciple? – P70 – 72

The word disciple comes from the Greek word mathetes, which means “pupil” or “learner.” When used in conjunction with Jesus, it came to mean “an adherent to the person and teachings of Jesus.”

To be a disciple of Jesus is the highest honor to which a man can aspire. When Jesus called Peter, James, John and the others, He called them to become what? Disciples. When Jesus left earth, the marching orders He left behind are to do what? “Go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19)

Discipleship includes both the moment of salvation and the lifelong process of sanctification.

Here’s an easy to remember definition. A disciple is…

·         Called to live in Christ

·         Equipped to live like Christ

·         Sent to live for Christ

 

Jesus said, “I will show you what he is like who comes to me [called] and hears my words [equipped] and puts them into practice [sent]” (Like 6:47 NIV).

Let’s break this down. First, a disciple is called to profess faith in Jesus Christ and abide in Him. This begins with the evangelism piece, or salvation. Without eternal life, religion doesn’t mean much. I know because I grew up in a “Christian” home that didn’t know Christ. We didn’t reject the good news, because we never heard it. Our church was focused on other things. The results have been devastating. To be called also includes deepening our relationship with Jesus.

Next a disciple is equipped by a process of ongoing spiritual teaching, growth and transformation. To not disciple (train and equip) people who profess Christ will almost always mean they become lukewarm in faith, worldly in behavior, and hypocritical in witness. Evangelism without discipleship is cruel.

Finally, a disciple is sent to live for Christ by becoming part of a community, loving others, bearing much fruit and doing good deeds. We each want to give our lives to a worthy cause. Once you have been with Christ – experienced the joy of His grace, the warmth of His love, the cleansing of the His forgiveness and the indwelling of His spirit – you inevitably come to a point where you can no longer be happy unless you are serving the Lord.

What I most like about this biblical description of becoming a disciple is that it’s actionable. It doesn’t get lost in glittering generalities.  

 

Transformation not determination

I think that if you don’t read Christian books, watch and or listen to other Christian pastors and attend Christian conferences you limit your opportunity to learn more about God and how to grow closer to and become like Christ. And this is what God wants for us.

Much of your growth can come from hearing stories of what others have overcome and how God has worked in their lives and knowing that you are not the only one dealing with these issues.

I believe becoming a stronger and more mature Christian requires more than just attending church on Sundays. It requires you to make a greater effort to seek God.

The excerpt below from the book ‘Man Alive’ by Pat Morley can help you in this quest.

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From the section titled ‘It starts with the heart’ – p32 - 33

Christianity is heart transformation not behavior modification. The reason that 90% of men lead lukewarm, often defeated lives is really quite simple. They’re trying to solve the wrong problem. Most of us have the idea that Christianity is about behavior modification – using determination to change our behavior and be more spiritual. We think that if we can just get the right information, if we can just have more willpower and ‘man up’ then we will do the right things and everything will be ok.

But everything is not okay. In fact the harder we try the more frustrated and confused we become. A man can only will himself to act and perform like a Christian for so long. One man who abandoned his faith said, ‘I served in the church for twenty years and I got worn out. I decided to try something else.’ Determination, we all learn eventually, is not a strategy.

How does heart transformation happen in practice? If we were to ask Pete (Morley’s younger brother referred to previously), what would he say? He would tell us that his heart was transformed when he stopped trying to go it alone and dug into God’s word with a group of guys who accepted him “as is”. He would tell us that he didn’t really do anything. He simply presented himself to God as a flawed vessel, looking intently into God’s Word in the company of a few men who cared about each other, and God changed the way he thinks.  

That really is the story of transformation. It happens from the inside out as we build our faith with each other. Everything starts with the heart. Jesus put it this way:

‘The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart,

 and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks’ (Luke 6:45, NIV)

Authentic faith really is about the heart. Of course, Christianity is also about behavior, but its behavior that overflows from changing what we believe in our hearts. Belief determines behavior. You could think of it like this:

Right reading leads to

Right thinking and that leads to
Right believing and that leads to
Right behaving

 

Thoughts on mentoring

This is a great article on Mentoring. It is simple, clear, uses common sense and is to the point. Reiland makes some great suggestions on the responsibilities of the person desiring to be mentored, gives a good example, in John Maxwell, about the hunger to learn a person who wants to be mentored needs. Successful mentoring needs to be looked at as a lifetime process and is not limited to one mentor.

ARTICLE
“Want a Mentor?”
By Dan Reiland

My mentor, John Maxwell, has written and spoken about being mentored by the great coach John Wooden among others. I recently received a question by email asking: “How does one go about getting the greatest NCAA coach (John Wooden) as a mentor? Did he (Maxwell) just ask for regular meetings and what does mentorship look like?”

Good questions.

I will admit that getting John Wooden as a coach is an extraordinary circumstance involving an extraordinary leader. But on the other hand, John Maxwell didn’t start there. It was only after nearly 30 years of successful leadership that John was able to connect with Coach Wooden. It was John’s desire to grow and his great passion to add value to people’s lives that made the difference. The fact that John is a tremendous student is also a very significant part of the story.

Over the years I’ve wondered which is more important – to have a great mentor or to be a great student? The easy answer is both. But more and more I think the secret is in being a great student. You can have the most brilliant mentor in the world, even a famous one, but if you aren’t ready to pay the price, dig in, learn and change, it won’t matter.

I love John’s early stories about offering to pay $100.00 for an hour of someone’s time just to ask questions and learn. Back then $100.00 might as well have been $1,000.00!! But that didn’t matter to John. That showed how serious he was, and at age 65 John is still passionate about learning and growing. I think that’s one of the reasons his books and talks are so good. They come not only from (now) 40 years of experience, but also from a fresh place of learning and relevancy.

In contrast, I’ve seen men and women receive an hour or so of someone’s time and show up ill-prepared. They had no written questions. They talked more than listened and expressed very little gratitude. It was almost as if they had some time to kill and thought that might be fun. When you do that to a busy person, they will not give you a second meeting.

So, do you want a mentor? Let me offer some good advice.

1. Be good at something first.

This might sound strange, but you need to be good at something before you ask someone to help you be great at something. You can be good at anything! That doesn’t matter. You may want to be a great leader and your only claim to fame is that you are really good at golf or giving a talk. Maybe you are brilliant at math or a technological genius type. Here’s the point, if you are good at something, you have shown the passion and discipline to create the needed potential to become great at what you really want. I don’t want to discourage you, but if you’ve just been hanging out and you’ve never worked hard at anything, you’re not ready for a mentor. Perhaps you’re a young adult and your only claim to fame is that you were an A student in college. Great! That’s what I’m talking about. Get good at something first.

2. Seek someone just a little ahead of you.

A common mistake is to think: “If I’m going for a mentor, I’m going right to the top and getting the best.” I appreciate the sentiment, but you are likely making a mistake. For example, if a pastor who serves in a church of 500 seeks a mentor who pastors a church of 5,000, the two of them clearly live in two different worlds and they barely speak the same language. Yes, leadership principles are leadership principles. That’s true, but trust me on this, and this is the key, you are much better off being mentored by someone who understands where you are because they were there at one time, and maybe even not so long ago! If you lead a church of 500 try to get a mentor who leads a church of 800 to 1,200. This is not a legalistic thing. Don’t get hung up on the numbers, just go with the idea. And of course, make the ask.

3. Think intentionally organic.

Don’t ask for lots of regularly scheduled meetings. You will likely lose a potential mentor that way. Don’t ask for monthly or even quarterly connects. Go for a more intentionally organic approach. Here’s what I mean. If you can hang with a couple meetings (phone or in person) a year plus a few short emails, you might be surprised by how quickly you get a yes. Intentional refers to staying strategic and on purpose and the organic simply means to catch the meetings when it works out naturally in both your schedules.

You don’t need lots of meetings, not if you really want to change and grow. Information requires lots of meetings – transformation requires only a few. If you connect with a good mentor two or three times in a year, that is plenty. It will take you at least that much time between conversations to really put to practice what was given to you. Now let’s do the math, if you have two or three mentors, you can see that would be six to nine meetings a year – basically way too much.

Note #1: When it’s a boss/employee relationship, of course you meet much more often, but much of that is just “doing business.” That’s natural and normal. It is unrealistic to think that’s all mentoring. In fact, if it is, you are likely into something closer to a counseling relationship than coaching and mentoring.

Note #2: When it’s a crisis situation, everything changes. If it’s a true crisis, your mentor will get that and quickly respond, and that requires more time. Sometimes in those situations I encourage the one I’m coaching to hire a consultant who can devote the needed time, and I remain as chief encourager during that crisis time.

4. Work harder than your mentor.

Don’t waste your mentor’s time. Show up with well thought through and relevant questions. Take notes. Work hard to practice what was discussed, and the next time you talk, tell him or her what you have done.

A good mentor will always have some questions, a resource or two, and good advice, but the mentoring is more your job than his/hers. You set the agenda and come with it in writing. If your mentor asks you to do something, make the necessary adjustments, but do it. This does not prevent healthy disagreements and intense conversations, but you either want their advice or you don’t. If you don’t, that’s ok, but then stop taking their time and end the mentoring relationship with respect and gratitude.

I’ve been blessed with five mentors over the course of my life and I’m grateful! I’m sure that’s part of the reason I’m eager to coach as many as I can. I trust that you will also pass on what is given to you.

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Dr. Dan Reiland serves as Executive Pastor at 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He previously partnered with John Maxwell for 20 years, first as Executive Pastor at Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, then as Vice President of Leadership and Church Development at INJOY. He and Dr. Maxwell still enjoy partnering on a number of church related projects together.

Dan is best known as a leader with a pastor's heart, but is often described as one of the nation’s most innovative church thinkers. His passion is developing leaders for the local church so that the Great Commission is advanced.

As a communicator, Dan has a down-to-earth style that combines humor and strategic thinking. Each year he "coaches" many pastors and speaks to several thousand people, impacting lives and strengthening the local church.

Dan and his wife Patti live in Dracula, Georgia with their two children Mackenzie and John-Peter.

Being new and improved

Tony Hawk, skateboarding legend, had this to say when asked by TMZ about skateboarding becoming an Olympic sport in light of the Olympics dropping the sport of wrestling.

‘The Olympics needs skateboarding more than skateboarding needs the Olympics’

Out with the old and in with the new. Society now more than ever is looking for the new and improved of everything. You can see this over time with various consumer products. It seems after the release of the initial product a new and improved version shows up relatively soon to improve sales and profits.

How about with TV’s? There was black and white then color, plasma then LCD, analog then digital, cabinet models then portables and now flat screens. And due to all the changes screen sizes have increased substantially.

How about you personally? Are you new and improved or are you the same as you were when you graduated from high school or college? Do you hesitate to learn to use the new technologies in smart phones and computers? Have you changed physically or mentally? Gone to get additional training?

Some people make changes in themselves for personal reasons like getting a new job and some so that others will notice. Some make changes because they want to be better or achieve some other objective. People become Christians for similar reasons. The Christians who have the most impact on earth for God are the ones who choose to change and become like Christ and love God and love others. Loving others means loving all types of people in many situations.

We are all born with gifts and talents that God has given us. And by spending time in reading the Bible, by praying, associating with other Christians in groups for community and with more mature Christians who can mentor us and help us with accountability, by volunteering as well as attending services we come to grow and to realize what God wants us to do.  

Serving God is a noble and worth cause. Jesus came to serve and God wants us to do the same.

²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 NIV

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Tony Hawk was one of the top skateboarders in the world by the time he was 16, and in his 17-year career, he won more than 70 skateboarding contests. Hawk started his own skateboarding company, BirdHouse and also has a successful line of video games and skateboarding videos. Through the Tony Hawk Foundation, he provides grants and technical assistance for new parks, especially in low-income areas.

TMZ offers entertainment news, gossip and an inside look at the latest celebrity scandals

Wrestling in shock as IOC wields Games axe

(Reuters) …Contested in the first modern Olympics in 1896 and part of the ancient Games in Olympia, wrestling will now join seven other candidate sports battling for one spot in a revamped program.

 

Is appalling a strong enough word?

On 60 Minutes this past Sunday night three American survivors of the Al Qaeda attack on an Algerian Gas Plant talked about what it was like to experience the terrorist attack. The experience of fear, doubts, wondering if they would see their families again and not knowing what to do or what was going to happen created fear for each.

This January attack followed an earlier attack in September on the American Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, where the American Ambassador and three other Americans were killed in another terrorist attack.

The US Government, specifically President Barak Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, didn’t appear to be concerned with the health and safety of the Americans, dead or alive, in either situation. Even when a US Ambassador in Benghazi was reported under armed attack, with time for the US military to respond, and then killed. If you don't know by now, a politician’s image and reputation is always more important than being linked to problems or being identified as responsible for the problem.

If you or someone you know will be travelling to other countries I would be concerned. The reason is that the Government has shown by its lack of action, concern or involvement that they are not concerned if something happens to you or other Americans including a US Ambassador while you are outside the country. Actually it appears that the US is more concerned about not upsetting the Muslim nations than protecting or defending their own citizens.

But on the other hand if you want more government benefits you will be encouraged by all types of government officials to apply and will be protected by the entire US government including the courts when people who believe in lower government spending and less government want to cut those benefits and other types of government spending in order to get more control of government overspending.

Big Government gets bigger, stronger and more dominant when people depend on it more. And Big Government means you have less choices and less freedom and that government that seems so good now because it gives you benefits is less and less accountable to you and the American citizenry. The end result of this is arrogant and unaccountable or uncontrollable politicians.

Government only cares about itself and will use you and all citizens to achieve the objectives of its agenda whether those goals benefit you or not. So what you think is so great today could end up being terrible for you and your family in the future.

Algeria attack survivors: "You could hear bullets start to hit the side of the bus"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57568129/algeria-attack-survivors-you-could-hear-bullets-start-to-hit-the-side-of-the-bus/