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US Private Companies Prioritizing Innovation as Growth Engine

NEW YORK - - 
Leading privately held businesses are putting greater emphasis on innovation as an engine for growth, according to chief executives surveyed for PwC US's Private Company Trendsetter Barometer. Three-fourths (75%) of those businesses have made innovation a priority -- 33% of them to a great extent and 42% to some extent. Nearly half (47%) of innovation-focused private companies expect that their innovations (ranging from incremental to breakthrough) will have a significant impact on the way they do business over the next one to three years, and 39% expect a moderate impact. 

Innovation Most Important to International and Fast-Growth Companies 
Most international marketers (87%) prioritize innovation, whereas just slightly more than half (55%) of their domestic-only peers do the same. Among international marketers that focus on innovation, 44% are doing so to a great extent (versus 24% of their domestic-only counterparts). More than half (52%) of international firms that have made innovation a priority expect it will impact their business significantly, compared with 42% of domestic-only innovators. Overall, more Trendsetter companies with an emphasis on innovation sell internationally (55%) than their non-innovator peers (25%) -- the percentage of those engaged in international marketing is even higher among companies that prioritize innovation to a great extent (63%). 


US private companies that have made innovation a priority also expect to grow 63% faster than non-innovators, forecasting 8.3% revenue growth over the next 12 months versus 5.1% for non-innovators. 

Trendsetter companies emphasizing innovation to a great extent are the fastest-growing businesses, forecasting 10.1% revenue growth over the next year -- nearly twice the rate of non-innovators. They are also more likely to be planning new hiring (59%) and major new spending initiatives (51%) over the next 12 months. 

"Innovation is essential in today's challenging business environment," says Ken Esch, a partner in PwC's Private Company Services practice. "Slow economic recovery and intensified competitive pressure at home are pushing private companies to find new ways to grow and differentiate themselves -- both here and abroad. Staying ahead of the curve by coming up with new products and services, coupled with innovative ways of developing and delivering them, should help private companies broaden their reach in current markets, as well as penetrate new ones." 

Cost Containment a Secondary Goal, Topped by Growth Objectives 
While improved productivity and reduced costs are among the broad business objectives that private companies expect innovation to help them achieve (cited by 58% and 52% of respondents respectively), growth-related goals top the list. Those goals include improved earnings/profit margins (81%), increased revenues (78%), and a widened customer base in current markets (78%). The percentages in these growth-related categories are even higher among companies that say they're prioritizing innovation to a great extent: 91%, 80%, and 87% respectively. 

This emphasis on growth carries over to additional, supporting objectives, such as improving current products/services (cited by 78% of innovators overall) and developing new products/services (cited by 87% of companies that prioritize innovation to a great extent, and by 64% of innovators overall). 

Companies prioritizing innovation to a great extent also expect to engage customers in developing/improving products and services (68%), while Trendsetter innovators overall say they expect to use innovation to improve customer service/product support (69%). Considerably fewer innovators are using innovation to create new markets for products/services that are still in the conception/development stage (37%), set long-term corporate strategy (34%), or modify their business model (31%), although Trendsetter companies prioritizing innovation to a significant extent are showing greater initiative in the first two areas (55% and 40% respectively). "Private companies see innovation as a driver of growth on a variety of fronts," says Esch. 

"Increased revenue, profitability, and market share are key near-term objectives, but innovation leaders are looking beyond that. They're considering ways to propel their businesses into the future so that they stay relevant for the long term -- not just several years from now but a decade or more down the line. These leading-edge innovators are looking to develop novel products for as-yet-uncreated markets, along with entirely new ways of delivering them -- an endeavor requiring revamped business models and farsighted corporate strategy." 

Increased Spending Planned, But Innovation Funding a Key Challenge for Some Companies 
Two-thirds (66%) of innovators expect their overall level of innovation spending to increase over the next one to three years -- 18% greatly and 48% somewhat. Most other innovators (32%) anticipate that their spending will stay about the same. In this latter group, 79% say they continue to get the same innovation value as before while spending the same or less. Another 16% say they're innovating by actively soliciting input from customers or suppliers. 

Investment in adopting new technologies to enable/support a host of other innovation goals (cited by 49% of Trendsetter innovators) may be a key factor that's allowing private companies to do more with less. Overall, innovation spending is expected to rise by an average of 19.4% among companies that are planning increased investment in that area. Trendsetter companies prioritizing innovation to a great extent plan to spend slightly more than other private company innovators, with 75% of them forecasting an average increase of 23.3%. 

"We find that many companies are quick to correlate spending more with doing more," says Esch. "However, we believe that the emphasis should be on how you put your innovation dollars to work, not on the amount you spend. To extract the greatest value from its innovation investment, a company will need to strike the right balance between incremental and breakthrough innovations. How quickly the business wants to grow will dictate how much breakthrough innovation is required." 

One-quarter (25%) of Trendsetter innovators cite insufficient access to capital as a key challenge to pursuing innovation over the next one to three years, this in addition to talent shortages/inadequate skill sets (26%) and lack of disciplined in-house processes for driving and executing innovation (25%). For the one-quarter of Trendsetter companies that identify themselves as non-innovators, insufficient capital is the leading barrier to innovation (36%), trailed by talent shortages (22%) and lack of disciplined in-house processes for driving and executing innovation (18%). 

"A company with limited financing may want to consider co-developing innovation via alliances and joint ventures, including with supply-chain partners," notes Esch, "since that would allow the company to capitalize on opportunities while managing costs and risks." 

Disciplined Approach a Must 
Although lack of disciplined in-house processes for driving and executing innovation is cited as a top barrier to innovation by one-quarter (25%) of innovator companies, only a minority (41%) of Trendsetter innovators report having a coordinated cross-departmental strategy for innovation (however, that number jumps to 59% within the subset of companies prioritizing innovation to a great extent, then dips to 26% among companies prioritizing innovation somewhat). Departments that Trendsetter companies are engaging in an integrated approach to innovation include marketing (cited by 86% of Trendsetter innovators), business development (73%), finance (70%), information technology (68%), and sales (67%). 

"The importance of defining an operational strategy and establishing a set of coordinated processes for innovation can't be overstated," stresses Esch. "While every company will have its own tailored approach for executing innovation, a successful program will depend in large part on having the right departments involved, with clear direction and support from leadership." 

Measuring and Rewarding Innovation 
Measuring progress is a crucial component of a successful innovation strategy. Among Trendsetter innovators, 44% link innovation to the success metrics of their business; the percentage is higher (63%) among private companies that prioritize innovation to a great extent. Top metrics include customer satisfaction (cited by 79% of Trendsetter innovators), market expansion (72%), earnings/profit margins (69%), growth in revenue from new products/services (68%), and overall revenue growth (64%). Companies prioritizing innovation to a great extent pay less attention to reduced operational costs as a key metric (36%) than do other private company innovators (57%). Somewhat surprisingly, employee recruitment/retention as a metric trails behind at 32% for Trendsetter innovators overall, despite half of those companies saying they expect innovation to help them attract and retain top talent. 

"By embracing, measuring, and rewarding innovative efforts, private company leaders help to foster a culture of innovation," says Esch. "It's important, however, that they not only reward quantifiable benefits in the near term, but also tie innovation efforts to long-term corporate strategy. Right now, most Trendsetter companies aren't doing that. They are well-positioned to do so, however, generally having greater flexibility than their public counterparts when it comes to waiting for a return on innovation investment." 

Business Insider Takes a Look at NY’s Top 25 Up and Coming Startups

March 25, 2012 at 12:04 pm

Business Insider recently profiled 25 of the city’s hottest early stage startups, some of which are poised to become the next huge tech hit. Some of them include:

• Picturelife collects personal photos currently strewn across all forms of social media into one easily accessible spot
• Rebel Mouse hasn’t officially launched yet, but founder Paul Berry, says it will be a social platform that combines social media, journalism and technology
• Yoke is a Facebook dating platform that connects to Netflix and Amazon APIs and makes suggestions about things people have in common
• PublicStuff is a platform for submitting requests to a city via the cloud. Using social media, tickets can be tracked and filled out real-time. It’s less expensive than the 311 system for connecting to government
• Percolate helps brands curate content relevant to consumers from social media sites. 
• Branch allows multiple people to contribute to the same conversation and creates expert discussions
• Loverly is a wedding channel that drives traffic and ad dollars to small publishers
• Contently is where freelance writers find work and where brands search for writers.
• Codecademy is trying to solve the shortage of tech talent by teaching the world to code for free online.
• Docracy, the winner of TechCrunch’s spring Hackathon, crowdsources legal documents for small businesses

To see all the detail on these and the other 15 click on http://www.businessinsider.com/25-hot-nyc-startups-you-need-to-watch-2012-3?op=1

The Five Personalities of Innovators: Which One Are You?

Whenever I try to conjure up what innovation looks like, the same slideshow of images clicks across my mind: that photo of Einstein with his tongue sticking out, Edison with his light bulb, Steve Jobs onstage in his black turtleneck, introducing the latest iThing. Unoriginal and overdone, to be sure. And not all that accurate.

Ten Lessons for Idea Hunters Andy BoyntonContributor

Why Top Talent Leaves: Top 10 Reasons Boiled Down to 1 Erika AndersenContributor

Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent Eric JacksonContributor

Is Your Company a People Magnet? How to Find Out Erika AndersenContributor

Because it’s not just about that romantic “ah ha!” moment in front of a chalkboard or a cocktail napkin, it’s about the nitty-gritty work that comes after the idea:  getting it accepted and implemented. Who arethese faces? And, most importantly, as I’m sure you’re all asking yourselves: where do I fit in?

Forbes Insights’ recent study, “Nurturing Europe’s Spirit of Enterprise: How Entrepreneurial Executives Mobilize Organizations to Innovate,” isolates and identifies five major personalities crucial to fostering a healthy atmosphere of innovation within an organization. Some are more entrepreneurial, and some more process-oriented – but all play a critical role in the process. To wit: thinkers need doers to get things done, and idealists need number crunchers to tether them to reality.

Though it may seem stymieing at times, in any healthy working environment, a tension between the risk-takers and the risk-averse must exist; otherwise, an organization tilts too far to one extreme or the other and either careens all over the place or moves nowhere at all. An effective and productive culture of innovation is like a good minestrone soup: it needs to have the right mix and balance of all the ingredients, otherwise it’s completely unsuccessful, unbalanced — and downright mushy.

The Forbes Insights study surveyed more than 1,200 executives in Europe across a range of topics and themes. Using a series of questions about their attitudes, beliefs, priorities and behaviors, coupled with a look at the external forces that can either foster – or desiccate – an innovative environment, a picture emerged of five key personality types the play a role in the innovation cycle.

This last piece – the corporate environment – is a stealth factor that can make or break the potential even the most innovative individual. Look at it this way: a blue whale is the largest animal known ever to have existed, but if you tried to put it in a freshwater lake, it wouldn’t survive. Well, that and it would displace a lot of water. My point? Even the largest and mightiest of creatures can’t thrive in an environment that doesn’t nurture them.

The themes surveyed in the study are universal; despite the focus on European executives, these personalities are applicable across oceans and cultures. The full study, available here, provides further breakdown of where these personality types congregate by industry, company size and job function.

I’ll leave it to you to decide which one fits you best . You may even see a little of yourself in more than one group.  But remember, none of these are bad. All play crucial roles in developing an idea, pushing it up the corporate channels, developing a strategy and overseeing execution and implementation. These are all pieces of a puzzle, arteries leading to the beating heart of corporate innovation. Wow – can I make that sound any more dramatic?

The Five Personality Types of Innovation: a breakdown

Movers and Shakers. With a strong personal drive, these are leaders. Targets and rewards motivate them strongly, but a major incentive for this group is the idea of creating a legacy and wielding influence over others. These are the ones who like being in the front, driving projects forward (and maybe promoting themselves in the process), but at the end of the day, they provide the push to get things done. On the flip side, they can be a bit arrogant, and impatient with teamwork.  Movers and Shakers tend to cluster in risk and corporate strategy, in the private equity and media industries, at mid-size companies; though they comprise 22% of total executives, at companies with revenues of $25 million to $1 billion, Movers and Shakers can encompass up to one-third of the executive suite.

Experimenters. Persistent and open to all new things, experimenters are perhaps the perfect combination for bringing a new idea through the various phases of development and execution. “Where there is a will, there is a way,” is perhaps the best way to describe them. They’re perfectionists and tend to be workaholics, most likely because it takes an incredible amount of dedication, time and hard work to push through an idea or initiative that hasn’t yet caught on. They take deep pride in their achievements, but they also enjoy sharing their expertise with others; they’re that intense colleague who feels passionately about what they do and makes everyone else feel guilty for daydreaming during the meeting about what they plan on making for dinner that night. Because they’re so persistent, even in the face of sometimes considerable pushback, they’re crucial to the innovation cycle. They tend to be risk-takers, and comprise about 16% of executives – and are most likely to be found in mid-size firms of $100 million to $1 billion (20%). Surprisingly, they’re least likely to be CEOs or COOs – just 14% and 15%, respectively, are Experimenters.

Star Pupils. Do you remember those kids in grade school who sat up in the front, whose hands were the first in the air anytime the teacher asked a question? Maybe they even shouted out “Ooh! Ooh!” too just to get the teacher to notice them first? This is the segment of the executive population those kids grew into. They’re good at…well, they’re good at everything, really: developing their personal brand, seeking out and cultivating the right mentors, identifying colleagues’ best talents and putting them to their best use. Somehow, they seem to be able to rise through the ranks and make things happen, even when corporate culture seems stacked against them. Unsurprisingly, CEOs tend to be Star Pupils. What’s most interesting about this group, though, is the fact that, at 24% of corporate executives, they don’t seem to cluster in any one particular job function, industry or company size; rather, they can grow and thrive anywhere: IT, finance, start-ups, established MNCs. They’re the stem cells of the business world.

Controllers. Uncomfortable with risk, Controllers thrive on structure and shy away from more nebulous projects. Above all, they prefer to be in control of their domain and like to have everything in its place. As colleagues, they’re not exactly the team players and networkers; Controllers are more insular and like to focus on concrete, clear-cut objectives where they know exactly where they stand and can better control everything around them. They comprise 15% of executives — the smallest group overall — and tend to cluster on both extremes of the spectrum: either in the largest enterprises (with 1,000 or more employees) or the smallest (with fewer than 10). This makes sense when you think about it: controllers thrive on overseeing bureaucracy (at larger firms) or having complete control over all aspects of their sphere – at the smallest firms, they may be the business owner who has built an entire company around their personality. Controllers pop up most frequently in sales and marketing and finance, and populate the more practical, less visionary, end of the corporate hierarchy: these are the department heads and managers who receive their marching orders and get to mobilizing their troops to marching.

Hangers-On. Forget the less-than-flattering name; these executives exist to bring everyone back down to earth and tether them to reality. On a dinner plate, Hangers-On would be the spinach: few people’s favorite, but extremely important in rounding out the completeness of the meal. Like Controllers, they don’t embrace unstructured environments, and they tend to take things one step further, hewing to conventional wisdom and tried-and-true processes over the new and untested. When asked to pick a side, Hangers-On will most likely pick the middle. This is not necessarily a bad set of characteristics to have; someone has to be the one to remind everyone of limitations and institutional processes. While they comprise 23% of all executives – the same no matter the company size – they cluster most strongly in the CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller role, where 38% are Hangers-On. This makes sense; someone has to remind everyone of budget and resource constraints.

No one group can be considered the purest “entrepreneurial group,” but Movers and Shakers and Experimenters may be the closest. They have the strongest tendency to be internally driven, in control and bridle the most at others telling them what to do. Younger, more innovative firms generally need Movers and Shakers at the top, channeling the energy of Experimenters into a vision that can be implemented. As organizations grow larger and more established, however, they need Star Pupils who can translate that vision into a strategy and lead it forward, Controllers who can marshal the troops to execute it and Hangers-On who can rein it in. A firm reaching maturity has greater need for strong processes, as well as those who value control.

As we’ve seen time and again, unbridled innovation is a wonderful thing. But it’s what comes next that’s arguably more important. To get an innovative idea off the ground, it’s crucial to have a cast of characters who can keep that tension between risk-taking and reality at a healthy balance midway between the sky and the ground — where innovation can thrive.

8 Reasons To Choose A Startup Over A Corporate Job

Sure, a corporate gig might (initially) pay more than a startup and come with cushy benefits, but there are real, career-defining reasons to heed the siren song of a startup.

You've graduated from college, diploma in hand (or in the mail), and you have a couple of job offers on the table. Other than being one of the lucky graduates in a weak economy, you have a choice to make. On one hand is a high-paying entry level position at a reputable brand in your field. On the other hand is a job offer from a small startup that is just kicking off. You've seen their product, believe in their mission, and like their approach, but aren't sure you want to take on the risk of working at a startup. You're leaning toward that corporate job and good pay with nice benefits. The smart choice.

Or is it? 

Here are 8 reasons why you should take the plunge and enter the startup world instead.

1. You'll have more responsibility. 

Working at a startup probably means you're part of a small team, most likely in the single digits. Because of the nature of having such a small team, there is probably nobody else in the company who has the same skillset as you, approaches problems in the same way you do, or even thinks the same way you do.

When I joined Wanderfly, the core team was pretty much already in place, with directors of business development, marketing, and site production already on board. However, graduating with a writing degree and having extensive travel experience, I was able to join Wanderfly as a writer, traveler, and content manager to make sure they had a voice and a direction in the travel field (they had the tech-savvy swing taken care of). After just a few weeks, I became the de facto man for writing, editing, and blogging needs. A few weeks later, I was part of a content management division that included me and myself. Content needs, upgrades, and management all came to me and my little island of responsibility. This pushed me to be more versatile, more reliable, and more productive than in any other project I'd undertaken--in other jobs or at any time during school. At a bigger company, I may not have been given the same opportunity or had an entire company rely on the work that I did. Was I the most important part of the team? Definitely not. But was I an integral part of it? For sure. And that's an empowering place to be right out of school.

2. You'll be given more opportunities. 

I probably don't need to tell you that most startup jobs won't pay as well as some of the bigger corporate and business jobs. You (or your degree) may be worth more than a startup is able to pay. But working at a startup offers a different type of reward: an incentive-based system that isn't based on dollars, but rather in skills attained and opportunities seized. The experience will outweigh the pay cut. I (almost) guarantee it. When I first started at Wanderfly, all I had to my writer name were a few pieces in local publications. One year on, and I've had a column on the Huffington Post, been featured on National Geographic, published over 150 blog posts for Wanderfly, and (look, Mom!) an article on Fast Company. Other than being a thinly veiled explain-a-brag, this convinces me that I've had more opportunities to grow as a writer and build toward any future undertaking. I know that if I would have sought out a smaller position at a higher-paying and recognizable travel company I would still be reading through the slush pile of submissions. No thanks.

3. You'll be able to do a lot of different things. 

One of the biggest complaints I hear from peers who have entered into a more-structured, corporate position is that they are generally stuck with their main task and don't get to branch out into other areas. Whether it's writing, designing, filling out spreadsheets, or any other task, it's usually a one-person-fits-one-task kind of position. If that sounds like your startup job, then, I hate to tell you, but you're doing something wrong. Working at a startup will allow you to try on a lot of different hats, even that weird one that you didn't think you would ever like, but find out that you did. Looking back on the past year that I've worked at Wanderfly, I've lost track of all the different tasks that I've been able to take part in, from video editing to destination categorization. I came into Wanderfly as a writer, but now I feel comfortable in a lot of different areas, even explaining to the developers how I broke their site and need their help to fix it. All in code-talk.

4. You will learn from true innovators. 

People who start their own business have a different mental and professional makeup than those who have never gone off to create something of their own. Entrepreneurs are defined by seeing a problem and thinking of an innovative and original way of addressing it. Because of this innovative nature, entrepreneurs are some of the best people to learn from. They approach problems differently, are constantly finding solutions, and are driven to make the most out of their time and work. The Wanderfly cofounders continually challenge me when I present a problem because they often view it from a different perspective than I do, giving me a wider appreciation for the different avenues that exist for finding solutions. Innovation is more than creativity. It's action and reaction, solving problems in a new, enlightening way. Every successful startup has true innovators, and if you find the right ones, you'll learn plenty.

5. Your work will be recognized (as will your failures).

If I've learned anything from watching TV shows and movies, it's that if you work at a big company, chances are that all of your hard work is going to be ignored by the boss or someone else is going to snag the credit. But at a startup, it's nearly impossible not to notice a job well done or to give credit where credit is due. If you succeed, the small team will recognize it instantly, and the praise and glory is yours to bask in. Spread your arms in glory, my friend, your work has been recognized. On the flip side of that coin is that it's also really easy to see when you've screwed up. For two reasons, this is a good thing. The first is that it's nearly impossible to slack off to. Within a few days, your coasting and slacking will be noticed and the rest of the team will wonder why they are working harder than they have to. That keeps you focused and on your game. The second reason is that because failure is easier to notice, you'll make sure to eliminate mistakes in order to avoid disappointing your colleagues. Stay focused, startup employee, and your successes will be recognized and your failures minimized. And when the rest of the team says "We couldn't have done it without you," you can be confident that they mean it. 

6. You'll work in an awesome atmosphere.

Let me count the ways: 

• I wear jeans to work. In the summer, I wear shorts and sandals.
• If there isn't at least one really good joke in an hour, it's probably a slow day.
• Everyone else who works at a startup has the same drive and excitement for creation as you do. 
• The startup community (and, in Wanderfly's case, the travel community) is a great, close-knit group. All around you, people are coming up with innovative solutions to age-old problems or making that new tool that simplifies or enhances your life in some way. That entrepreneurial spirit is contagious, and if you don't feel it or catch it, then you're actively avoiding it. 
• You can drink beer at work. But only on special occasions. Wink.

7. You'll learn to be frugal. 

Working at startup probably means that money is tight. Whether you've been showered with investor love or the founder has a really wealthy uncle, the company will still be thinking of ways to do more with less. No extravagance, no frills, no extraneous booze cruises (heartbreaking, I know). Instead, the business development intern will learn how to design and code the blog, the writer will sometimes do the dishes, and at the start you'll find a way to fit nine people around an eight person table (hint: extra chair). This frugality and monetary responsibility will undoubtedly bleed into your own life as well, and you'll end up finding new ways to find fulfillment other than burning the money you earn. Instead, you'll probably discover a joy in creating and doing, rather than consuming. You'll find happiness in being part of a team that is trying to make other people's lives easier, more fun, and more manageable. Your entire life will take on a meaning of creation, and you'll be more energized, both physically and mentally, to take on new hobbies and start your own personal projects. In the startup world, it's all about creating more and consuming less (this does not apply to Thai food or burritos).

8. You'll be instilled with the value of hard work, ownership, and self-sustainability. 

Maybe more important than any other benefit of working at a startup is the realization that hard work, creative thinking, and tenacity are worth a whole lot. Once you've created something of your own, something tangible and whole, something you can touch, feel, or use, you really begin to appreciate personal ownership. For those who do not actively create, or are continuously creating for someone else's benefit, it's difficult to understand the great importance of personal ownership and the liberty needed to pursue that ownership. Working at a startup and spreading the news of your team's product, a product that you helped bring into existence, instills the value of that ownership and gives you pride in your work. It is this pride, in your team's hard-work and ability, that teaches you the importance of protecting those who do create innovative solutions and take risks. 

Working at a startup also means that you and your small team are the only people responsible for your success. For some, that may trigger a response to go crawl into a corner and hope someone comes and spoon-feeds them their paycheck. For others, it's the greatest motivation there is. To be cut off from relying on others to provide for you will undoubtedly surface skills and a determination that you didn't know you had. At a startup, that natural wish to be self-sustainable is magnified and multiplied, triggering the do-or-die attitude that is often the difference between success and failure. No matter where you go after your stint at a startup, and especially if it is to go off and create a company on your own, that need to be self-sustainable, and the skills you picked up to make that possible, will power everything that you do.

--Kerrin Sheldon is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker, and is the content manager forWanderfly. He prefers to be underwater in Belize, but also likes climbing, running, cycling, and is strongly considering taking up flying. Find him on on Twitter @kerrinsheldon or on the brand new Wanderfly. 

The Feminization of HR - Where Have You Been?

Did you read the lead story in Human Resource Executive? If you haven't you should and if you are surprised then you must have had your head in the sand for the past 30 years. I am really astonished that HRE would publish a lead story like that when it is so obvious that the HR field is and for the most part has always been dominated by women. The only major change in the last 20 years is that women have started to dominate the top level positions. And since this writing I would guess that they do dominate top spots today. 

I for one am not surprised and have seen the rise in women in management over my many years in the HR field. If you have been recruiting for a manager or director in the last 10-15 years you tell me how many male resumes you have seen come across your desk. Not many, and I have lived in the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-west and the recruiting story is the same, more women than men. 

All that being said, I do think that women think very different than men on the fly and that is important in business. They make more rational full-view decisions in general. I give them credit and am not taken anything away from men and their decision making.

But, again, if you have been in HR this trend of women dominating HR has been going on for 30 years and will continue. I also think that there at some point needs to be a balance in the genders but how many men want to get into a women dominated field? For that matter, if I am not mistaken the US population is not more than 50% female. Correct????

Check out the lead story in the Human Resource Executive March 2012 issue. 

10 Ways to Keep Employees Off Facebook

Facebook is one of the most valuable promotional and networking tools available to business owners, but it can also be the source of countless wasted hours for your employees. Tackling the subject of lost productivity due to Facebook can be tricky; here are some tips to prevent excessive use during work hours.

1. Be Realistic – As the internet-dependent Generation Y enters the workforce, it’s important to be realistic about their use of social networking. It’s not generally recommended to block access to Facebook altogether unless it’s proven to be a real problem; if productivity isn’t suffering, it might be best to take a wait-and-see approach.
2. Look Into Blocking Programs – If other attempts to curtail Facebook use have failed, there are programs that will block access to certain sites. Small businesses can even find free open-source programs to do the job, making it a cost-effective option.
3. Institute a Usage Policy – Writing a realistic usage policy is one of the best ways to keep Facebook use under control. Making allowances for use during breaks can keep employees on their toes during the rest of their workday without causing dissent.
4. Consider the Smartphone – The proliferation of smartphones means that there is no surefire way to keep your employees from accessing Facebook if they’re determined to do so. Hiding out in the bathroom with an iPhone to stay connected is a much bigger drain on productivity than a policy that allows for some use throughout the day.
5. Encourage Use of Blocking Apps – There are web-based apps and browser plug-ins designed to block access to time-wasting sites during specified hours; encouraging your employees to use these apps of their own volition is a great way to boost productivity and avoid mutiny.
6. Provide Productivity Incentives – Taking an indirect approach to discouraging Facebook use can also be effective, as instituting performance-based incentives make it easier for workers to keep a goal in sight. Without ever mentioning the social networking giant by name, you can discourage most employees from overuse.
7. Use Monitoring Software – There are dozens of monitoring software options on the market, with varying price points and features. Choosing to monitor your employees web use can be a tricky decision; be sure to disclose that their use will be monitored and have signed documentation on file to avoid potential privacy issues.
8. Treat the Issue Like Any Other Infraction – Wasting time is frowned upon in most workplaces, regardless of the reason. Treating productivity-hampering Facebook use as any other infraction ensures that your employees know exactly what is allowed and what you expect of them.
9. One-on-One Discussions – If your current policy is rather lenient or non-existent and still effective, with the exception of a handful, it might be best to approach troublemakers on an individual basis.
10. Frequently Remind Workers of Policy – Once a policy has been instituted, reminding employees at meetings and through memos regularly might be the best approach. Doing so will prevent confusion about acceptable use and keep all of your employees on the same page.

Always remember that your employees are people, too, and should be respected. If your demands are reasonable, they will be more apt to accept them. Make sure you know what the issues are and plan accordingly.