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Continue reading ‘Generation Y studied by Economist Business Intelligence Unit’

on November 19, 2008

in Generation Y, Generations, Organisational Design, Talent - Bright Young Things and Trends - Future Trends

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Youth research One of the most common criticisms of generational theory is that it is nothing much more than pop psychology. While it is true that many people use generational theory in its crudest forms, applying it when all they know about it is what they heard in a one hour keynote session at a conference, this does not mean that the theory itself has no substance. It is also true that some people use it as a “blunt instrument” - applying it with no regard to other dynamics and segmentation models. Again, just because some people use it badly, doesn’t discredit the theory itself.

There are many formal research projects on generations, and almost all of them confirm the basic theory and its findings. A recent study now focuses on the younger generation, known as Generation Y. The global survey was conducted by the Economist Business Intelligence Unit and Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company. It looked at how consumers born between 1982 and 2001 will impact the customer experience, asking C-level and senior executives from around the world how they are creating a customer experience to attract and retain Millennials. Of the 164 executives who took part in the survey, 29% came from North America, 31% from Europe, 30% from Asia-Pacific and 10% from the rest of the world. Participants represented 19 different industries. One-third of respondents’ organisations had annual revenue greater than US$1 billion and just over one-half (51%) had less than US$500 million in revenue. Board members and CEOs comprised 30% of respondents. CFOs, CTOs and other C-level executives made up an additional 19%. The remainder was split among other senior and middle management functions.

The headline results and executive summary of the findings is very interesting:

“Flowing” at work

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on November 19, 2008

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Most sportsmen display passion and disciplined concentration. If cyclists, runners, tennis players, golfers and swimmers feel focused, inspired and energized by their jobs, why can’t people get that in their normal day jobs too? Why is the sporting world any different to the business world? Is that feeling reserved for sports people only or can other professions such as nurses, lawyers, accountants and secretaries feel it too?

In Turbulent Times, People Matter

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on November 19, 2008

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Now more than ever you need well trained, passionate staff, focused on delivering consistent, high quality service and products. Yet, just when you need them to be most passionate and focused, many companies are finding that their people are demotivated and distracted, especially their younger staff members. Getting the most out of them requires a changed mindset and improved management skills that every leader would do well to understand.

Trends affecting the future of work

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on November 19, 2008

in Trends - Future Trends

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I found an excellent blog entry that goes into some detail about the process of developing scenarios for the future. It is entitled: “A Framework to Forecast the Future of Working“. (PS, my friend, Clem Sunter is one of South Africa’s top scenario planners, having spent most of his career being paid to do this at Anglo American. His website is one of the best on the issue: Mind of a Fox, and his books are superb).

I thought you might find the analysis of future trends at the “Future of Working” website interesting:

Gutenberg Take Two

It started with Gutenberg’s printing press, the ability to mass communicate information in the form of books and newspapers, a changing of people’s view of the world. Gutenberg is credited with enabling the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Protestant Reformation (Harry Ransom Centre, 2008). Once again the availability of information has taken on a new level fuelled by the Internet. It is providing mass communication between everyone on the plant. Today we are going through the same quantum of change as the world did starting in the 1400s with the advent of the printing press. Kevin Kelly predicted back in 1997 that this level of change will be “momentous” and explained how the underlying driver of this was communication;
“The great irony of our times is that the era of computers is over. All the major consequences of stand-alone computers have already taken place. Computers have speeded up our lives a bit, and that is it. In contrast all the most promising technologies making their debut now are chiefly due to communications between computers - that is, to connections rather than to computations. And since communications is the basis of culture, fiddling at this level is indeed momentous.” (Kelly, 1997, page 140)

ROWEing business towards success

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on November 17, 2008

in Book Reviews and Organisational Narrative

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Picture this:

You don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn every morning. You can have a lie in. If you don’t feel like commuting into work, don’t. Go shopping, go to the movies, visit a friend or do some housework. Only work when you feel like it. As long as you achieve the work results that are expected of you, your time is your own. Spend quality time with your family and friends, finish your chores and admin, focus on your hobbies while delivering good results and advancing your career. You have work life balance and the company also prospers. Everyone lives happily ever after.

A fairy tale? Bliss? Utopia? This is a true story. It is called a ROWE and it works at Best Buy. ROWE is a Results Only Work Environment. In fact, it works so well that Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, who implemented the system at Best Buy, have written a book to encourage other companies to do it too. Their book is called ‘Why Work Sucks and How To Fix It.’

It is not pie-in-the-sky stuff. People are talking more and more about focusing on outputs, results only and giving the new work force the freedom and flexibility which they seem to crave. In the new world of work, more power is clearly devolving from the organisation to individuals because workers control the most lucrative means of production – their brains. Leading management thinkers have predicted that temporary networks of talented people to work on projects will be more productive than the hierarchical, command and control hierarchy that characterized the industrial age workplace. If this is how the world of work will look, then a move towards a results only work environment could be very effective.

Pictures of Amazon’s distribution centre in the UK

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on November 15, 2008

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I love Amazon because it is so convenient and easy. I can order books in three clicks of my mouse and the package is dropped through my door two days later.

Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes? Look at these ten pictures on the Guardian’s website.

The Net Generation: The kids are alright, OK?

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on November 14, 2008

in Generation Y and Technology

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In the latest edition of The Economist, there is a news of a massive research project recently completed on how the Net impacts kids. It’s well worth reading, and supports the conclusions my co-author, Nikki Bush and I put in my latest book, “Future-Proof Your Child“.

The net generation
The kids are alright

Nov 13th 2008
From The Economist print edition

WORRIES about the damage the internet may be doing to young people has produced a mountain of books—a suitably old technology in which to express concerns about the new. Robert Bly claims that, thanks to the internet, the “neo-cortex is finally eating itself”. Today’s youth may be web-savvy, but they also stand accused of being unread, bad at communicating, socially inept, shameless, dishonest, work-shy, narcissistic and indifferent to the needs of others.

The man who christened the “net generation” in his 1997 bestseller, “Growing Up Digital”, has no time for such views. In the past two years, Don Tapscott has overseen a $4.5m study of nearly 8,000 people in 12 countries born between 1978 and 1994. In “Grown Up Digital” he uses the results to paint a portrait of this generation that is entertaining, optimistic and convincing. The problem, he suspects, is not the net generation but befuddled baby-boomers, who once sang along with Bob Dylan that “something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is”, yet now find that they are clueless about the revolutionary changes taking place among the young.

Hot, Flat and Crowded

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in Business sustainability & environmental issues

on November 11, 2008

. 1 Comment

I am a big fan of Thomas Friedman. He wrote the bestseller ‘The World is Flat’ and has recently published a new book called, ‘Hot, Flat and Crowded’.

Follow this link to an hour-long presentation by Thomas Friedman. I read ‘Hot, Flat and Crowded’ in two weeks so, if you don’t have time on your hands, I highly recommend you watch this talk. It is a fascinating, thought-provoking study of petropolitics, climate change, globalization and other similar themes.

On Saturday, I went to the local shopping mall in Wimbledon, London. The central heating was so hot that it gave me a headache and I started to sweat in my big anorak. The temperature of the entire centre is regulated centrally.rent a car bulgaria While in the hair salon, I noticed it was a little cooler. My hairdresser explained why – the air conditioner was on. So the mall turns up the heating and the individual shops turn up their air conditioners. I am now writing to the mall management to complain about the unnecessary waste of precious energy and that is thanks to the insight I got from Thomas Friedman’s book. It explained the implications of a hot, flat and crowded world and it scares me. It will scare you too.

People Matter

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Continue reading ‘People Matter’

on November 10, 2008

in Organisational Narrative

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Organisations get results when individuals, equipped with the right skills, are energized to do the right things at the right time.

Keith Malo (Researcher at AchieveGlobal)

In the 21^st century, people matter. In an economic downturn, people matter more than ever.

People matter because they put an organisation’s goals and strategy into action. Ultimately people deliver results and they can get things done. Many business leaders find this hard to accept because people are so difficult to understand and control. But whether you like it or not, people affect your profitability, quality, customer service, productivity and economic resilience in a very big way.

When people are productive, they deliver results. People will behave in a productive way if:

a. they know what you want them to do and why,
b. they have the ability or potential ability to do want you ask and
c. they care about achieving the goal.

You can’t control people but you can control the environment in which they work. Behavioural researchers have proved the work environment plays a significant part in how people behave.

When implementing your plan of action for the tough period ahead, follow these steps:

Recent media and web references

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on November 10, 2008

in Media tidbits

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TomorrowToday UK and Graeme Codrington’s presentations have recently been commented on in the media and on blogs. Here is a selection:

Graeme interviewed for Management Issues podcast, on generational changes, the US election and managing young people. Listen to it here.
Report back on sessions held at the Academy for Chief Executives. Read it here.
“Blanket advice ‘will not fill generation gaps’” on Citywire - read it here.
The launch of Graeme’s new book in South Africa, “Future-Proof Your Child: Parenting the Wired Generation”. Read it here.
An hour long interview on ClassicFM with Dori-Anne Weill, on the launch of Graeme’s book, and how different generations deal with stress. Listen to the hour long interview here.

What Consumers Really Think of Green PR

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in Business sustainability & environmental issues

on November 7, 2008

. 0 Comments

Here’s a great little entry from BNET Insights - read it here.

Here’s a quiz: which of the following environmental terms resonates most strongly with consumers:

a ) Conservation

b) Green

c) Energy Efficiency

d) Sustainable

If you answered “b) Green” — you’re wrong! The answer is c) Energy Efficiency. That’s according to Suzanne Shelton of Shelton Group, who conducts annual surveys of consumer attitudes toward environmental issues. Shelton’s research indicates that only 61.5% of consumers have a positive association with the word “green,” 63.5 percent feel positively about “sustainable,” 74% feel positively about “conservation” and a whopping 88.2% feel positively about “energy efficiency.”

Continue reading ‘What Consumers Really Think of Green PR’

Personality tests are missing something …

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on November 7, 2008

in Organisational Narrative

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Don’t underestimate the power that the environment at your office has on the way people behave.

A group of social scientists, led by Philip Zimbardo, did an experiment in the early 1970’s. They created a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University. The cells looked completely authentic. These scientists wanted to assess want makes prisons such horrible places. Was it the people that made it so awful or was it the environment that made the people become more horrible?

Zimbardo and his team hired 75 volunteers and split the people so some acted as prisoners and others were wardens. Most of the volunteers described themselves as passive, self-controlled, happy people. They were supposed to live in this prison for 14 days so that the scientists could monitor their behaviour. After 6 days, the situation became so intense that Zimbardo had to call off the experiment.

The mock prison became so aggressive and it made previously controlled and passive people lose the plot. They had to stop the experiment to avoid serious harm to the “prisoners” and “guards”. The “guards” became increasingly abusive and sadistic and the “prisoners” were becoming more rebellious and unruly.

This experiment revealed some fascinating things about our character. Zimbardo’s conclusion was that sometimes a situation is so powerful that it causes people to ignore their inherent predispositions. Genetic predispositions and the environment in which you grow up form your character. But, as Malcolm Gladwell says in his book The Tipping Point, ‘character is more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context. The reason that most of us seem to have a consistent character is that most of us are really good at controlling our environment.’

I can personally relate to this. I consider myself extremely honest and so are my friends. I live in Raynes Park in London and it is a short train ride to the Wimbledon Tube. There are no barriers at Raynes Park and so it is easy to slip on the train without paying. I am shocked that some of my honest friends have done this and it scares me that I have vaguely contemplated it. Our environment – no barriers – has made a few of my friends behave in ways I would never have predicted.

So you never know how people will behave when confronted with a certain situation or when they are not able to control aspects of their environment. Personality tests give you insight into a person but they don’t convey the full picture …

President Obama - a surprise?

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on November 5, 2008

in Global View, Trends - Current Trends and Trends - Future Trends

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At our company, TomorrowToday, we track trends and try and make informed predictions about the future of work. Recently, my colleague, Keith Coats, was traveling through the USA and was asked what “the world” thought about the elections. His answer was that most international observers were surprised and concerned that Senator Obama was not predicted to win by a landslide. That there was even a thought that another Republican, especially a war-mongering one who was trying to win by appealing to very conservative parts of “middle America”, even had a chance was a scary thought.

Of course, one of the issues is that America has not yet dealt with its racial history. Even this morning, as Barack Obama’s landslide is now a reality, it is clear that he won less votes in the Southern States than any of the previous five Democractic candidates for President have done. But that is another thought for another day.

This post is just to say: well done President-elect Obama! Bring on the change.

Its also to say: we told you so. I hope this doesn’t sound like many of the TV “political analysts” currently flooding the 24-hour news channels and sounding as if the results were assured. But, its not easy being a futurist. By the time you need your invoice paid, the future is not yet assured. By the time your predictions come true, people have forgotten you made them. So, unfortunately, we do have to sometimes say, “we told you so” just to remind people that we did actually spot the trends and call it correctly.

Those who know our work will know that even before Obama beat Clinton for the Democratic nomination, I was predicting a landslide win for Barack Obama. Part of this prediction relied on the desire for change evidenced in all major democracies in recent months. Part of the prediction relied on the fact that we have predicting some form of economic correction for some time (I wish we had been able to predict the timing and severity of the current downturn), part of it was that if and when the debate turned from international issues (America’s euphemism for foreign military interventions) to national issues (euphemism for America’s economy and self-interested self-interests), and another part was the impact of the generations (age) of each of the candidates on the voters, and a final piece of the puzzle was the new “Generation Y” voters who came out to campaign and vote in record numbers.

Obama by a landslide. Not a surprise to us. But certainly a relief that it is now reality. America - the ever changing, ever adapting nation - is once again forever changed.

The Power of Acquaintances

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on October 31, 2008

in Connection Economy

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We’ve all heard the saying, ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’ In the modern world of work, who you know is more valuable than ever.

In your personal life – for example, your marriage - you will probably get more fulfillment and peace by having a quality relationship with one lifelong partner instead of flitting from one relationship to another. We thrive on strong relationships with our friends and family. They provide the support and love that is vital for our development and success. It does not work like that in business. In the working world, the more relationships you have, the better. In business, weak ties are a very good thing. Quantity can be more valuable than quality.

Understand behaviour by understanding the brain

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Continue reading ‘Understand behaviour by understanding the brain’

on October 29, 2008

in Book Reviews and Organisational Design

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Do you have problems managing large groups of people? I have a solution for you. Read on.

There is limited space in our brains. Our brains are similar to a Tupperware container - you can only fit in so much. There is a name for this – in cognitive psychology, they call it ‘Channel Capacity’. You have different capacities to absorb and process different types of things. You have an intellectual capacity, feeling capacity and a social capacity.

The part of your brain that deals with complex thought and reasoning is called the neocortex. Primates (monkeys and apes, including humans), have the biggest brains of all mammals and the neocortex is particularly large. For years, scientists have wondered what determines the size of the neocortex. Is it eating habits? Is it intellectual ability?

A British anthropologist called Robert Dunbar discovered the answer – the larger the neocortex, the larger the social group in which the primate is able to operate effectively. Humans have the biggest neocortex of all primates so we can operate better in larger social groups than say chimps or monkeys.

Dunbar’s research determined that the biggest group in which humans can cope effectively is made up of 150 people.

New Book: Future-Proof Your Child, by Graeme Codrington

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on October 28, 2008

in Book Reviews

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Book Launch:

Future-proof Your Child by Nikki Bush and Graeme Codrington

Penguin Books is pleased to invite you to the launch of Nikki Bush and Graeme Codrington’s Future-proof Your Child, an essential book for 21st-century parents.

“Stop the world, I want to get off!” is the regular refrain of time-pressured parents today. “Give me an experience and I’ll promise you a relationship,” is the mantra of their children. The world has changed. The future has changed. Childhood is changing. Raising children has never been more challenging – or potentially rewarding.

Here’s a book purpose-built to help you take control.

Proceeds from sales at the event will go to the Play with a Purpose foundation. We’ll see you there!

Event Details

Date: Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Time: 7:00 PM for 7:30 PM
Venue: The Auditorium, Indaba Hotel, William Nicol Drive
Fourways, Johannesburg | Map
Refreshments: or add your own
RSVP: Leanne, leanne.douglas@za.penguingroup.com, 011 327 3550

Book Details

Future-proof Your Child by Nikki Bush and Graeme Codrington
Book Homepage
EAN: 9780143025801
Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Catching Gen Y with pizza delivery

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on October 28, 2008

in General, Generation Y and Marketing and sales

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I’ve been reading a lot of commentary recently about how differently companies need to be targeting Gen Y (people born in the UK after 1988), both as an employee and consumer. The Harvard Business Review has great commentary on the subject, and I’ve just come across a good example by the The Economist who is targeting college students in the US using pizza delivery boxes. Pizzerias around college campuses received Economist branded pizza boxes detailing world production stats on the students favourite pizza ingredients such as cheese!

It’s novel, entertaining, educational and clever…all the things that Gen Y expect from a marketing campaign.

Warren Buffett’s definition of success

Published

on October 27, 2008

in Leadership

. 2 Comments

I love studying successful people. I watch their body language in interviews, dissect their responses to complex questions, read their autobiographies and pour over commentaries about them so that I can copy some of their techniques and be successful too.

I have just read a transcript of an interview with Warren Buffett at the IMD Business School in Lausanne.

Warren Buffett is such a fascinating person because he is so clever, so rich, so wise and yet so very humble.

He was asked what is the definition of success. His response hits the nail on the head -

I would say success… I’ll tell a story first.

There’s a woman in Omaha. She’s in her eighties. She’s a polish-jew, she’s a wonderful person. She’s a friend of mine. She told me, “Warren, when I look at someone, I am slow to make friends, because at the back of my mind, the question always exists - would they hire me?”

Now I would say this, if you get to be sixty or seventy, my own age, and if you have a lot of people who would hire you, you are a success.

And if you don’t have anyone who’ll hire you, no matter how rich you are; no matter how many honorary degrees you’ve been given; no matter what hospitals you are being named after you – you are a failure.

And it’s another way of saying that many people love you. I have never seen anyone who has loved dozens of people, who is not a success when they get older.

I have seen a number of people who have all the ‘trappings of success’ by the world’s measurement. They are rich and have their names on the newspaper and they isn’t a person on earth who loves them. They can’t be a success.

If you have a lot of people who love you when you are sixty or seventy, then you are a very successful person.

To Catch a Wild Pig - A Parable About Today’s Society That Offers Valuable Lessons for Leaders

Published

on October 25, 2008

in Innovation, Leadership and Trends - Current Trends

. 1 Comment

I came across this excellent article by Norman Wolife, President/CEO, Quantum Leaders, a regular contributor for Fast Company.

In it he describes how if you want to catch a wild pig you lay down corn in the forest and over a period of time build a fence one section at a time until the pigs are happy to enter through a gate in the fence to collect their “free food”. Once inside the enclosure the gate is closed trapping the pigs, they run around madly for a while but then calm down and return to the food. It takes some time to hunt like this but at the end of it you have the whole herd captured and not just one pig.

The parable is an interesting one in our western society today especially with the current financial crisis. The fence can be equated to rules and regulations slowly encircling business. Norman argues that we must guard carefully not to fall into the trap of being so dependent on the government that we lose our sense of responsibility and even worse, the very spark of life. On the other end is allowing things to run wild which has led to the financial crisis.

The trick is to find a balance between regulation and freedom and this requires true leadership. As the article points out “The trouble we have in our political system is we keep running back and forth between taming the wild pigs and letting them run wild. Wildness is good for creativity, entrepreneurialism, and the like. You want the free flow of energy to stimulate new innovation. And yet when you have unbounded flow of energy you have chaos, which then has to correct itself. As we learn to work with the powerful flow of societal energies, I believe we can learn to modulate the unbounded flow of energy while not reaching the point of constraining it to where we are limiting its flow.”

The parable’s lesson is not only for society but also for business. How many companies so over manage their projects that they miss out on the innovation and creativity of “running wild”. The lessons from the current crisis and the message for leadership is the importance of finding a balance between rules and regulations and the unbridled freedoms that lead innovation astray.

You can read the full article here

If something is wrong, why are people not proactive enough to fix it?

Published

on October 24, 2008

in Book Reviews and Social Network Analysis

. 0 Comments

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is an excellent book. In fact, it was so good that I read all 267 pages in one sitting.

In 1964, a young lady called Kitty Genovese was chased and brutally attacked on a street in New York City. That sounds tragic but not as tragic as this – 38 people witnessed the attack from the windows of their homes. No one intervened or called the police.

After much analysis and media attention, it was decided that this event epitomized the alienation and anonymity of people in New York City. Living in a crowded city like London, I can relate. People are always in each other’s personal space so, in order to protect yourself, you zone them out. Indifference becomes a conditioned reflex. That sounds like a pitiful excuse so two New York psychologists investigated the Kitty Genovese attack further.

These social psychologists staged emergency situations to determine which witnesses would help and when they would act. The outcome was fascinating – the severity of the event did not affect a witness’s decision to help the victim or take proactive measures to solve the crisis. The number of witnesses to the event determined whether people helped or not.

Gladwell says, ‘The lesson is not that no one called despite the fact that 38 people heard her scream; it’s that no one called because 38 people heard her scream. Ironically, had she been attacked on a lonely street with just one witness, she might have lived.’

This is known as the ‘Bystander Problem’. It means that, in a group, people are generally less responsive because they expect everyone else to act. If no one does, they assume it is not a big problem. Responsibility for taking action is diluted by a group.

The penny dropped for me because I experienced the ‘Bystander Problem’ many times at work. As a manager, I was often shown problems that could have been solved earlier if someone used their initiative and was proactive. But no one did this and now I understand why – when there are many people involved, they expect others to act. Responsibility is diffused among the group.

I didn’t realize how sensitive people are to their environment. Gladwell calls it the ‘Power of Context’ and says the moral of the story is that if you want people to change their behaviour – help someone in need or solve a problem at work – most of the time you can do this by considering the small, subtle details of their immediate surroundings.

Bank of England mentions the “R” word

Published

on October 23, 2008

in Connection Economy, Generations and Trends - Current Trends

. 0 Comments

Last night in Leeds, Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, told business leaders that he is concerned about rising unemployment and falling house prices and for the first time used the “R” word… stating ‘It now seems likely the UK economy is entering a recession’.

This was not an entirely unexpected statement and now that the realities of the financial crisis and credit crunch are hitting people in the streets, we are giving consideration into what this means for the various generations. Below is a small extract from a study and article that we are currently writing:

The Silent Generation, now in their late 60’s are the only economically active generation still alive to have experienced the Great Depression. Many of them have been waiting for the next crash, for them it has been a matter of when not if. This is a generation that trusts organisations with a long historical and stable track record so it will have unnerved them that some of the most respectable institutions such as RBS and Barclays have come so close to crashing. Silents are conservative by nature but the recent events will have them hiding money under the mattress, and for the time being maybe that is the safest place.

Baby Boomers are resourceful, they are also the most in debt generation of all time. Boomers are entering or closing in on retirement. Many are going to expect paybacks in the form of pensions, shares and equity in houses that just don’t have the value they expected right now. They are the sandwich generation having to fund their kids’ education and help support their parents who are living longer than expected and eating into “their inheritance”. The crisis is going to be a stressful time for Boomers. Companies need to be focusing on helping them as employees and customers to retain their commitment and loyalty.

Generation X grew up during a period of huge turmoil that defined the 70’s and 80’s. They have been anticipating this crisis for some time and if not financially, they are at least emotionally prepared. Generation X are survivors and comfortable with change. We expect them to become more focused on themselves, their family and what is important to them. Companies should not expect loyalty or handouts from this generation, the WIFM or “what’s in it for me” factor will become even more pronounced in this generation. They will be skeptical of your “agenda”, and need to be engaged relationally.

Millennials or Gen Y has never experienced an economic downturn. They are optimistic and confident. Many may not even be prepared for the implication of a downsized economy, less money and fewer jobs. They however, will not care. Gen Y has the confidence and access to the resources from parents - and particularly grandparents - to give anything a go. Expect Gen Y to take the crisis by the scruff of the neck, drive their own agenda and be central to societies changes. Don’t back off from being ethical or green during the downturn, they won’t buy your excuses.

Is there value in sharing strategy consultants with your competitors?

Published

on October 22, 2008

. 0 Comments

McKinsey is one of the most prestigious and respected management consulting companies. They help solve strategic issues that keep senior management awake at night. Their audience is generally the movers and shakers of corporate leadership who play a fundamental role in shaping the global economy.

Research reveals that they consult with 147 of the top 200 companies in the world (74%). Two-thirds of the Fortune 1000 has hired them as strategy consultants. 80 of the world’s top 120 financial firms use McKinsey.

Wikipedia says, ‘Knowing that a competitor has hired McKinsey has historically been a strong impetus for companies to seek McKinsey’s assistance themselves’.

I have been reading a book called ‘Re-energizing the corporation’. The authors make an interesting point - if you are using McKinsey’s services, and so are your competitors, what are the chances you will gain long term competitive advantage? Can companies acquire truly lasting innovation, direction and strategic inspiration, that will set them apart from others, if they are all hoping to get it from exactly the same source?

Discover how Generations predicted the financial crisis

Published

on October 21, 2008

in Connection Economy, Generations, Global View, Trends - Current Trends and Trends - Future Trends

. 0 Comments

The past few weeks in the financial markets have indeed been a rollercoaster of a ride! The ensuing fall out and chaos is well documented so I’m not going to comment about the crisis, but rather what I’ve found it intriguing, and something that perhaps has been missed is how accurately the crisis was predicted by Generational theorists.

Two key developers of generational theory, Harvard Professors Howe and Strauss predicted the current crisis using their generational research findings back in the early 1990’s. They mapped Anglo-American history as far back as 500 years to the war of the roses and identified a 80 year repeating cycle. These cycles, which they purported, create the generations and run on a two stroke beat of crisis’s and awakenings, each 40 years apart from the other, as illustrated in the graphic below.

The last “awakening” was the hippie revolution and the events that rocked the world in and around 1968. Frighteningly forty years… 2008 is the year their research identified as the next crisis… Many commentators argued that the events of 9/11 and 7/7 were the crisis, and for some time it was thought that Howe and Strauss had got it wrong. The key though is in their definition of a crisis, which is defined as - an event which changes the views held by society to the extent that society’s views and institutions are fundamentally different following the crisis. Using this definition 9/11 as traumatic as it was, was more of a speed bump in society than a crisis. After 9/11 society continued on as before, albeit with a ”little” war “somewhere” in the middle east. The current crisis though does have the potential to radically alter our world. Trust in the financial markets has been shaken, governments have nationalised banks and emerging economies are taking centre stage… The world is indeed changing.

As someone who is passionate about researching societal changes and the implications for businesses, I find all of this fascinating. We are currently developing a new presentation and research study on how the crisis will impact each generation at a point in time when they are all entering major lifestage changes. For example how will the crisis influence the values, attitudes and purchasing behaviours of Baby Boomers in or at retirement? We will soon be in a position to share our insights on the implications of the crisis for each generations. In the meantime if you are interested in learning more or would like to contribute to this discussion on Generations and the impact of the financial crisis please contact me at dean@tomorrowtoday.uk.com or leave a comment on this blog.

Another - new - reason to take Generation Y seriously

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on October 18, 2008

in Generation Y, Generations and The Quick and the Dead - case studies

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There is a mountain of media wordage about “generation y” at the moment. This group of young people has been variously defined as those born from 1978, 1984, 1989 and 1990 until present (or year 2000). However you define them, this is the youngest generation of employees and customers impacting the world of work at the moment. Their earliest generational memory was of the momentous shifts that shook the world in 1989 (Tiananmen Square, the Berlin Wall comes down, Romania is freed from dictatorship, the Communist Party is banned in Russia, America invades Panama - just to name a few. Oh, and Nelson Mandela was released from jail in February 1990). The Internet and mobile phones have been ubiquitous in their lives as long as they can remember, and the world has become increasingly “hot, flat and crowded” in their lifetime.

So, it’s vital to understand them as potential employees and customers. A Google search - or reading entries on our blog - will get you started. You can also check out our presentation on Making the Most of the Millennials.

But, and this is important, there is one other VERY important reason to take them seriously. They are already starting their own businesses. They are likely to be the most successful young entrepreneurs of all time. And you need to be aware of who they are and how they will compete with you over the next few years.

Probably the best article written on this comes from Inc magazine’s October 2008 edition. Read the article, Cool, Determined & Under 30. This is how they describe the piece: They are running businesses in fields as diverse as Wi-Fi and fashion, blogging and music. Combined, they manage nearly 600 employees and have raised more than $100 million from investors. They have graduated from (and, on occasion, dropped out of) some of the very best schools in the country. They are collaborative, creative, and — above all — confident. And here’s one more fact: All of them were born after October 31, 1978.

Navigating Through the Financial Crisis, by Booz CEO

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