With real estate and facilities as two of the largest expenses (and assets) for the average organization, it may be surprising to learn a sizable portion of that spend is going toward wasted energy and lost productivity associated with unsuitable and inefficient performance of the physical work environments. This is not just an issue for Fortune 500 companies; increasingly, … [More]
Global Businesses and HR Leaders Are Failing to Deliver Future Leaders
Given constantly changing market dynamics, new technologies, shifting government regulations and evolving customer expectations, leaders must understand and respond effectively to seismic shifts that affect their businesses. Traditional leadership development programs are failing to deliver collaborative and visionary business leaders, according to new research from Bersin by … [More]
Leadership in the Era of Digital Disruption
The rapid advancement of technology continues to change the world — and the marketplace — faster than many businesses can keep up with, disrupting all their plans and threatening to render them obsolete. It may be time for business leaders to take the initiative and start doing a little disrupting of their own. In this era of “digital disruption” — which refers to how … [More]
Quantifying Love in Business
In this age of analytics, big data, business intelligence and data science, it is commonly understood that one must measure something if one wishes to manage it. Simple enough. But when it comes to something that is explicitly qualitative — a healthy, loving business culture — how might a leader go about quantifying the impact of such a workplace? Can love really be … [More]
The Strong Case for Culture by Design
The United States destroyed its enemies in World War II because it out-produced them. Its manufacturing capacity was enormous and efficient. Its workforce was inspired and committed. The government, suppliers, and competitors all collaborated to produce the biggest manufacturing juggernaut the world had ever known. It seemed there was no end to America’s manufacturing … [More]
Loving Well, Sans Weirdness
While integrating love in business may sound nice as a theory, the real question is how to do it without it getting … weird. Of course, like anything in life, love can be a bit messy. But, for the sake of everyone, it doesn’t have to be mushy. Loving well and fostering such a unique culture is helped by these simple steps. Build Authentic Relationship It all starts with … [More]
Diversity Trends in Small Business Investing
Maria Contreras-Sweet, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the voice of small business on President Obama’s Cabinet, last month heralded the release of “Measuring the Representation of Women and Minorities in the SBIC Program,” a groundbreaking SBA study showing the racial and gender makeup of investment boards is tied directly to investment decisions … [More]
The Integration of Love and Business
Driving and texting. Church and state. Love and business. At first glance, one would think these things should stay as separate from one another as possible. And, frankly, that’s how most people treat them — as combinations that simply don’t mix well, each half of the given pair to be compartmentalized and engaged with on its own. The thought of love being exercised in … [More]
Combat Social Media Mud-Slinging
Winston Churchill said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” An Internet search for “Charlotte police shooting” will pull up more than 20,000 news articles and videos littered with speculations and quotes from witnesses, family members and police. Did Keith Lamont Scott have a gun, or was it just a book? The viral nature of … [More]
SBA Awards $18.8 Million to Support Small-Business Trade Growth
Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, last month announced $18.85 million to support export growth among American small businesses. The funding was awarded through SBA’s competitive State Trade Expansion Program. The share for Arizona businesses in Fiscal Year 2016 is $299,903. Calling it a boon for America’s small businesses, … [More]
Succession Planning Takes Work
Recruiting is broken! It is costly, outdated and misused. Succession planning, important to any business’s long-term success, is the underused, less expensive and more effective alternative to recruiting for difficult-to-find management positions. Realizing this dream, however, requires putting in place a solid road map so companies can identify their high-potential players and … [More]
Just a Minute? Make the Most of It
Ask any working professional what they could use more of, and you’ll probably keep getting the same answer: time. In the frantic pace of the digital age, time is something everyone seems to be short on now. (It’s almost laughable that we once thought technology would help create more leisure time!) But if people could figure out how to make the most of their waking moments, … [More]
No Joke: Humor Is Vital to Workplace Culture
Comic actor Charlie Chaplin famously said, “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” This philosophy can be applied directly to the workplace. A Gallup study found that people laugh significantly less on weekdays than on weekends. And a study by Happify found that millennials — who represent the largest generation in the U.S. workforce — are obsessed with their jobs, … [More]
No Time for Teamwork?
“Culture?” The half-formed question hung in the air between the puzzled speaker and a room full of students. We were hosting Larry, a founder of three successful energy startups, as a guest lecturer in our seminar on corporate culture at the University of Pennsylvania. We had just asked the veteran entrepreneur what we thought was a simple warm-up question: How do you create … [More]
Faces Matter
When a person is deciding whether or not to do business with your company, you might expect them to check all the key selling points. Price, benefits and features, brand reputation — these are all things that marketers anticipate customers will care about and, therefore, are the brand identifiers that receive the most attention when it comes to sales and marketing. However, … [More]
Are Unknowing Mistakes Driving Away Customers?
Loyal customers are hard to come by these days. We all know this. After struggling through years of turmoil and uncertainty, the last thing most leaders would purposely do is take customers for granted. And yet, in many a company, all the fervent efforts to attract and retain them are falling curiously flat. It’s not that they’re storming angrily out the door. It’s that their … [More]
Releasing the Hidden Innovation Brakes
The senior vice president for product development and his team had spent nearly 18 months developing a new range for an international cleaning products business. Initial customer research in two European markets had identified a need for office cleaning machines with a more efficient use of the cleaning agent, and the project had passed through the company’s structured product … [More]
Digital Forces a Change in World of Work
Responding to disruptive changes in digital technology, business models and workforce demographics, 92 percent of business and HR leaders have identified the critical need to redesign their organization to meet global business demands. This is according to Deloitte’s fourth annual report, “Global Human Capital Trends 2016: The new organization, Different by design.” Yet only 14 … [More]
