Honestly, I just came across this article – Women CEOs Experience Longer Tenures, Faster Growth – as a follow up to my previous post. This study is from a limited sample of Massachusetts-based companies with an average size of $54M/year revenue and 120 employees. Not huge, but sizeable companies nonetheless. This piece of information from the short article caught my attention: When asked about their priorities for driving that growth, 80 percent of women CEOs surveyed identified expanding customer relationships ahead of aggressively pursuing new products, new geographic markets, or strategic alliances, the study found. Another 77 percent said they sought input into the decision-making process through a participatory leadership… Read More
Continue ReadingCEO Turnover
We first posted about CEO turnover in this post. Now BusinessWeek comes along with an article titled The Great CEO Exodus. CEO’s get a bad rap about their compensation packages, but it is not an easy job. Now consider the pressure being exerted on these leaders: Not so long ago, a new CEO like McComb would have had six to nine months to get his act together. Not any more. Management experts say the newly minted boss has about 90 to 100 days to start implementing strategy. It would appear that there is a drastic candidate shortage even at the CEO level: Gerard R. Roche, senior chairman of leading recruiter… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Sales Manager Factor
It seems we come across this issue frequently so it merits some attention. The scenario is this – a company hires a strong salesperson and they fail within a short amount of time. The first question that is usually raised is why did we hire this person? Obviously, they were not the right fit, they weren’t talented, they were disingenuous in the interview, etc. But is this really the case? It could be, but there is one crucial piece of the equation that goes unexamined . . . management. This is a touchy subject with a company because you have to confront their perception. Most managers believe they are doing… Read More
Continue ReadingiPods at Work
Full disclosure – I don’t personally own an MP3 player (my kids do), but I do use one from time to time. This past week I have come across several articles about the use of them at work, the pro’s & con’s of allowing them and whether companies have policies regulating their use. Here are some of the articles and the interesting points I found in them: iPod @ Work – StarTribune.com Some problems that occur related to the wearing of iPods/MP3s include the users not being able to hear others when they address them, inaccuracies and mistakes on the job due to being more mentally engaged in the music,… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Importance of Your Boss
Sales & Marketing Management has a quick hitter of a story regarding an Adecco survey about the worker-boss relationship. I think most people are aware of this: “The relationship between a worker and his/her manager has very real implications for both employee satisfaction and performance,” says Ray Roe, president of Adecco North America. But here is a survey result that I found somewhat surprising: The younger the worker, the less impact the boss has on overall happiness. Among Generation Y workers, 53 percent said their relationship with their boss had no impact on their work-life happiness. However, 62 percent of baby boomers report their bosses have influence over their day-to-day… Read More
Continue ReadingFortune 500 Blogs
Business blogs seem to be the topic of the day here at The Hire Sense so I putzed around with Google and came across this interesting wiki site that is amassing the active public blogs concerning Fortune 500 companies. Their preliminary findings: According to our research, 40 (8%) of the Fortune 500 are blogging as of 10/05/06 Some of the blogs are written by employees while others are truly corporate-sponsored blogs.
Continue ReadingHiring Still Positive
CareerJournal.com has a quick hit story stating that hiring continues to increase though it shows signs of leveling off: The forecast for technical and professional jobs was strongest, at +23, down from +30 a year before; We have multiple technical positions that we are working on right now. This data seems accurate in our world. We have heard some discussions of manufacturing leveling off, but I’m not sure how severe that plateau will be.
Continue ReadingA Newspaper’s View of Blogs
Our local St. Paul Pioneer Press offers up a tantalizing headline with no meat to the story – To blog or not to blog? The alleged purpose of this 3 paragraph story is to discuss whether companies should blog or not (ed.-they should). However, take a look at this closing paragraph: One should always keep in mind that bloggers aren’t held to the same standards as, say, newspapers, governments or publicly traded companies when it comes to factual accuracy (or good spelling and grammar). But, once one applies that large grain of salt, this batch of blogs can be a tasty buffet. Right. Anyone who reads the New York Times… Read More
Continue ReadingA Latte In Every Cubical
Good news to start your Monday – Starbucks has a stated goal to reach 40,000 stores worldwide. Although I am much more of a Dunn Bros. fan, I am all for more coffee shops. We may have to consider moving Select Metrix headquarters to this building: The people who work in Seattle’s tallest building face a tough decision: should they get their caffeinated indulgence at the old Starbucks on the building’s first floor or the new Starbucks, 40 floors up? And, if those lines are too long, is it too far to walk across the street, where a third Starbucks awaits?
Continue ReadingPassionately Pink for the Cure
The Executive Restaurant Recruiter directs us to an excellent program called Passionately Pink for the Cure. From the M&M website: October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to commemorate, we’ve created a special pack of M&M’S Chocolate Candies. Each time you buy one of the specially marked bags, we’ll make a donation* to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Help support breast cancer research and outreach programs while satisfying your sweet tooth! My wife was just 23 when she lost her mother to pancreatic cancer and I am certain many readers have had cancer affect their life in some manner. This is a worthy cause that can make… Read More
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