Recent articles on hiring, talent management and leadership: February 2011
How to Influence Change
We all have a love-hate with change. We really, really want to, but then we don’t because we are emotionally attached to the way we do things. If you are a leader and you want to influence employee or customer behavior, Chip and Dan Heath offer sound advice. The Heaths are authors of the 2007 bestseller Made to Stick and the new Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. Writer Bob Gossage of Inc. recently interviewed the duo to uncover their ideas. >>Read more…
How My Company Hires for Culture First, Skills Second
In this Harvard Business Review blog, Alan Lewis, owner of a vacation tour company, says you need to assess for job skills when hiring, but they won’t tell you the whole story. He suggests every organization first needs employees who mesh with its core values — the principles that define who you are as an organization and shape day-to-day business decisions. In the end, finding a good fit will boost retention and sales. >>Learn more…
Listen! ‘Getting the Right People on the Bus’
In “The Five Key Things to Consider When Looking for the Right People,” author and management guru Jim Collins describes criteria for hiring the right people, or, in his words, “getting the right people on the bus.” >>Listen for yourself (5 minutes, 22 seconds)
Making Sense and Cents: Happy Employees Generate Happy Returns
Since Fortune launched its “100 Best Companies to Work For” list in 1998, companies on the list have significantly outperformed the market. What these companies understand is that investing in employees’ happiness delivers shareholder happiness, too. Flextime, on-site child care, free health screenings, and even indoor climbing walls are some of the perks these 100 firms offer. Six Colorado firms made this list this year. What is it they and the rest of these companies are doing for employees that are generating happy returns? >>Read the article…
The Best Networking Email You’ll Get All Year
Did you get an email last month from your friends at LinkedIn with the following subject: “Stephanie, 120 of your connections changed jobs in 2010”? If so, Jodi Glickman, author and founder of Great on the Job, says LinkedIn just served up a great reason to stay in touch with your network at the right time and for the right reason. >>Read her three reasons why…
The Way I Work: Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk is a bit of a wild man. He’s a successful author (Crush It); runs a multi-million dollar wine business; and dreams of owning the New York Jets one day. But recently, he’s become a social media guru. In fact, he has used social media to help expand his family’s wine business from a couple million a year to $60 million in annual sales. This Inc. profile highlights how he used social media to grow his business, and then how social media actually became his business. >>Read more…
I Need a Fix, Boss
Extrinsic incentives have been shown to increase dopamine and blood flow in the ventral tegmental and nucleas accumbens areas of the brain,” according to some researchers named Knutson, Adams, Fong, Hommer, and Zald, who studied the issue in-depth. So what, you ask? Well, when we get rewards, they trigger dopamine, which enhances, among other great things, focus and productivity. Companies looking to trim costs should be careful about cutting employee reward systems or withdrawal may set in, says Paul Hebert, managing director for i2i. >>Read more….
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