Meet The Boss TV Re-Launches Their Website

MeetTheBoss.tv has re-launched its' website! The new site looks really good and still will have all your favourite videos from our C-level execs on topics from all business areas. Check it out at www.meettheboss.tv 

7 Tall Tales of Talent Management

I was real lucky the other day when a friend of mine gave me a book that was published by Aon in association with the Kellogg School of Management called " Hot Topics Cool Ideas, Insights from the 2010 Client Symposium. 


One of the topics that really caught my eye was the title of this post" 7 Tall Tales of Talent Management" by Mary Kay Vona, Ed.D and Executive VP @ Aon Hewitt. So why this topic you may ask? Well, since we have begun to come out, and I mean slowly out, of this economic recession, employees are restless, not happy, and most of all not overly engaged in their businesses. Why, well all the HR huff and puff with training, incentives that don't mean much, inflated philosophies about people not leaving a company in a recessional period, and a blind eye to really watching the ball has caught many HR professionals off guard with real good talent their companies.


First and foremost she points out that many talent management programs operate from generally accepted assertions that are untested, outdated, or purely anecdotal.  So she outlines the 7 myths as follows:

1. Shifting demographics will create a global talent void - panic you say "we don't have enough people". Reality is the younger generation will fill the void of the Boomers and retirees.Case in point the number of people working past normal retirement age has increased from 12.9% to 16.8% over the past decade.
2. There are no good organically grown HR leaders - well think about that and I will not expound any further. Hogwash I say!!
3. Performance evaluations are the only way to measure talent - "its not the tool stupid, its the talent", need I say more. Think about all the hoops you jump through each year doing evals, talent succession planning, and where does it go? I can tell you from experience that doing a month+ work of work never was acted upon in my 30 years of HR except for a 2 year period in 1999-2000 at a technology think tank and design division. 
4. Reverse mentoring is a crazy idea - mentoring in general has proven to be the differentiators for many, including yours truly.
5. Leaders cannot impact climates of innovation - it is more than a team of thinkers and futurists, it requires big action, that only comes from the top of the organization.
6. Talent assessments have plateaued - well they work believe it or not and I am not contradicting what I said in #3.
7. In the current economy, people are lucky to have jobs...talent is always available - I think she says it best hubris + hyperbole = an unhealthy approach. 

In summary, the evolution of business models, trends, combined with navigating the current recession and employees' changing attitudes towards work represent a complex equation for leaders at all levels. Don't take anything for granted and make sure you keep your prize talent. 

There are many to thank for this besides Vona. Peter Capelli, Alison Overholt, Dave Ulrich, Leonard/Bersin & Associates. 

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Communicating Effectively Throughout the Organization

I have continued to preach that you have to stay close to your CEO, communicate daily with him/her as well as have daily meetings. I am sure I do not need to tell you that it is equally important that you are able to communicate across the organization to be effective.

If you are a good communicator you should be able to portray a high level of self-confidence, self-concept, and project a positive external image to the managers you support up, down, and across the organization. There are ways to do this and the best way is to make sure you have established  trust and credibility. If you have these two(2) key elements you will have stronger working relationships with those that you support. These key elements are the foundation of your level of effectiveness in your organization.

If you have these two(2) building blocks you then need to make sure you are an effective influencer,that you provide a clear and direct image and knowledge base. You need to make sure you have targeted your audience and built a message that is clear and concise that people understand and not mistake or feel it is HR speak. If you can do this you will reap beneficial results for your project/program/initiative or whatever. This will also flow though to your subordinates.

I hope that this short message on communication is helpful especially to the mid-level HR manager, director. For those at the top, the CHRO, CPO you should already know this

Ten Tech-Enabled Business Trends to Watch

Advancing technologies and their swift adoption are upending traditional business models. Senior executives need to think strategically about how to prepare their organizations for the challenging new environment.

Two-and-a-half years ago, we described eight technology-enabled business trends that were profoundly reshaping strategy across a wide swath of industries.¹ We showed how the combined effects of emerging Internet technologies, increased computing power, and fast, pervasive digital communications were spawning new ways to manage talent and assets as well as new thinking about organizational structures.

Since then, the technology landscape has continued to evolve rapidly. Facebook, in just over two short years, has quintupled in size to a network that touches more than 500 million users. More than 4 billion people around the world now use cell phones, and for 450 million of those people the Web is a fully mobile experience. The ways information technologies are deployed are changing too, as new developments such as virtualization and cloud computing reallocate technology costs and usage patterns while creating new ways for individuals to consume goods and services and for entrepreneurs and enterprises to dream up viable business models. The dizzying pace of change has affected our original eight trends, which have continued to spread (though often at a more rapid pace than we anticipated), morph in unexpected ways, and grow in number to an even ten.²

The rapidly shifting technology environment raises serious questions for executives about how to help their companies capitalize on the transformation under way. Exploiting these trends typically doesn’t fall to any one executive—and as change accelerates, the odds of missing a beat rise significantly. For senior executives, therefore, merely understanding the ten trends outlined here isn’t enough. They also need to think strategically about how to adapt management and organizational structures to meet these new demands.

For the first six trends, which can be applied across an enterprise, it will be important to assign the responsibility for identifying the specific implications of each issue to functional groups and business units. The impact of these six trends—distributed cocreation, networks as organizations, deeper collaboration, the Internet of Things, experimentation with big data, and wiring for a sustainable world—often will vary considerably in different parts of the organization and should be managed accordingly. But local accountability won’t be sufficient. Because some of the most powerful applications of these trends will cut across traditional organizational boundaries, senior leaders should catalyze regular collisions among teams in different corners of the company that are wrestling with similar issues.

Three of the trends—anything-as-a-service, multisided business models, and innovation from the bottom of the pyramid—augur far-reaching changes in the business environment that could require radical shifts in strategy. CEOs and their immediate senior teams need to grapple with these issues; otherwise it will be too difficult to generate the interdisciplinary, enterprise-wide insights needed to exploit these trends fully. Once opportunities start emerging, senior executives also need to turn their organizations into laboratories capable of quickly testing and learning on a small scale and then expand successes quickly. And finally the tenth trend, using technology to improve communities and generate societal benefits by linking citizens, requires action by not just senior business executives but also leaders in government, nongovernmental organizations, and citizens.

Across the board, the stakes are high. Consider the results of a recent McKinsey Quarterly survey of global executives on the impact of participatory Web 2.0 technologies (such as social networks, wikis, and microblogs) on management and performance. The survey found that deploying these technologies to create networked organizations that foster innovative collaboration among employees, customers, and business partners is highly correlated with market share gains. That’s just one example of how these trends transcend technology and provide a map of the terrain for creating value and competing effectively in these challenging and uncertain times.

from the McKinsey Quarterly written by  Jacques Bughin, Michael Chui, and James Manyika

Source: McKinsey Global Institute

YouTube Acquisition to Foster Better Video, Sell More Ads

March 9, 2011 - 2:16 pm EDT B toB Daily Alert


Mountain View, Calif.—YouTube has acquired video production company Next New Networks to help contributors develop better original content and attract advertisers.

The company's new YouTube Next division, formed from the acquisition, will be used to help members of YouTube's Partner Program develop more professional videos. Partner Program members share in the revenue of ads placed next to their videos, and better content is seen as a way to attract more ads.

Terms of the deal were not released by YouTube, but Canada Business Review has pegged the acquisition at $50 million.

The Future of HR - by Peter Cappelli

Two recent studies offer some thoughts on the future of HR. While HR leaders in developing areas are dealing with growing economies and an influx of talent -- leading to new ideas -- many CHROs in "mature" economies, such as the United States, are still focused on tactical, instead of strategic, issues. Is this a tipping point for HR?

As the U.S. economy begins to right itself from the financial crisis and associated recession, our thoughts turn to spring and the possibility of new growth -- and new opportunities for business. How about for human resources?



It's the season for guessing what's ahead, and here are two reports that offer their guesses.

The first of these is a study, Working Beyond Borders: Insights from the Global Chief Human Resource Study, conducted by IBM that is based on interviews with 707 chief human resource officers from around the world.



It's worth remembering that many of the world's economies have been chugging along nicely even while the United States and much of Europe were in the doldrums, so the experience of these other countries such as India, Brazil and China might be quite different from that in America.


Having said that, it is surprising to see that the overwhelming priority at the moment for HR leaders around the world in the study is to become more efficient, or in other words, cut costs. This is not a happy finding for those of us who were hoping for some renewed vigor in the HR function.
A potentially big realignment of resources is associated with globalization. Companies in "mature" economies (read: United States, western Europe and Japan, in particular) are focusing their expected head-count growth in developing countries.



Interestingly, almost as many HR heads in the developing countries said that they expect to be expanding their head count in North America. The possibility of expansion, even if modest, back into the United States is something we haven't been anticipating.


In terms of HR-specific challenges, there was much less concern with the ability to hire than with the ability to retain employees across the world. Apparently we are more puzzled about retention than hiring.

CHROs in developing countries thought the hiring challenge was mainly about money, while those in mature markets thought it was more about aligning company values with individual values.



With respect to retention, developing-country representatives said opportunity for advancement was the key to success, more so than those from mature markets who focused on challenging assignments.


I can't help wondering if the responses from the mature-market representatives reflected something like rationalization: We can't offer money -- given cost pressures -- or career advancement -- given the lack of growth -- so let's hope something we can offer will do the trick.


The biggest gaps the HR leaders saw in the capabilities of their own area were in development -- developing workforce capabilities, generally, and leaders, specifically -- and knowledge sharing.

The second study (SHRM Foundation Leadership Roundtable: What's Next for HR?) was conducted by the SHRM Foundation and was based on a focus group of HR heads and thinkers and observers of business. (Full disclosure: I participated in this study.)



The task here was more explicitly to look forward, beyond the current issues, to anticipate future challenges for HR.


There was a recognition that the recession had changed some things, and not in a good way. HR at least in the United States is even more starved for resources, more dependent on outsourcing and more risk-averse.


On the whole, the view was that not much has changed in human resources over the past decade or so. And there was a concern that HR was actually falling behind in terms of the business acumen needed to operate at senior levels and through the acceptance of a support role as opposed to one that drives business.


This group saw three important issues facing the HR side of business in the future. It is possible to see them as both challenges and opportunities. One echoes the IBM study, and that is globalization and the challenge of managing workforces in many different countries.


The other two are quite different, though.


The first has to do with managing risk. The financial crisis has made most businesses pay more attention to the financial risks they are exposed to and, by association, the business risks. As with most aspects of business, managing these risks comes down to managing people differently.


What are the HR implications of taking risk management more seriously?


The other issue is the avalanche of metrics, and business-related data more generally, that has the potential to overwhelm organizations if not managed carefully -- but also has the opportunity to change them for the better if they can use that information appropriately.


Nowhere does that data have more opportunity for good than in HR, where so many costly and strategic bets are still made on the basis of hunches. Can we harness these data in ways that improve our decision making, finding the value and reducing costs?


Here's my take, looking at these two studies together.

1. I wonder whether the HR issues in developing countries, where economies are booming and labor markets are tight, will have much of anything in common in the future with the HR issues in mature markets, where the opposite is true. HR in these developing economies is a hot area where the best talent is going and new ideas are being generated.
2. Second, especially in mature markets, I worry that we are fighting the last war in HR.

Hiring, retention and development -- the focus of HR executives here -- are age-old concerns. They are also quite tactical, as opposed to strategic issues.


Is anyone thinking about what it means for HR to take on new challenges such as risk management seriously? Are we making any progress in improving our use of metrics to make decisions in different, better ways?


Finally, I'm wondering whether we have reached something like a tipping point for HR in mature countries where the innovation, ideas and energy shifts clearly from HR departments to HR vendors.


Perhaps HR departments are now so starved for resources and so focused on the operational goal of cost containment that thinking about the future has to be ceded to some other group.

Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management and director of the Center for Human Resources at The Wharton School. His latest book, with Bill Novelli, is Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order.

Current International HR Shock - Future HR International Talent Drought

There has been more and more press and association discussions about the quality of human resources professionals in business today. From the small company in Butte, MN to the large company in Allentown, PA localized human resources does not make it in today's world. The old adage "think locally" still resonates through the profession. 


The shock is that we operate in a global economy and not just an economy within our borders. If we think locally and not globally then we lose, and I mean lose big in today's world. In the constant evaluation of product offerings and how far they reach throughout the world we also have to evaluate if our(your)human resources professionals also reach throughout the world. What do I mean, let me be more clear:

• does your HR team understand global exchange?
• does your HR team think outside your domestic boarders and do they understand global econometrics?
• does your HR team understand how to manage people abroad, and do they understand local international laws and the financial ramifications to your bottom line?
• does your HR team think in terms of international competition?
•  is your HR team flexible to move internationally and do they speak a second language?
• can your HR team communicate effectively with your company's partners outside your borders?
• are your HR teams focus still on tactical issues rather than global insight?

The list can go on and on but these are just a few of the issues your team needs to think about in today's world. If they don't then there is a real drought on talent for the 21st century. Having worked for an international company you have to understand these very important issues and operating processes.


Is your HR team ready to address the international economic trade and business environment? I would like your thoughts on this important subject. I also think that SHRM and other HR associations need to change their focus and emphasize the international issues.

Repost.Us Launches in Bid to Protect Original Online Content

Repost.Us launched today in beta with a new, one-button platform that instantly monetizes digital content and automates online syndication.

The feature extends the reach of original content, keeping an eye on the integrity and proper attribution of online assets.As such, the startup removes the need to call for permission every time you want to republish an article. When the Repost.Us button is clicked, it generates an embed code for the article that can be used on all common web publishing platforms.

When a reader loads an embedded article, their browser requests the content from Repost.Us, and the site delivers a current copy of the article reformatted transparently to fit the republisher’s site.

By loading the article via an embed code, instead of copying and pasting, Repost.Us guarantees the content integrity, automatically generates updates and corrections, and ensures that search engines continue to see the original publisher’s site as the primary content source.

In doing so, it also opens up a significant and currently untapped market for content. The potential money at stake is huge — the company says an increase in page views of just 10 percent would conservatively generate an additional $300 million annually.

The Fair Syndication Consortium reports that over 75 percent of sites that copy content from other sites would be willing to pay for that content. The same study found that more than 75,000 websites have used unlicensed content at least once, with around an average usage of three times per month.

The company has plenty of competitors, including Copyright Clearance Center, the Associated Press, Vertical Acuity, Publish 2, and Amplify, all of which are looking to cash in on that same market.

But Repost.Us says it offers something those other companies don’t, saying that while wire services and rights clearance centers are available, they ignore most small- to medium-sized publishers, which represent a big chunk of the market.

The new platform, from Free Range Content, is the brainchild of CEO John Pettitt, founder of Beyond.com and Cybersource.com.