Talent Leadership

For the past few years, we’ve been leading up to this point – rightsizing, restructuring, looking for ways to do more with less, and trying to place bets on what will position our organizations for success in our time. My bet is that it’s all about innovation and disruption – rethinking the way we “do” business and the way we “do” leadership - in order to meet the big, hairy, business challenges that are just around the corner.Who better to help us rethink the biggest business issues of our time than the Wall Street Journal’s #1 ranked most influential business thinker – Gary Hamel? In his brand new book, What Matters Now – How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation he tackles the very questions that business leaders and human capital practitioners alike are grappling with every day. He explores the “fundamental, make-or-break issues that will determine whether your organization thrives or dives in the years ahead”- sounds like just what we need! more »

Years ago, when taking a family drive on Sundays was a typical outing, we would inevitably get lost. This would perturb my older sister (who became a scientist), but for me, being someplace new was when the sense of adventure began (in retrospect, our respective career choices make great sense). My parents used to say (this was before there was GPS and i-phones), “You’re never lost as long you have gas in the tank.” So I appreciate them encouraging my quest for what's new. And Yogi Berra said, “We’re lost, but making good time.” However, in today’s business world, organizations don’t have unlimited fuel (either tangible assets or intangible assets) to find out where they’re going. Our individual competitive advantage as a leader is the fuel injection for how our organization runs, stalls, idles, or performs at full throttle. more »

As the new year begins, you may have spent some constructive time visioning, strategizing and planning  how the year can play out. I found myself thinking about that after seeing an interview of Steve Jobs, about when he bought Pixar Films, and invested in developing the company’s potential year after year, because he believed in what they could achieve. Today Pixar is recognized as wildly successful. What I took away from that story is Job’s ability to identify potential for the future and make the investment in talent; both rely on being visionary. As leaders, when we make talent deployment decisions that will achieve our vision, we rely to some extent on instinct, as well as on available evidence, a deep understanding of the operations in our company, and emerging trends. more »

Last night I went to an uplifting musical theatre production of “Annie”- the play was set in 1932 when America was in the trough of the Great Depression, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal to put Americans back to work, re-building the country’s infrastructure, and transformed the economy which had been shattered by the crash. Historians have noted the major psychological impact of the depression on Americans and how Roosevelt’s deal boosted America's self-esteem. It wasn’t hard to see the parallels between “Annie” and today’s economy. more »