Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Global Talent Crunch

Fortune and Ben Casnocha

The coming labor shortage is being fought head-on by a new generation of talent innovators—Silicon Valley

The long line outside Philz Coffee in downtown Palo Alto is filled with hipsters and techies eager for the slowest made-to-order drip coffee in town. Most of them work for nearby tech companies like Palantir Technologies, SurveyMonkey, and MongoDB—some of the hottest startups in the area. It’s hard to tell by their uniform of T-shirts, hoodies, and jeans, but it’s likely that this group of twenty- and thirtysomethings contains a sample of the most sought-after young professionals in the country. Above them, to the right of the door, is a sign that says PHILZ COFFEE: NOW HIRING ROCK STAR TALENT.

 

36 Rules Every Entrepreneur Must Know

Huffington Post

1. It's all a lie.

2. You can't avoid the screw-ups.

3. There is no solution.

4. You have to be ruthless.

5. The list will never run out.

6. Nobody cares about your big dream but you.

7. Never stop creating.

 

34. Follow the path of least resistance

35. There is no balance

36. It never stops.

 

Life is Now. Press Play.

 

The Future is Ours – Ideas to Ponder for 2040

SHRM We Know Next

Study the past, if you would divine the future. – Confucius

Almost 25 years ago, in 1990, the United States passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Beginning in the 1950’s, war veterans and activists started to speak up on behalf of individuals with disabilities in efforts to equalize the opportunities for all. In 1968, the Architectural Barriers Act declared that all buildings built with federal funds need to be accessible by the disabled. In 1973, the Rehabilitation Act prohibited discrimination against individuals with disabilities in federal agencies and all organizations receiving federal funding. The physical equality gap in human beings had been significantly reduced based on rules society had put into place.

Twenty five years from now, in 2040, the world will be a very different place and so might the very way by which we look at physical equality and how it is managed. Technology is advancing exponentially – and these advances build on themselves – we learn more about how the brain works in the last 12 months, for example, than at any time in human history – perhaps cumulatively throughout.

 

How I Scout Superstar Employees

Entrepreneur

 

1. Look right in front of you.

2. When considering a candidate, get lots of outside validation.

3. Source talent before you have an opening.

4. Don’t oversell.

5. Trust what your gut is saying.

 

How to onboard, assess and support superstars once they sign on

1.     Once you get an acceptance, include them immediately

2.     Build a culture that ensures that they make things happen — or that they notify you when they won’t.

3.     Determine whether the person is a “step on gas” or “step on the brake” person.

4.     Don’t be too influenced by a pedigree.

5.     Use a color code system to track progress.

 

Turning an Adversary into a Raving Fan

The Influence Blog

The most successful people have learned to pause when they hit a challenge and inject some objective thought. You cannot (and should not) deny your emotions, but you can become more aware, let them have their moment, and then get down to business.

So, next time you get angry and frustrated with a stakeholder, ask yourself these questions:

·         What is their actual purpose or agenda?

·         How are you frustrating their progress?

·         How are they trying to help you?

·         What if they are actually your friend?

·         How might your agenda help their agenda?

·         What might Colin say about this situation?

·         What action can you take that might turn them into your number one fan?

 

Most of the time, the responses you get from others is largely caused by the attitude you hold. The easiest way to change the responses you get is to change your attitude.

Now, how are you going to change your attitude today?

 

Motivating Employees Has Almost Nothing to do With Their Attitude, and Almost Everything to do With Feelings of Ownership

Content-Loop

We’ve all dealt with employees who were great at their jobs, and with employees who couldn’t have cared less. To maintain a competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced world, organizations need to motivate and engage all their employees. This isn’t hard for employees who are passionate and enthusiastic by nature, but what about apathetic and cynical employees? In a recent study run using Qualtrics, we explored how organizations can benefit from higher employee engagement, lower turnover, and increased financial performance by simply increasing the feeling of ownership employees experience – regardless of whether employees have any ownership in the business itself.

 

Why Fresh Starts Matter

YouTube and S+B  

At one time or another, most of us have struggled to do the things we know we should. Whether it’s in our personal lives or at work, we fall short of a goal, not because it’s unattainable but because we fail to exert the effort required.

Katherine Milkman is determined to help us do better next time. In one of her most recent studies, the James G. Campbell Jr. Assistant Professor of Operations and Information Management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania looks at what she and her coauthors call the “fresh-start effect”: the energy and determination we feel when we’re able to wipe the slate clean. According to Milkman’s research, the same momentum that drives us to join the gym in January can be harnessed to help us focus on the pursuit of goals at other times throughout the year

 

What A New Leader Should Do In The First 100 Days

Eric Jacobs on Management and Leadership

There are seven major onboarding land mines that you are likely to come across as a new leader and there are specific points in the first 100 days where you are most likely to encounter them.

·         Cultural engagement is extremely important in a successful transition; and it is essential that you know what your cultural engagement plan will be before walking in the door for Day One.

·         A new leader's role begins as soon as you are an acknowledged candidate for the job. Everything you do and say and don't do and don't say will send powerful signals, starting well before you even walk in the door on Day One.

By Day 30 share with your team:

·         Mission -- Why here, why exist, what business are we in?

·         Vision -- Future picture - what we want to become; where we are going.

·         Values -- Believes and moral principles that guide attitudes, decisions, and actions.

·         Objectives -- Broadly defined, qualitative performance requirements.

·         Goals -- The quantitative measures of the objectives that define success.

·         Strategies -- Broad choices around how the team will achieve its objectives.

·         Plans -- The most important projects and initiatives that will bring each strategy to fruition.

By Day 60:

·         Overinvest in early wins to build team confidence.

 

Establish a Team Vision Through Continuous Improvement Meetings

Michael Lee Stallard

Periodically pull your team together for a session to identify innovative ways to improve.  The meeting could be focused on ways to increase revenue, reduce costs, improve quality and/or improve efficiency.  List the ideas, prioritize them, select a manageable set to focus on, assign responsibilities and track their completion.  Make this information available to the entire group.  Holding these meetings 3-4 times a year gets people thinking proactively about how to improve and gives them an opportunity to make a difference.

 

MRIs of Careful People Can Predict When Bubbles Will Pop

Nautil.us

In the 1630s, Holland was gripped by the world’s only known case of “tulip mania.” The intensely colored flowers were already a luxury item before then, but their prices leaped when tulips with flame patterned petals hit the market, and they continued rocketing to previously incomprehensible levels.

The nuclear accumbens provided a neural readout of the bubble: Its activity rose in all participants’ brains as prices rose, then fell as prices collapsed. The signal seemed to reflect the group’s collective expectation of whether prices would go up or down.