Classical education is at the heart of what Hip Socket is about. One way I describe it:
Wrestle and grow more organized, confident and influential.
The tradition calls us to slow down so we can get organized in our knowledge of the problem before us … then wrestle with it, often in challenging dialogue, to get confident in our understanding … then use the resulting wisdom to be influential over the problem.
Here is an incredibly practical example: employee recruitment.
McKinsey & Company has researched what is happening in “The Great Renegotiation.”
It wasn’t enough to say, “Employees are hard to find. Here are three tips to finding them.”
Instead, researchers asked, “What are the categories of those quitting? What circumstances cause them to quit or sign on?”
Such questions honor what ancient masters of rhetoric called the Common Topics. Think “topographical.” They are questions you can ask from all the different “elevations” to grow in knowledge and understanding of a topic.
So I hope the McKinsey article helps you identify what is causing your employees and others to consider leaving their jobs … and what kind of workers are out there that you could target.
Here’s a sobering quote from the article:
… it cannot be overstated just how influential a bad boss can be in causing people to leave. And while in the past an attractive salary could keep people in a job despite a bad boss, that is much less true now than it was before the pandemic. Our survey shows that uncaring and uninspiring leaders are a big part of why people left their jobs, along with a lack of career development. Flexibility, on the other hand, is a top motivator and reason for staying. …
Good luck. Contact me if I can help you think through your issues.