Phone Jacks, Netflix and the Benefit of Perspective
My curious 5 year old nephew was playing on the floor the other day, saw a phone jack at his eye level, and asked what it was. As anyone with a small child knows, he plays with phones all the time but the concept of a phone that had to remain physically tethered into the wall made little sense to him. The CDC recently published an eye opening study regarding telephone usage and found that shockingly approximately 30 million children live in homes with only wireless telephones and 35.8% of adults do not have a landline coming into their home.
As time passes and trends and technologies come and go, society is left to adjust, respond, and adapt to these changing circumstances. Consumers are forced to make educated decisions with the best information available to determine which advancements to partake in and which to let pass. Business leaders need to think strategy and ensure the long term success of their brand and firm. In 2012, Netflix totaled more than $3.6 billion in revenue. Blockbuster had the opportunity to buy Netflix for $50 million in 2000 and passed. The leaders did not see the value in that opportunity at the time.
HR leaders have to be able to keep an eye on the day to day but also maintain a strategic view of the future landscape. The world has already seen its first generation that have grown up with the internet; Generation Y possess a different frame of reference and perspective on what mobile, social and technology mean in their lives. As these millenials move into positions of leadership, the talent landscape organically evolves with them reflecting the values and aspirations of that generation.
Join HCI this July 9, 2013 at 12pm ET for the webcast, The Changing Competencies for the HR Generalist. Hear J. Keith Dunbar, Vice President of Talent Management at SAIC, share his experience with change management, human capital, and learn how to set the firm up with long term success by planning for the talent landscape of the future.