Confronting Racism at Work: A Reading List
29/06/2020
Lyubov Ivanova/Getty Images Companies must confront racism at a systemic level — addressing everything from the structural and social mechanics of their own organizations to the role they play in the economy at large. We know that diversity programs have historically failed, but there are proven ways to improve hiring programs, interrupt bias at the […]
How global food safety protects the planet and begins on the farm
27/06/2020
This annual toll touches every part of the world, though the worst impacts are felt in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where there is less access to refrigeration and other modern food-preservation technologies. While major improvements have been achieved in some regions since the 1980s, the problem is still vast and urgent. Dangers […]
How supply chain transparency can improve decision-making
23/06/2020
Faced with major disruption events, decision makers need to get their heads around the why and when to act (the reaction) before working out how best to mitigate the impacts (the response). The speed of reaction and the efficacy of response will decide the ultimate outcomes for people and the environment. With COVID-19, this process […]
Coronavirus and the future of international cooperation | World Economic Forum
23/06/2020
In a matter of months, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world almost beyond recognition. And yet the international cooperation that is so essential to confront a shared threat has been nowhere to be found. This should not be a surprise: our failure to respond effectively to the COVID-19 crisis reflects deeply entrenched – and […]
Time’s Up for Toxic Workplaces
22/06/2020
Daniel Day/Getty Images Millions of people face abusive supervisors and bullies at work. These employees are targets of ridicule, threats, or demeaning comments by their manager on a daily basis, which results in decreased satisfaction, productivity, and commitment to the job as well as the organization at large. While direct interactions with “bad bosses” can […]
Setting up small and medium-size enterprises for restart and recovery
19/06/2020
Governments’ economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have included an array of measures to help people and businesses weather the storm. Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are in an especially difficult position. Plunging demand has forced them to lay off workers, and many don’t have the financial resources to survive in this climate. In many […]
Don’t Let Opportunism Compromise Your Corporate Mission
18/06/2020
Mike Kemp/Getty Images As we come out of the pandemic, chasing any opportunity will obviously be a temptation for many cash-hungry businesses. But be careful. That way lies ruin. You don’t want to go out of business just as work picks up. Now’s the time to clarify your mission statement for the resurgence that lies […]
Preparing for the next normal via digital manufacturing’s scaling potential
17/06/2020
The coronavirus pandemic is changing manufacturing operations to a degree never before seen. As organizations and leaders seek to ensure the health and safety of their people, they are also reacting to supply-chain shifts that are impacting sourcing and distribution logistics. Supplier resilience is being brought into sharp focus, and labor shortages are bringing many […]
Why Now Is the Time for “Open Innovation”
16/06/2020
Jorg Greuel/Getty Images Amidst the gloom and doom of the early months of the Covid-19 crisis, something surprisingly uplifting started to happen: Companies began to come together to work openly at an unprecedented level, putting the ability to create value before the opportunity to make a buck. The German multinational Siemens, for instance, opened up […]
Digital collaboration for a connected manufacturing workforce
15/06/2020
Many experts predicted that with the coming of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), automation and advanced technologies would rapidly displace factory jobs and workers world-wide. Thus far, this prediction has not panned out. In fact, our research with the World Economic Forum (WEF) reveals that leading factories (“Lighthouses”) have invested significantly in people. And the […]
Looking to Boost Innovation? Partner with a Startup.
14/06/2020
GK Hart/Vikki Hart/Getty Images The ability to identify and work with partners is a powerful source of competitive advantage, particularly when it comes to creating new growth products, solutions, and business models. Finding the right partner can supercharge your company’s innovation. Sopra Steria, an IT consultancy specializing in digital transformation based in Paris, estimated that their […]
How CHROs Have Met the Moment
12/06/2020
Richard Kolker/Getty Images In the past, at big company moments, it was often the CEO and CFO breaking the news to employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders. A distinctive feature of the coronavirus pandemic has been to elevate the role of the CHRO, who is often visibly helping CEOs manage the present and lead their companies […]
No longer on autopilot: Lessons for CFOs from COVID-19
12/06/2020
We’re now months past the first reports of global infections and deaths from the novel coronavirus, and CFOs and finance teams have done the hard work of leading their organizations through the immediate crisis—for instance, helping to ensure the safety and protection of employees, suppliers, and other key stakeholders; collaborating across functions; assessing liquidity and […]
Digital adoption through COVID-19 and beyond
11/06/2020
By now, most C-suite executives have led their companies to digitize at least some part of their business to protect employees and serve customers facing mobility restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. As one CEO of a large tech company recently stated, “We are witnessing what will surely be remembered as a historic […]
What Family Businesses Can Learn from the Military
07/06/2020
Michael Davis/EyeEm/Getty Images The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted family businesses in unexpected ways. Many are dealing with anxious investors, a diminishing number of customers, and the challenges that come with managing newly remote teams. For many family-business leaders, managing this crisis has been overwhelming, as they’re grappling with stressed supply chains, plummeting employee morale, and […]
Your Family Business Needs a Deep Bench
05/06/2020
Adrian Samson/Getty Images Whether business is booming or your organization is in the midst of a tough time, a crucial aspect of risk management is ensuring that your organization has bench strength — that employees have the depth of skill and experience to move easily into jobs of increasing responsibility. Is your staff prepared to […]
How to scale your digital transformation
04/06/2020
When a team of top executives from a North American bank entered a converted warehouse run by a European telecom giant, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Engineers were live-coding in small teams with designers and businesspeople and reviewing the results right away with customers. They were making adjustments to feedback on the fly. […]
The Key to Successful Succession Planning for Family Businesses
03/06/2020
Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images We reviewed more than thirty years of research on nonfamily employees in family businesses, and the findings suggest that contrary to conventional wisdom, the solution is not to discard family succession altogether. Our research actually finds that nonfamily employees often prefer family successors to nonfamily outsiders because of the family-like cultures that accompany family succession. Yet, […]
How to restart stalled digital initiatives and transformations
02/06/2020
At organizations pursuing digital transformations, more than seven in ten survey respondents say the progress of these efforts has slowed or stalled at some point. In their latest McKinsey Global Survey on the topic, 1 1. The online survey was in the field from May 16 to May 31, 2019, and garnered responses from 1,256 C-level […]
How Investors Can Navigate Pandemic-Related Risk in Emerging Markets
01/06/2020
HBR Staff/artpartner-images/Getty Images Long after developed markets have Covid-19 relatively under control, the virus will remain a threat in emerging markets, where uneven governance, weak health systems, dense urban slums, and high rates of poverty multiply the challenges of fighting the pandemic. In a few countries there are already early signs of political instability and […]
Supple supplies – Businesses are proving quite resilient to the pandemic
30/05/2020
IF A VENGEFUL deity were to design a weapon to wield against the global supply chains that characterise modern business, it might well hit on a virus which hit production facilities all around the world. In the face of covid-19, though, the sinews of business have, for the most part, held up remarkably well. Air […]
Driving digital change during a crisis: The chief digital officer and COVID-19
29/05/2020
Amid the humanitarian crisis that has upended lives and cast a veil of uncertainty over the future, one thing is clear: we are living in a much more digital world. As governments around the world institute nationwide lockdowns, the demand for digital services and products, from both customers and employees stuck at home, has hit […]
Good Leaders Can Overcome Institutional Inertia in a Crisis
28/05/2020
Justin Pumfrey/Getty Images Although Covid-19 is clearly a catastrophe, it offers what every social scientist craves: a “natural experiment” that allows us to compare different responses to similar shocks. We have already learned much about what does and doesn’t work in tackling the virus itself. We can also glean profound lessons about the role of […]
Direct-To-Consumer Brands Are Finding New Ways To Engage With Customers
27/05/2020
Even before the pandemic arrived, acquisition channels and costs were on the top of mind for a lot of direct-to-consumer brands. Since they can’t rely on exposure through big retail chains and online marketplaces, they have to find their own ways to reach customers while staying cost-effective. A lot has changed in the world over […]
The digital-led recovery from COVID-19: Five questions for CEOs…
27/05/2020
There’s a popular meme going around that neatly captures the tipping point of digital. It’s a short questionnaire asking who is driving your digital transformation. The first two options are “CEO” and “chief digital officer.” Below that, highlighted with a bright red circle, is “COVID-19.” The coronavirus pandemic is a humanitarian crisis that continues to […]
Onboarding a New Leader — Remotely
26/05/2020
Michael Blann/Getty Images Imagine that you have a new supply-chain leader starting next week. You hired her to do supply-chain transformation before the crisis took hold. But now she is joining remotely and inheriting a remote team, and her short-term, urgent priorities are very different from what they appeared to be before the pandemic. As […]
A blueprint for M&A success
11/05/2020
Large mergers and acquisitions (M&A) tend to get the biggest headlines, but executives should be paying attention to all the small deals, too. These smaller transactions, when pursued as part of a deliberate and systematic M&A program, tend to yield strong returns over the long run with comparatively low risk. And, based on our research, […]
How to Talk to Your Team When the Future Is Uncertain
09/05/2020
As the coronavirus pandemic escalates and disruptions to business-as-usual continue, managers are grappling with the unknown. You don’t know when your employees will be able to return to the office or how different things will be when they do. Regardless, you need to be in constant communication with your team. What information — and how […]
How the CPG industry can prepare for the next normal
07/05/2020
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the globe, threatening both lives and livelihoods, consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) manufacturers continue to play an important role: producing essential items we all rely on for our health and well-being. CPG leaders have focused on meeting this demand while guarding the safety of employees and customers. At the same time, forward-thinking […]
How the Coronavirus Crisis Is Redefining Jobs
06/05/2020
Martin Barraud/Getty Images The outbreak of Covid-19 has forced organizations into perhaps the most significant social experiment of the future of work in action, with work from home and social distancing policies radically changing the way we work and interact. But the impact on work is far more profound than just changing where people work; […]
Leading marketing and sales with purpose
05/05/2020
“Without empathy, nothing works.” 1 1. Sean Gregory, “ ‘Without empathy, nothing works.’ Chef José Andrés wants to feed the world through the pandemic,” TIME, March 26, 2020, time.com. That quote, from José Andrés, a celebrity chef who also founded and runs the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, highlights the reasoning behind the organization’s mission: to […]
Give Your Workers the Latitude to Learn on the Job
02/05/2020
We are in the early stages of a global economic shift as companies face intensifying competition, an accelerating pace of change, and exponentially expanding opportunity all at the same time. Despite growing productivity, the average return on assets (ROA) for U.S. companies has fallen to almost one quarter of what it was in 1965, according […]
Managing manufacturing organizations during coronavirus
01/05/2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the globe, manufacturing organizations face significant operational challenges. Some companies have temporarily shuttered factories in response to government restrictions or falling demand, but others are facing significant increases in demand for essential supplies. Frontline manufacturing staff can’t take their work to the relative safety of their homes. Plant leaders […]
Positive leadership during the COVID-19 crisis
30/04/2020
For business leaders, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated unprecedented change. More than ever, the health of businesses is urgently and visibly linked with the health of workforces, the health of our society, and the health of our planet. Previously unimaginable shifts in our daily lives are compelling companies to adapt quickly and identify creative, unconventional […]
How to Make Furloughs More Humane
28/04/2020
Richard Drury/Getty Images Furloughs are often a much better alternative to layoffs for both companies and employees. However, until Covid-19, they were infrequently used in the U.S. During the Great Recession only 0.5% of the U.S. workforce participated in furloughs, while one in five workers experienced a layoff. Today, in the most uncertain time any […]
Executives and Boards, Avoid These Missteps in a Crisis
27/04/2020
The scale of Covid-19 pandemic’s impact is fully sinking in. Organizations of all types are feeling the pressure to simultaneously wrestle with surviving the immediate crisis and planning for a radically changed future. How do they share the economic pain among stakeholders? How should they revamp their supply chains in order to make them more […]
Research: How Speech Patterns Lead to Hiring Bias
04/04/2020
Gustavo Rezende Dos Santos/EyeEm/Getty Images Research indicates that organizations are not meritocratic. Senior executives of large firms weight ambiguous factors like “culture fit” as equally important as critical job skills when making promotion decisions. Criteria beyond the scope of knowledge, abilities, and performance are used in hiring decisions across firms, industries, and management teams. And, […]
Don’t Make This Common M&A Mistake
03/04/2020
Huber & Starke/Getty Images According to most studies, between 70 and 90 percent of acquisitions fail. Most explanations for this depressing number emphasize problems with integrating the two parties involved. That’s perfectly true, but my experience suggests that integration problems are particularly severe in cases you wouldn’t necessarily expect — when the acquisition is a related […]
Leadership in a crisis: Responding to coronavirus
01/04/2020
The coronavirus pandemic has placed extraordinary demands on leaders in business and beyond. The humanitarian toll taken by COVID-19 creates fear among employees and other stakeholders. The massive scale of the outbreak and its sheer unpredictability make it challenging for executives to respond. Indeed, the outbreak has the hallmarks of a “landscape scale” crisis: an […]
Why Leaders Need Meditation Now More Than Ever
29/03/2020
A global pandemic is in full effect. Risks of infection are on the rise, stock markets are tumbling, the economy is on the verge of a global recession, and every business is facing uncertainty. Chances are high that you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and afraid. That’s normal. The survival part of our brain (mainly the amygdala) […]
The Key to Inclusive Leadership
27/03/2020
Richard Drury/Getty Images What makes people feel included in organizations? Feel that they are treated fairly and respectfully, are valued and belong? Many things of course, including an organization’s mission, policies, and practices, as well as co-worker behaviors. But mostly it comes down to leaders. We find that what leaders say and do makes up […]
Build Your Resilience in the Face of a Crisis
26/03/2020
Chad Baker/Getty Images As the spread and far-reaching impacts of Covid-19 dominate the world news, we have all been witnessing and experiencing the parallel spread of worry, anxiety, and instability. Indeed, in a crisis, our mental state often seems only to exacerbate an already extremely challenging situation, becoming a major obstacle in itself. Why is […]
Enterprise agility: Measuring the business impact…
25/03/2020
Enterprise agility was desirable and is now becoming essential. Agility across a whole enterprise combines speed and stability; helps role clarity, innovation, and operational discipline 1 1. Michael Bazigos, Aaron De Smet, and Chris Gagnon, “Why agility pays,” McKinsey Quarterly, December 2015. ; and can produce positive outcomes for organizational health and performance. Although the […]
Don’t Hide Bad News in Times of Crisis
25/03/2020
Epoxydude/Getty Images If sunshine is the best disinfectant, the opposite is also true: Dark, hidden corners are great places to grow something truly horrible. Few problems improve with age, and public health crises are no exception. Transparency is “job one” for leaders in a crisis. Be clear what you know, what you don’t know, and […]
Every Leader Needs to Navigate These 7 Tensions
24/03/2020
Richard Drury/Getty Images In recent years, articles have claimed that old-style command-and-control leadership is “out” and a new way of leading is “in.” Instead of telling people what to do, leaders should ask them open-ended questions. Instead of sticking exactly to plans, they should adjust goals as new information emerges. Instead of working from the […]
How to Make Your Family Business More Professional
28/02/2020
Yulia Reznikov/Getty Images Many family businesses take on the distinctive identity, focus, and idiosyncrasies of the family leaders who run them. These norms can be motivating and can create a sense of common purpose. But they can also make non-family employees feel like they’re missing out on the skills training and career development typically found […]
A new leadership agenda for private equity
27/02/2020
While impressive, this growth could pale in comparison to what the next 10 years might bring. Not only is there massive headroom – PE currently represents less than 5% of total global assets under management (AuM) and less than 2% of total investable capital – several factors could give the industry a sky-high bounce. The […]
To Be a Great Leader, You Need the Right Mindset
22/02/2020
Rick Gayle Studio/Getty Images Organizations worldwide spend roughly $356 billion on leadership development efforts. Yet, the BrandonHall Group, a human capital research and analyst firm that surveyed 329 organizations in 2013, found that 75% of the organizations rated their leadership development programs as not very effective. Why aren’t companies getting more bang for their leadership development […]
What are the best negotiation tactics?
17/02/2020
Most business books push a singular narrative around negotiations: Go hard or go home. The advice is tied to the idea that the negotiation table is a place of conflict where one party must best the other. But research conducted by Maurice Schweitzer, Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions, and Einav Hart, Wharton postdoctoral […]
What’s the best way to make informed decisions?
15/02/2020
Decision-making works like a muscle: as you use it over the course of the day, it gets too exhausted to function effectively. One of the best strategies successful people use to work around their decision fatigue is to eliminate smaller decisions by turning them into routines. Doing so frees up mental resources for more complex […]
Don’t Demonize Employees Who Raise Problems
14/02/2020
tiburonstudios/Getty Images Instead of celebrating her fresh take, the Marketing Director was told she was being difficult, even demanding. Recently hired at a major financial firm to identify growth strategies, she spent her first 60 days on the job studying the situation. She went to meetings, asked lots of questions, and researched the marketplace responses […]
Understanding the “identity mindtrap”: Personal growth for the C-suite
13/02/2020
Millions of years of evolution have shaped our brains, with nature selecting for many adaptive and energy-saving, if imperfect, shortcuts. Some are easy to spot—for example, how we systematically fall for optical illusions and how our loss-aversion reflex biases our choices. Other ancient shortcuts trip us up in subtler, more personal ways. A CEO named […]
Real Mentorship Starts with Company Culture, Not Formal Programs
04/02/2020
Bernhard Lang/Getty Images We hear it all the time. Ask executives and managers how junior talent is encouraged, developed, and supported, and you’ll hear some variation of this refrain: “We’ve got a mentoring program!” Even vague rumors of a mentoring “program” nested somewhere in HR allow too many leaders to check off the employee engagement […]
Mindsets and practices of the best CEOs…
31/01/2020
A company has only one peerless role: chief executive officer. It’s the most powerful and sought-after title in business, more exciting, rewarding, and influential than any other. What the CEO controls—the company’s biggest moves—accounts for 45 percent of a company’s performance. 1 1. Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, and Sven Smit, Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick: […]
Burnout Is About Your Workplace, Not Your People
29/01/2020
Martin Barraud/Getty Images We tend to think of burnout as an individual problem, solvable by “learning to say no,” more yoga, better breathing techniques, practicing resilience — the self-help list goes on. But evidence is mounting that applying personal, band-aid solutions to an epic and rapidly evolving workplace phenomenon may be harming, not helping, the battle. […]
What makes a good leader?
25/01/2020
Structure is not the enemy of problem-solving; it’s actually a resource. An innovation expert presents a framework that that won’t just help you generate more creative ideas and make smarter decisions—it will teach you to see around corners. Now that you have a better handle on solving the problems, it’s time to learn how to […]
Hire me because I’m the best, not because I’m a woman
24/01/2020
And guess what? I wasn’t hired for either of those jobs because of my gender. Many women – and I consider myself one of them – see themselves as much more than a female leader. I feel this label can detract and deflect attention from my professional and personal achievements. I, for one, am thrilled […]
Are You Pushing Yourself Too Hard at Work?
22/01/2020
C.J. Burton/Getty Images We all have intense periods at work where multiple deadlines converge, an important deal is closing, or a busy season lasts for a few months. During these times, we may work more intensely or longer hours, but we know that the situation is temporary, and we are able to keep work in […]
Unexpected Companies Produce Some of the Best CEOs
17/01/2020
MirageC/Getty Images About 10% of S&P 500 companies change CEOs annually. Behind these appointments are often years of intricate preparation grooming successors. We regularly get approached by CEOs and boards who find it challenging to groom the right candidates and look for effective approaches to develop the next CEO. Venerable behemoths like GE, IBM, P&G, […]
Why isn’t your transformation showing up in the bottom line?
17/12/2019
“Transformation” is the buzzword of the day for companies in most industries, but for many it carries an asterisk: studies show wide variation in companies’ rates of success with organizational transformations—whether they are changing how they go to market, updating back-office processes, automating production systems, or otherwise making significant changes in how their businesses are […]
How CEOs can help lead technology transformations
11/12/2019
We’ve seen numerous companies boost their financial performance after their CEOs made it a priority to strengthen the technology function and bring more technology capabilities closer to the business’s strategy and operations. Fulfilling this mandate, however, can be a challenge. Most CEOs already have a long slate of priorities, and relatively few feel comfortable enough […]
A new leadership imperative: Corporate social responsibility
03/12/2019
Society’s expectations for business are rising. Customers—particularly younger ones—want to know what the companies they engage with are doing for, with, and to the world. Nine in ten Generation Z consumers believe that companies have a responsibility to address environmental and social issues. Younger people think that environmentally and socially focused companies are better prospective […]
Why Likable Leaders Seem More Effective
19/11/2019
masterzphotois/Getty Images In late 2007, one of us, Charn, found himself in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, preparing to fly a Kiowa Warrior helicopter over the Iraqi border. Kuwait is a stopover where U.S. soldiers finish all required training just prior to deploying into combat. The only treacherous part of Kuwait is the sand — it is […]
5 Simple Rules for Strategy Execution
15/11/2019
Bjarte Rettedal/Getty Images In survey after survey, the execution of carefully developed strategy comes in as a key problem that evades solution by executives. They acknowledge that they can’t seem to get it right. It’s one thing to design a strategy in the boardroom and quite another to get it operating at all levels of […]
Mindsets and practices of the best CEOs
14/11/2019
A company has only one peerless role: chief executive officer. It’s the most powerful and sought-after title in business, more exciting, rewarding, and influential than any other. What the CEO controls—the company’s biggest moves—accounts for 45 percent of a company’s performance. 1 1. Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, and Sven Smit, Strategy Beyond the Hockey […]
Burnout is a pandemic. Why don’t we talk more about it?
29/10/2019
Stress – from the Latin “stringere”, to squeeze tight, touch or injure – is not bad, per se. Positive stress and adrenaline in the right circumstances can make us stronger, happier and healthier. Yet, in certain work environments, chronic stress provokes anxiety, detachment and fatigue that can lead to burnout. The World Health Organization (WHO) […]
Can a Board Member’s Job Be Automated?
28/10/2019
koya79/Getty Images The role of a Non-Executive Director (NED) is to represent and safeguard the long-term interests of shareholders and broader stakeholders, including employees, customers, society, and environment. As stewards of the company, the Board and its NEDs, have two primary governance responsibilities: However, continued advances in artificial intelligence, robotic process automation (RPA), and distributed […]
Why Junior Employees Should Mentor Senior Employees
26/10/2019
Peter Dazeley/Getty Images When Mark Tibergien, CEO of Advisor Solutions, thought about the future of BNY Mellon’s Pershing, he knew the company had a problem. Millennials were uninterested in working in financial services. In addition, Millennials who did join the company were leaving the company at higher rates than their older peers. Like BNY Mellon’s […]
5 Things Leaders Do That Stifle Innovation
24/10/2019
Michael Blann/Getty Images In 2018, the U.S. slipped out of Bloomberg’s top 10 most innovative countries for the first time. But this isn’t necessarily a hint of entrepreneurship’s demise; it’s a reflection of the tumultuous environment we find ourselves in — one that’s rife with unpredictability. This type of environment is often referred to as VUCA — volatility, uncertainty, complexity, […]
Prepare your board of directors for crisis management
23/10/2019
A corporate crisis has become a modern-day rite of passage for the board directors and senior executives of many companies. Everyone knows by now that crises are an ever-present threat that can strike any organization, no matter how apparently well run. Crises can emerge from a clear blue sky, escalate within hours or even minutes, […]
GDP Is Not a Measure of Human Well-Being
21/10/2019
malerapaso/Getty Images Economic growth has raised living standards around the world. However, modern economies have lost sight of the fact that the standard metric of economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), merely measures the size of a nation’s economy and doesn’t reflect a nation’s welfare. Yet policymakers and economists often treat GDP, or GDP per […]
Where Companies Go Wrong with Learning and Development
17/10/2019
Gregor Schuster/Getty Images Organizations spent $359 billion globally on training in 2016, but was it worth it? Not when you consider the following: Not only is the majority of training in today’s companies ineffective, but the purpose, timing, and content of training is flawed. Learning for the Wrong Reasons Bryan Caplan, professor of economics at […]
Are you a growth leader? The seven beliefs and behaviors that growth leaders share
16/10/2019
What makes someone a growth leader? In conversations we’ve had with business leaders, the answer tends to boil down to a variation of “I know it when I see it.” But it turns out that there is a specific set of attributes that growth leaders share. After carrying out a survey of 165 C-suite executives […]
What Happens When Teams Fight Burnout Together
11/10/2019
Michael Blann/Getty Images Here’s a vexing paradox. On the one hand, companies are offering more wellness and well-being options than ever before, including mindfulness and yoga classes, nap rooms, and fitness facilities. On the other hand, employee burnout has risen to such a level that the World Health Organization now considers it a workplace hazard. Most […]
Convening a red team and blue team can help business leaders get both sides of the story
09/10/2019
Despite their best intentions, executives fall prey to cognitive and organizational biases that get in the way of good decision making. In this series, we highlight some of them and offer a few effective ways to address them. Our topic this time? Getting both sides of the story The dilemma The CEO of a large, […]
3 of the Most Common Challenges Women Face in Negotiations
08/10/2019
master1305/Getty Images Small negotiations are woven through the fabric of our everyday working lives. Managers negotiate to secure resources for their teams, create new positions, or retain existing ones. Employees negotiate to gain more flexible work arrangements, access development opportunities, or define new roles. We use negotiations to help our selves, our team members, and […]
How dual-career couples find fulfilment at work
02/10/2019
The struggle to balance two demanding careers is a dilemma that many employees face daily. Our recent study of more than 35,000 workers with spouses or live-in partners in a variety of professional sectors found that 89 percent of women and 70 percent of men are part of a dual-career couple (DCC)—a couple in which […]
4 Tips for Managing Organizational Change
27/09/2019
Walker and Walker/Getty Images Launching major transformation efforts is a common way business leaders try to get a leg up on the competition or just to keep their heads above water. But too many of these efforts fail. Change is difficult and many will not only resist it, but seek to undermine it. Unsurprisingly then, […]
Hire Leaders for What They Can Do, Not What They Have Done
25/09/2019
cranach/Getty Images Fifty years have passed since the publication of The Peter Principle, but its rule still applies today. “In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties,” noted Laurence J. Peter, the educator behind this famous work. His theory postulates that most competent people […]
6 Ways CEOs Can Prove They Care About More Than Shareholder Value
21/09/2019
Hiroshi Watanabe/Getty Images Somewhere, Milton Friedman must be spinning. Whatever they thought they were doing, the 181 CEOs who signed the Business Roundtable’s breakthrough statement on the purpose of corporations embraced a much wider interpretation of corporate responsibility—signalling the beginning of the end for the shareholder primacy cult. The pressure on business leaders to declare […]