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"Helicopter parents" have spawned a generation of incompetents, says Stanford’s former dean of freshmen Julie Lythcott-Haims and author of How to Raise an Adult.
She recently told the Los Angeles Times that a helicopter parent is incapable of raising a future worker, "Somebody who pitches in, who rolls up their sleeves and says, 'How can I be useful here,' instead of, 'Why isn't everyone applauding my every move?'"
Before powered flight, texting and nanny cams, our forebears had a term for helicopter parenting: mollycoddling.
Coddling in the 18th century meant to treat someone as if he or she were an invalid. The word derived from caudle, a drink served to the sick. Molly derived from an 18th century pejorative for a gay man.
A man who was considered timid and ineffectual was thought to have been raised by overprotective parents, or mollycoddled.
Thank goodness, invalids no longer have to drink gruel; or gay men, prove they're courageous.
But I like old words.
So I urge overprotective parents: you're jeopardizing America's competitiveness and your child's future income! Quit mollycoddling.
What's the most revealing interview question employers could ask—the one that would guarantee they hire the best talent available every time? The killer question you should ask every job seeker.
With apologies to the management gurus, it's none of these:
- Why will you thrive in this position?
- What's your greatest weakness?
- Who's your role model?
- What did your parents do for a living?
- What things do you dislike doing?
- Why are manhole covers round?
- Why did you leave your last job?
- What's your spirit animal?
- What's the most significant thing you've done since breakfast?
- What would you like to ask me?
I learned the killer interview question not from an HR manual, but a former boss; and it worked like a charm.
Adman Bill Kircher, founder of Fixation Marketing, posed the killer question at the close of every candidate interview he conducted.
With it, he built an exceptionally creative, productive and tight-knit team; one that attracted loyal and prestigious clients, enjoyed a reputation for high quality, and earned handsome profits.
His killer interview question: What book are you reading right now?
What makes the question killer?
It's simple. Candidates didn't have to ask Bill for clarification.
It's tricky. The qualifier "right now" essentially disqualified as honest answers To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and other sophomore-year reading assignments.
It's decisive. Hesitation, blank stares, or answers like "I mostly watch TV" eliminated candidates from consideration.
It's nondiscriminatory. Any title sufficed as a correct answer. Bill didn't care what you read, as long as it was sandwiched between two boards. After all, John F. Kennedy loved From Russia with Love. Ronald Reagan raved at a news conference about The Hunt for Red October. And friends spotted James Joyce in a cafe once reading Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Reading books proved to Bill's thinking a job candidate was curious, diligent, self-caring and culturally engaged.
And his results proved he was spot on.
Use the Best Tools
Part 5 of of a 5-part series on the Golden Rules for Making Money, as set forth in P.T. Barnum's 1880 guidebook Art of Getting Money
The "tools" P.T. Barnum means are the ones who leave each night in the elevator.
"You cannot have too good tools to work with, and there is no tool you should be so particular about as living tools," he writes.
Which employees make the best tools?
The ones who are curious.
The curious employee is the best because "he learns something every day, and you are benefited by the experience he acquires," Barnum says.
"He is worth more to you this year than last, and he is the last man you should part with."
