A copy of my presentation yesterday at the 2013 Activist Investor Conference in New York City.
A copy of my presentation yesterday at the 2013 Activist Investor Conference in New York City.
The list of good employers on Fortune’s prestigious annual list stays consistent this year with Google retaining the top spot and just a couple of newcomers to the top 10.
Rank |
Company |
Job Growth |
# of Employees |
1 |
N.A. |
53,546 |
|
2 |
5.6% |
6,373 |
|
3 |
4.7% |
1,378 |
|
4 |
18.6% |
2,314 |
|
5 |
8.3% |
43,927 |
|
6 |
7.8% |
7,426 |
|
7 |
47.7% |
1,012 |
|
8 |
-0.9% |
35,114 |
|
9 |
18.7% |
1,440 |
|
10 |
13% |
1,896 |
Source: CNNMoney
Rachel Botsman discusses the trust-powered marketplace empowered by new media. The importance of building a reputation trail and its value.
The Latest on Activist Campaigns, Corporate Defenses, Legal & Regulatory Issues
The Activist Investor Conference is an annual gathering of the most important group of activist investors, corporate governance specialists, advisory firms, proxy solicitors, and corporate board members. The agenda features a full day of technical education on the latest activist investment strategies, their impact on corporate performance, legal and regulatory changes, and studies of effective proxy campaigns and successful corporate defenses.
Venue
W New York - Union Square
201 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 253-9119
In the heart of Silicon Alley, where cutting edge technology and international business thrives, stands W New York - Union Square. Step outside and head in any direction, and within walking distance you will find the very best of New York waiting for you.
A limited number of discounted rooms have been reserved for conference attendees. Book your room early because after the room block sells out the special rate may not be available. Click here to book your room online or call The W Hotel directly at (212) 253-9119 and mention "The Activist Investor Conference."
Globalization continues to feature prominently in political debates, business strategy deliberations, and in everyday life. The dialogue, however, is seldom backed up with hard data, the authors of a new report on global connectivity assert.
The new report from logistics giant DHL finds that the world is less globally connected today than it was in 2007, and global connectedness also falls far short of the levels commonly assumed by business executives and the general public.
Increasing global connectedness can be a powerful lever for improving prosperity, the report suggests and that limited and faltering global connectedness imply that strengthening countries’ connectedness offers large untapped potential to help accelerate economic recovery.
Global Connectedness is defined in the report as the depth and breadth of a country’s integration with the rest of the world as manifest by its participation in international flows of products and services, capital, information, and people.
Depth measures how much of a country’s activities or flows are international versus domestic by comparing the size of its international flows with relevant measures of its domestic economy. For example, to assess the depth of Hong Kong SAR (China)’s merchandise exports, its exports are compared to its GDP: Hong Kong’s merchandise exports-to-GDP ratio is 187%, the highest in the world and 37 times higher than Nepal’s (the lowest – only 5%).
Breadth complements depth by looking at how broadly the international component of a given type of activity is distributed across countries. To illustrate the importance of incorporating breadth into assessments of global connectedness, consider inbound tourism in the Bahamas. While the Bahamas ranks first in terms of the number of inbound tourists per capita (a depth metric), more than 80% of those tourists come from the United States. Thus, while depth of inbound tourism in the Bahamas is high, its breadth is limited, especially when one notes that less than 15% of outbound international tourists worldwide come from the United States.
The 2012 DHL Global Connectedness Index measures and analyzes the global connectedness of 140 countries, covering 99% of the world’s GDP and 95% of its population.
Source: DHL
Around the world, governments and businesses face a conundrum: high levels of youth unemployment and a shortage of job seekers with critical skills. How can a country successfully move its young people from education to employment? What are the challenges? Which interventions work? How can these be scaled up? These are the crucial questions.
A new report from McKinsey attempts to answer them. To do so, it developed two unique fact bases. The first is an analysis of more than 100 education-to-employment initiatives from 25 countries, selected on the basis of their innovation and effectiveness. The second is a survey of youth, education providers, and employers in nine countries that are diverse in geography and socioeconomic context: Brazil, Germany, India, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The report’s findings include the following six highlights:
McKinsey started this research recognizing the twin crises of a shortage of jobs and a shortage of skills. In the course of it, though, it realized the need to take into account another key shortage: the lack of hard data. This deficiency makes it difficult to even begin to understand which skills are required for employment, what practices are the most promising in training youth to become productive citizens and employees, and how to identify the programs that do this best.
The authors conclude, “The journey from education to employment is a complicated one, and it is natural that there will be different routes. But too many young people are getting lost along the way”.
Source: McKinsey Center for Government
Seventy-Four Percent of Millennials believe they influence the purchase decisions of their peers and those in other generations, a new study from PR firm Edelman finds.
The study provides updated insights around the ambitions and beliefs of the Millennial generation, born between 1980 and 1995, building on its 2010 benchmark study, 8095®. Encompassing interviews with 4,000 Millennials in 11 countries, 8095 2.0 revealed that 74 percent believe they can inspire the purchase decisions of peers and those in other generations. The new study was issued to better understand the evolving roles of brands in Millennials’ lives and how cultural changes like the global recession are impacting their behaviors.
Global findings from the study include:
Why Millennials Matter
According to the World Fact Book, the median age of the world population is 28, which falls within the Millennial generation and there are more than 1 billion Millennials around the globe. As the first generation to grow up inherently digital, it is also a group that has information at its fingertips and expects two-way dialog with preferred brands.
While Millennials share many traits and behaviors, they are more diverse ethnically, economically and socially than any other generation in history. They are more connected by being grounded in a global network with perspective and purpose. They have instant access to one another and to information. They are aware of and believe in their own voice and power. They are each a unique and powerful member of a generation that by 2025 will amount to 70 percent of the global workforce. The time to pay attention to Millennials is now.
Peter Drucker was once asked about the accuracy of predictions.
“I don’t predict,” he responded, “I look out of the window and identify what is most visible, but not yet seen.”
In 1987 the Hudson Institute published its seminal report, Workforce 2000. Ten years later it reprised the analysis with the publication of Workforce 2020. In between several important Harvard Business Review articles covered similar ground, though taking more of a global view. By the end of the decade, McKinsey’s War for Talent was capturing considerable executive attention.
Each took a long-term view of the confluence of societal trends, demographics, education sector deficiencies, globalization, technological advances and workforce supply & demand. Each warned advanced-economy government, business, labor and education leaders that, absent the collaborative development of fresh solutions, trouble lay ahead. In parallel, business thought-leaders like Peter Senge, Meg Wheatley, Charles Handy and Gary Hamel were challenging conventional wisdom and urging that new realities required fresh thinking.
The rest is history.
Fast forward to 2012. Several substantive and insightful new reports have been published this year that center on contemporary and impending global labor market discontinuities. They all cover somewhat related ground from different vantage points and paint a picture of the present that is quite consistent with that of the earlier forecasts. Importantly, each warns leaders in both advanced - and now also in developing economies - of the considerable economic and societal consequences of failing to act to solve the challenges ahead:
This 2012 body of work is serious stuff. Its antecedents were serious too, but in the end issue-avoidance and short-term-ism - regretfully – brought the future home to roost.
Here’s the rub. Unless we pay attention and do something proactively to respond to these dynamics, organizations will increasingly struggle and competitiveness will continue to erode. Form will follow function, we know this. The pivotal question is who will be ostriches and eagles this time around?
Clearly, we have a Point of View. We hope that executives earnestly examine the strategic implications of these forces and build out strategies and capabilities to future-proof their enterprise.
Charlesmore Partners International specializes in organizational strategy. We have a track-record of building high performance organizations and experientially-developed methodologies that help organizations get ready for the future.
More information: +1 215.353.6472 or [email protected].
An inspiring Tedx talk by Nilofer Merchant on inclusivity. Important insights on choices, inclusion and value creation.
As they say, never mistake the edge of the rut for the horizon.
More: NiloferMerchant.com
What’s it like to work at REI, the outdoor gear company and #8 in Fortune’s 2012 list of best companies to work for? Watch the video. Want a job as a systems engineer at a software company? Watch the video (and take a look at your prospective boss, hear him describe the team and talk about what is important for success). What’s a day in the life of a Cisco employee like? Watch the video. It’s apparently pretty exotic and doubles as an almost endless product promotion platform. Tired of trying to get an employee newsletter off the ground? Try using video. Philips News Networks educates employees on its business and company news, and uses employee “Roving Reporters” to capture and generate news stories.
Video is now ubiquitous in society, with – according to MIT’s Technology Review - smartphones outpacing any other technology in history in terms of mainstream adoption. While teenagers might one day regret those videos they post on Facebook, the ease and immediacy of use and the medium’s ability to garner attention and draw viewers in is nothing short of phenomenal.
Can companies make more use of video technologies in their organizations? Certainly. Can they piggyback on its popular appeal to engage employees more viscerally into the business? We think so.
Here’s the rub. Somewhere between 70%-80% of enterprise value in most companies now considered to be intangible - knowledge, methods, capabilities, relationships, brand. All people derived. Yet, studies abound regarding the lack of engagement that employees feel for their jobs and their companies. Clearly there are many factors that compound to create an under-engaged workforce, but companies that create workplace excitement tend to attract a better crowd and inspire them to over-perform.
Video can be one way to create a sense of excitement and engagement in a workforce, particularly if employees are involved in the design and generation. Showcase model employees. Highlight case studies of business and customer success. Bring customers to life for employees. Use video to explain and reinforce company values. Do walking tours of different company facilities. Humanize top executives by showing them less formal and relaxed modes. Give employees from different functions and locations their voice. Use videos to celebrate milestones or special events – employment anniversaries, birthdays, engagements. You can always organize a “spontaneous” flash mob to build camaraderie and get employee adrenalin pumping. Watch the video. Sure beats abseiling down a fake mountainside.
Knowledge-sharing, technique demonstrations, policy or benefit program explanations, even job descriptions can all scale and be more recipient-receptive through the use of video. The options are somewhat limitless once you let your imagination and creativity run and decide to incorporate the visual into your employee communication and engagement toolkit. Mix it up between more formal, stylized productions and user-generated and less scripted media. It can help change the tone of your employee relations.
Edward Ferris is Managing Partner of Charlesmore Partners International, a consulting firm specializing in organizational strategy and employee engagement.
Originally posted on CommPro.biz a destination portal for public relations, marketing, advertising, investor relations, corporate communications and social media professionals by Larry Thomas, editor of the Latergy Social Media Channel.
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