April 15, 2005

Who is designing the iPod in your industry?
Posted by Sean Kenney at 10:01 AM

Roger Martin believes that the North American economy is radically transforming. As the production of goods and services increasingly becomes routinized, the cost advantages across a growing array of industries accrue to China and India. Scale alone is not enough to thrive in a world where markets are rapidly globalizing; incremental improvement won't deliver a decent ROI. Our companies will continue to prosper only if they push to the higher ground of innovating and creating "elegant, refined products and services" -- which might well be produced elsewhere.

This FastCompany article discusses the assertion that imagination and innovation will be the critical advantage of successful companies in the evolving global economy. Business leaders will need to think like designers and structure their organizations on a more fluid, project-oriented basis... like design shops.

How flexible, imaginative, and innovative is your organization?
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April 12, 2005

It's a candidate's market again
Posted by at 12:02 PM

Take a look at Who's Got the Power?

In other words the churn predicted by so many for so long has begun and it is no longer a buyers market for talent.

Doug has some ideas for how recruiters need to deal with the swing. His suggestions:

• Align the position with corporate and department goals
  
• Market the position - what is so compelling? Ask the happy gal or guy doing the job! Create a compelling story not just an internet post!
  
• Figure out what it will take to source...time, money, where, how...
  
• And make the hiring team agree. Don't throw stuff up against the wall and waste time - get agreement on parameters first.
  
• Plan for contingencies...keep sourcing great talent - don't stop until position is filled and candidate is on the job.
  
• Completely understand the deficiency of any candidate before you say no...they may be worth training and the loyalty gained may keep them from looking in the future.
  
• Compile and answer objections from the candidate and hiring team from the beginning...this is a bi-directional selling process. Done correctly it is not easy!
  
• Close. Set time lines for all involved and make them stick to them.
  
• And lastly, be nice...the candidates have the power so treat them well...that's all of them - those you turn down and those who turn you down.
  

Good ideas no matter what, but especially useful now.

If you're seeing a change in the market, what have you done to make your positions/company more enticing?
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April 6, 2005

Drinking on the job?
Posted by Diane Danielson at 8:22 AM

The Chicago Tribune today takes a look at how women are doing their own version of the Power Lunch:

Perhaps three-martini lunches are passe, but young businesswomen--particularly on the coasts and mostly among themselves--are reviving the 12 o'clock toast. Although she considers business and booze a bad mix, Rachel Weingarten, president of a Brooklyn, N.Y., marketing firm, has observed that the women she dines with drink more than the men. She attributes this feminized "cocktail culture" to the TV series "Sex and the City," which glamorized the martini.

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April 5, 2005

Benchmarking inflates CEO's salaries
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 4:04 PM

Do you know how much your CEO is worth? The air may be rare and the position precarious, but most CEOs are still riding high:

It sure would be sweet to have your pay based on what the highest earners make in your industry, or better yet in any industry.

That isn't how it works for most employees, but it is certainly a reality for many of the nation's CEOs. Their already out-of-the-ballpark pay has soared over the last decade thanks largely to how benchmarks are used in determining their compensation.

However, with increasing shareholder pressure and other forces at work, there is a countervaling trend, with more and more firms now adjusting compensation at the top:

Those kind of pressures are certainly pushing some companies to change their benchmarks. Mercer Human Resources Consulting, which works with many big U.S. companies, said that it has started seeing what it describes as a "move toward the median" among its clients.

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