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:
Continue reading ‘Generation Y studied by Economist Business Intelligence Unit’
If you’ve picked up a 
Our 
I found a great website today which takes the lampooning of this part of Boomer management lore a step further. And it will save you about $ 25,000 in consultant’s fees, and two days of your time. The Dilbert website has a corporate mission statement generator that does a brilliant job of churning out the standard garbage that most away days do. 
I am sitting in a full day session with Gary Hamel. I didn’t pay enough money to be alone with him, so I am sharing the hall with a few hundred other people, representing many of South Africa’s top corporates and leading businesses. Gary has been great. I enjoy his style (his PowerPoint slides are are shocker, but he is a relaxed and engaging presenter). His content is compelling. He knows his stuff. It’s been woirth the time and money investment.
Pfizer has recently launched a wonderful new initiative for their most talented staff: the outsourcing of the drudge work associated with most jobs. It’s quite a simple concept, really - top end, talented staff spend a fair proportion of their time doing admin or dreary work that does not best utilise their talents. If you could someone else to do that work for them, you’d free up your top talent, keep them focused (and excited) and get more out of them. Nice.
Crowdsourcing is a technique that progressive companies are using to translate the enthusiasm of their most highly-engaged customers into valuable marketing, branding, or product-development insight. Dean van Leeuwen, TomorrowToday’s UK and European director, who has an MBA and extensive work experience in marketing, looks at this new trend and provides practical guidelines for customer-led organisations.
Many people will agree with Pete Laburn, strategy consultant and part of TomorrowToday’s network, that strategy just doesn’t work in most companies. Its either about just getting a plan done for head office, or we actually don’t have the time to lift our heads above the daily grind to see into the future. In this article, Pete argues that there is one dominant reason why strategies fail, and that is that the only strategy that organisations will deliver is the one that they are capable of delivering. He suggests three critical elements for developing organisational capability for implementing strategies.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup was a dismal affair for English and South African cricket fans alike. The hosts would also not be proud of their efforts, while Australia has marched on from strength to strength, not even missing Brett Lee and saying a mighty farewell to Glen McGrath.
Every business has customers who are convinced they can design a new product that is better than the product they are being sold. So the question is why not let them? Crowdsourcing is a new and innovative research methodology that allows customers to help design the products they want online. It’s a methodology that is saving companies thousands of pounds on research bills and is proving highly effective because customers are getting the chance to mould and shape the products they are going to be buying. And because products are not being designed by remote head office R&D teams the chances of product flops are greatly reduced. 
I spend much of my time helping companies to create corporate cultures that will attract and retain talented young people. This involves looking at everything from terms and conditions of employment, remuneration policies and bonus schemes, to office layout, use of technology, management styles and team dynamics. One of my biggest frustrations is that very often those within an organisation who understand what needs to be done to get top talent to work there are overruled by those who are focused on saving money, efficiencies and creating “lean and mean” environments.
In the past two e-zines, John Maxwell has 
South Africa’s top cinema chain, Ster Kinekor, uses the tagline, “Always better on our big screen” in their advertising. Well, the last few times I’ve gone out to a cinema, I’ve had exactly the opposite experience.
In this article, Aiden deals with the complex issue of change management, convincingly showing why many of today’s interventions fail. He provides a new starting point, using Organisational Narrative Mapping as a mechanism for profound change.
Tomorrow, I am speaking at South Africa’s “
Recent Comments