Nancy Killefer’s great insight – business is a ‘contact sport’

Last week I attended a networking event for HR professionals in London.  The general consensus was that most companies are cutting back on expenses and are not actively investing in activities to motivate, attract and engage their people.  Many companies are viewing this type of spending as a luxury which should be cut back during the downturn.  If any money is being spent on people, it tends to be around redundancies.  The event was full of doom and gloom and I even felt a bit depressed afterwards.

Why are companies cutting back on spending money that will build and maintain positive relationships with their staff? 

Authors Gary Neilson and Bruce Pasternak said that, ‘Organisations are not monolithic entities.  They are collections of individuals who usually act on their own self-interest.  Organisations must unlock potential of employees by aligning individual actions of others and the interests of the firm as a whole, every day, at every level.’  Why don’t companies understand that in turbulent times, people matter more than ever? 

2009 will be an uncertain and unpredictable year and relationships and connections with people – staff, customers and suppliers – will matter more than ever.  Competitive advantage comes from the mind’s of people and that is why they need to be nurtured and invested in, especially in the current economic climate.

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CVs – Get professional help

In the current economic climate, there are more talented people competing for fewer jobs.  The job market is competitive.  Supply exceeds demand and employers have the luxury of being more selective than they were in the past.  Recruiters for finance and other professional positions are finding they are receiving 50 to 60 CVs for jobs that, in the past, would have attracted 10 to 20 applicants.

An article in Time magazine (12 Jan 2009 issue) provides some ideas on how you can stand out from the pack and get an interview.  One of the points that grabbed my attention was that you should seek professional help when writing your CV, no matter how talented you believe you are.

You are a brand.  You are selling yourself in your CV.  If you were to sell a very important product at work, you would get expert advice and spend money on marketing and advertising.  Strangely, few people pay for professional help when drafting their personal CVs. 

According to a recruiter friend of mine, your CV must grab the reader’s attention in 10 seconds.  It must describe who you are, what you are good at and the value you can add in 10 seconds.  Few people have the skill to convey such key information in this short space of time.  I know that I don’t.  I have tailored my CV so much that I often feel like I am trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

After reading this Time article, I paid £10 for a CV assessment at www.cvchecker.com.  In 3 days, I got a detailed analysis on how I could improve my CV and where the gaps were.  I expect that with this cheaper service, they will always say your CV needs improvement so it encourages you to take advantage of their more expensive offerings.  Nevertheless, the advice was relevant and, freshly inspired, I changed my CV completely.

After more investigation and asking around, I discovered these are the recommended sites for professional CV advice: 

 www.cvchecker.com

www.resumewriters.com

www.aperfectcv.co.uk

It is a small price to pay when you consider how important your CV is, especially in the current job market.

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Barack Obama’s Simple Leadership Recipe

I have been reading Time magazine’s interview and article on their 2008 Person of the Year – Barack Obama.  While reading this engaging story, it struck me that Obama does not work alone.  He is who he is because he surrounds himself with very talented people.  He values his staff, appreciates talent and his people know exactly where they stand and what is expected of them.  Barack Obama is now reaping the rewards of his simple yet very effective leadership philosophy.

Before starting his campaign for the presidency, Obama had not really led much and initially his staff was not sure what to expect.  David Axelrod is Obama’s chief strategist and he said, ‘One of the greatest revelations of this process, certainly the most thrilling revelation to me, was to learn what a great manager this guy is.  We had no way of knowing that when we started.’

It is inspiring to learn how straightforward and effective Obama’s leadership philosophy is.  He has a healthy self-confidence, surrounds himself with highly talented people and he communicates clearly and succinctly and expects his staff to do the same in return.

This is what Obama says about his leadership recipe:

I don’t think there’s some magic trick here.  I think I’ve got a good nose for talent, so I hire really good people.  And I’ve got a pretty healthy ego, so I’m not scared of hiring the smartest people, even when they’re smarter than me.  And I have a low tolerance for nonsense and turf battles and game-playing, and I send that message very clearly.  And so, over time, I think people start trusting each other, and they stay focused on mission, as opposed to personal ambition and grievance.  If you’ve got smart people who are focused on the same mission, then usually you can get things done.

I am not a shouter.  I find that what was always effective with me as a kid, and Michelle and I find it effective with our kids, is just making people feel really guilty.  Like “Boy, I am disappointed in you.  I expected so much more.”  And I think people generally want to do the right thing, and if you’re clear to them about what that right thing is, and if they see you doing the right thing, then that gives you some leverage.  Hollering at people isn’t usually that effective.  Now, there are exceptions.  There are times when guilt doesn’t work, and then you have to use fear.

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Leadership challenges, the Nobel Prize and 40 year old CEOs

Gone are the glamour days of being a CEO.  Leadership in the 21^st century is more complex, grueling and challenging than ever before.  Today’s leaders face unique challenges that require a unique approach. 

Authors Andrew Cave and Steve Tappin interviewed 100 global CEOs who collectively have over 1,000 years experience.  The general consensus was that leadership today is more challenging than it used to be.  The definition of business success has changed because a relentless pursuit of money is no longer socially acceptable.  It also takes a special type of leader who can create a global organization that is socially responsible, attractive to talented people, financially sound and technologically savvy.  It takes a rare personality who is able to balance the demands of leading an international business and also have time for family, friends and personal interests.  Few people have the self-confidence, ability and personality to overcome the formidable modern business challenges that lie before them.

With all that in mind, here is something interesting …

Researcher Benjamin F Jones, from Northwestern University, examined the 20^th century winners of Nobel prizes in the sciences, economics and technology.  He noticed that the average age at which recent winners have made contributions to their field has increased from age 23 in 1900 to age 31 in 1999.

This makes sense because reaching the highest levels is much harder that is used to be.  Prizewinners have to understand what has gone before them and need years of preparatory study before they can make a unique contribution.

Ironically, the age of CEOs is decreasing.  This doesn’t make sense, considering the unique wisdom, business savvy, courage and adaptability that are required to overcome daunting the challenges the CEOs outlined in their interviews.  Research by the leadership advisory firm, Heidrick and Struggles, has confirmed that the average age of FTSE100 CEOs is dropping to around age 40.  Are younger generations better equipped to deal with modern, global business issues?

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Fulfilling work should satisfy 6 core needs

Employees have 6 core needs. If companies give their employees the opportunity to fulfill these 6 needs, workers are more likely to be fulfilled at work.  It is in all leaders’ and companies’ best interest to take note of these needs because, the fact is, happy and fulfilled employees are generally more productive and efficient.

The 6 needs are: -

1. Certainty
2. Variety
3. Significance
4. Connection
5. Growth
6. Contribution. 

The table below explains how work can fulfill each of the 6 needs of employees and how Generation X and Y’s response to these needs differs to Baby Boomers.

SOURCE:

Tony Robbins in ‘Secrets of CEOs’ by Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave.

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Tips from CEOs – How to survive the economic downturn

I have been reading an outstanding book called ‘The Secrets of CEOs’.  The authors, Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave, interviewed 150 top global CEOs who have over 1,000 years of leadership experience between them.

These CEOs believe that the economic downturn will last, at least, until the end of 2009. 

These were the CEO top recommendations on how to survive this trying time:

1.     Keep the balance sheet strong. 

• - Cash is king.
• - Focus on working capital management.

2.     Avoid surprises

• - Lay your cards out on the table from the very beginning.  Declare current and expected losses early.
• - Make sure people face the bad news
• - Get extra luggage overboard 

3.     Focus intensely on performance and talent

• - Talented people do not stop being high maintenance simply because there is a downturn.  Stop nurturing them at your peril. 

4.     Catch the tide

• - You need to act fast.  Be alert. 
• - Manage in real time
• - Develop short and effective communication lines. 

5.     Be bold

• - The downturn can bring great opportunity – low price mergers, low cost investments.
• - After the downturn, the early bird will get the worm.

‘A manager’s job is to manage in the good times and the bad times.  Great managers use difficult times to position for competitive advantage.’

 Archie Norman, former CEO of ASDA

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“Flowing” at work

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?

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ROWEing business towards success

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.

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Pictures of Amazon’s distribution centre in the UK

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.

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Hot, Flat and Crowded

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.

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People Matter

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:

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Personality tests are missing something …

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 …

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The Power of Acquaintances

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. 

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Understand behaviour by understanding the brain

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. 

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Warren Buffett’s definition of success

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.

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

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.

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Is there value in sharing strategy consultants with your competitors?

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?

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People problems and pilots

Imagine being crammed in a room the size of a cupboard with an autocratic boss, who you don’t particularly like or respect.  Imagine that you have to sit with him or her in this small, confined space for over 8 hours.  You have to get on with the person because your career and 300 people’s lives depend on it.

It sounds like some sort of torture. 

My friend Rob is a pilot and he often experiences this.  He is a first officer (just below captain) and flies Airbuses.

He said that when he chose his career, he never anticipated the extent to which his diplomacy and people skills would be tested. 

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Surveys and rankings – Are they a true reflection of a company’s talent management ability?

Ernst & Young is ranked first in Business Week’s ‘Best Places to Launch a Career’ survey.  The Big Four accounting firms – PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte – all make the top five in the list.

In its 15 September issue, Business Week ranks the companies that are most appealing to graduates.  The article describes creative, cost effective techniques that companies are using to appeal to Generation Y.   It discusses how alternate reward structures like flextime, working from home, more time off and fast track promotions are luring young talent. 

It always intrigues me that the Big Four often appear high up on talent surveys and ‘where women want to work’, ‘best workplace’ and ‘best companies to work for’ lists.  These lists create the perception that the Big Four have superior talent management techniques compared with other companies.  But, are their high positions on these lists a true reflection of their ability to manage staff better than others?  The Big Four rank high in their ability to recruit talent but they still have a turnover of 15-20% compared to 5% in other industries.  Of the Big Four, Ernst & Young has the “best” five year retention rate – 34%.

The Big Four’s regular high ranking in ‘great companies to work for’ lists may be distorted for two reasons:

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What impact is the economic downturn having on talent?

The past two weeks have been crazy. On its front page, The Guardian newspaper declared: “This was the week the world changed.”

That is a huge statement to make and they are probably right. But what can you do about it? Well, we think a lot and believe your valuable input can make a difference.

TomorrowToday is undertaking a series of global studies to understand the impact of the current credit crunch and economic downturn. The first study is investigating what can be done to get the most out of one of a company’s powerful resources – talented staff.

How are you being affected by the economic downturn?  What effect has this had on your motivation and productivity?  

We value your opinion and are interested in what you believe can be done during this economic downturn. This survey will only take 10 minutes.  You do not have to be in HR to participate in this survey – we are interested in the effect the downturn is having on everyone.  

Once we have analysed the results, we will share the research with you so you can benefit from it too.

Please follow the link to the survey -

<http://www.tomorrowtoday.uk.com/surveys/engagingtalent> .

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