I was speaking to a group of MBA students recently, and one of them asked what type of person I would want to see as an applicant for a job.  This is one of those “how long is a piece of string” questions, so my immediate response was that I would “never hire a person who walks slowly”.

The auditorium filled with laughter, but it made me think that this “seasoned intuition” which had built up over 40 years of business practice needed releasing to both the newbie starting in business and even the oldies to get them to think.  These are not “business laws” but thoughts that could be accepted or rejected.

In the case of people who walk slowly, my experienceis that they will tend to also work slowly. Others could argue that the slow walker is a thinker, but when they are applying for a job, I want to see them walk across the carpark as though they really want the job!

This is business through my eyes, it is very much about people, but you make your own decision on whether there is such an animal as an energy zapper or articulate incompetent or spinning wheel in your organisation.  Maybe you already have the dream team.

You are invited to email your gems of advice to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and you might be ascribed as one of the authors of the second of the abc of business series. And if there’s money left in the pot you will become a 26^th part partner .... trust me.

Enjoy the first edition – if it takes you longer than 30 minutes to read, you won’t be hired!!!!

Tony Falkenstein

2011