Recruiter’s View

Stress and emotions can make you do weird things.  Originally, players trying to get an advantage in an arcade game might lift the machine and twist it a little.  When the machine detected that form of cheating, it flashed a red TILT sign and stopped.  Years later, Poker players are said to be on tilt when their emotions take over, and they make bizarre decisions, hoping for lightning to strike on their behalf.  The term has expanded into most forms of competition.  Anyone making rash, self-destructive decisions is probably playing on TILT.  That includes entire organizations. 

This On TILT project has gotten completely out of hand.  

I started out, making a few notes about corporations doing weird things. 

I tried to avoid dwelling on obvious links to government policies.  I imagined that major corporations were all big boys, capable of attending to their own business.  

That went out the window, when Public-Private Partnerships became a thing.  It’s a lovely sounding term.  In practice, it means major corporations get to collaborate with the government. The results might be illegal, immoral, or fattening; but at that point, who’s going to stop them? 

But Wait.  There’s More. 

Meanwhile, rich people get in their rich-people jets and fly to rich-people conferences to decide how the world should be run.  I’m pleased to say, I’m not invited to any of these gatherings; but I can access their public statements.  You can, too.  

Some of it is absolutely adolescent, if it weren’t for the fact that they have an ungodly amount of power. 

The World Economic Forum is a fun place to start.  If you’re looking for a thrill, take a look at some of their announcements.  For example, earlier this year, they explained why we should all start eating insects.  I wonder if the attendees were eating bug burgers during their meeting.  Maybe. 

Why This Matters

Remember, I was just trying to understand why companies were doing weird things. 

But here’s the bigger weird thing…  They frequently do the same weird thing at the same time.  Often on the same day.  

Whole industries suddenly and simultaneously make bizarre — even self-destructive — decisions. 

You might say they’re on TILT. 

The Plan 

That’s what launched this whole project.
But the world is changing very quickly.
So, here’s the strategy…

I’ll use the following blog headers to tell you where we are in a series… 

On TILT [Brief] – That’s how I’ll start the article header, for a quick, first attempt.
I’ll just be trying get the essence of an issue posted and public.  More details later. 

On TILT – This is my best shot at delivering useful perspective on a specific industry. 

On TILT [1,2,3…] – I’ll go numeric to identify updates. 

I’d prefer to serve up tons of brilliant, carefully crafted analysis.  I can’t.
Deep studies will have to wait.  It’s all I can do to capture the basics.
There’s a lot happening all at once — worldwide. 

Please understand, this collection is not a list of complaints.
We’re trying to do something useful, here. 

Location

Find all postings for the On TILT series in Recruiter’s View.
Just choose TILT (under Categories, in the right side bar.)

The Obvious Questions

Each of the articles in this series seems to raise the same questions…
• Why would anybody do this?
• How can we fix it?

Those questions will have to wait. Maybe we can address them later. 

Right now, whether this is The Great Reset or The Great Screwup, there’s clearly going to be a lot of pain.  

Somebody is going to need help. 

Why Am I Studying All This? 

   • Maybe I can avoid standing directly in the line of fire.  That would be nice.
   • Employers On TILT behave differently than Employers who are not On TILT.
   • The same goes for Candidates. 

Recruiter’s View

The best way for me to serve anybody is to understand their circumstances.
My On TILT series attempts to do that.
-TD