Tag Archives: Human Resources

Avoiding rifts within company leadership

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by Autumn Adeigbo

Do you find it as disappointing as I do when you hear that a company’s co founders have gone their separate ways?

This is especially true when the leadership has put in sweat equity and gotten through the hard stuff: pooling resources, boot-strapping, finding the right funding via investors or loans, hiring and training employees, building a board of directors, and making the company profitable. However sad, these separations within leadership happen all the time. And like a familial divorce- it can be traumatizing for all parties when a company’s foundation crumbles.

So why does it happen so often? Why are some company founders together for decades while others split a year after deciding to work together? I recently experienced a potential rift within my company’s leadership that led me to ask myself this question. It made me think about the subject seriously- because the disagreement I witnessed had the potential to divide the leadership within my company with enduring effects. Continue reading →

Three Questions Humble Leaders Ask

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by Annet Aris

To avoid falling victim to narcissistic tendencies, leaders need to look outside in more ways than one.

My office window looks out on the only grassed square in my neighborhood. The view is wonderful: toddlers stumbling along playing tag, love-struck teenagers flirting shyly, fathers patiently playing ball with their offspring, hopeful they have an Olympics contender in the making.

As a supervisory board member of several companies, I often have to make difficult telephone calls over the course of the day; it may be to address conflicts in the boardroom or discuss tricky takeovers or remuneration issues. In each case, a quick glance out of the window during these conversations provides perspective and significantly improves my mood, which clearly benefits the outcome of the discussions.

It is a shame then that so many directors’ offices are without such a view and are often far away from the ordinary world. Continue reading →

The 4 Leadership Styles, and How to Identify Yours

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by Bill Taylor

 

 

We all want to be part of a great success story. To run, start, or play a senior role in a company that wins big or changes the course of its industry. To launch a brand that dazzles customers and dominates its markets. To be the kind of executive or entrepreneur who creates jobs, generates wealth, and builds an organization bursting with energy and creativity.

Which means that all of us, no matter where we are in our career, have to wrestle with the big questions of leadership: What is our personal definition of success? What does it mean to make a difference and have an impact? What is the best way to rally colleagues to our cause, to handle problems and obstacles that inevitably arise, to revise plans in the face of setbacks or to stand pat no matter the odds? How much do we rely on our own ideas and experiences, and how widely do we seek the advice and support of those around us? If we hope to succeed, we need to understand how we lead. Continue reading →

What is top talent and how is that identified?

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As a part of our talent acquisition engagements, we ask our clients how they define “top talent” and how they would assess those traits in the interview process.  Reflecting on the insightful comments we hear every day, we thought there would be great value in a new blog in which senior executives/thought leaders share their “Take on Talent.”

This is the ninth in a series of blogs/interviews with senior executives who are thought leaders in the areas of Talent Acquisition, Career Development and Leadership who will share their perspectives on this ever present question.

 

 

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Christopher Stancombe is the Chief Operating Officer for Capgemini Business Services. Christopher joined Capgemini in 2005.  He has been instrumental in the growth and development of the Business Services Organization and has successfully established Capgemini as a worldwide leader in Finance and Accounting Outsourcing.  He leads the delivery organization that supports a broad range of services to clients and drives innovation across all of our offerings.

 

Continue reading →

Why Marissa Mayer’s Ultimate Talent Acquisition Strategy Failed

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by Cale Guthrie Weissman

Though the writing has been on the wall for months—if not years—Yahoo has finally been acquired. Verizon has scooped up the company to the tune of $4.8 billion. For many, this is the beginning of the end of a years-long saga to fix a seemingly broken digital media company; Verizon says it will use the new assets to build a digital media empire. For others, it’s just another chance to pile on the blame game for CEO Marissa Mayer.

All the same, there’s one big question that hasn’t quite been answered, and perhaps never will be: What exactly went wrong? While there are hundreds of facets to this broad question, there’s one big strategy Mayer opted to take as chief executive: acquisitions. Over the course of her four-year tenure, she acquired more than 50 companies and spent more than $2 billion. Continue reading →