Elon Musk is by all means, an extremely successful entrepreneur. His ventures have revolutionized digital payments, space exploration, public transport and sustainable travel. Yet, there is another side of him that often emerges on social media or press conferences. This is the mean side where he is often seen respond in highly partisan ways to any sort of criticism. Unfortunately, he is not alone in such eccentric behaviour as there is a long line of highly-successful entrepreneurs with their quirks. This includes Steve Jobs, Howard Hughes, Tim Armstrong and John Paul Getty. A lot of commentators have taken these traits as essential to success, but in reality, these people have achieved whatever they have in spite and not because of these obvious flaws. This is particularly common in Silicon Valley due to the myth of the lone warrior disrupting businesses. Overconfidence, narcissism, isolation and reduced self-control have been such defining ill-traits. To overcome them, these leaders must be open to management training sessions focusing on executive coaching. They must foster some sort of humility. Checks and balances need to be encouraged rather than shying away from.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/08/why-great-success-can-bring-out-the-worst-parts-of-our-personalities?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_monthly&utm_campaign=leadership_activesubs_dalertnlsubs&utm_content=signinnudge&referral=00206&deliveryName=DM12568

Uploaded Date:27 August 2018

The usual perception about brainstorming sessions is to find solutions to questions posed. However, a senior leader at Oracle has claimed that instead of straightaway jumping to answers, one must rather thoughtfully pose questions. These questions bursts can have greater impacts when done alongside the brainstorming sessions. Focusing on questions rather than the immediate answers helps professions exploring aspects out of their usual lens. Usually one of three outcomes result post such question bursts. One is a positive state of mind due to the churning of new ideas. These ideas often lead to the development of business innovations. The opposite can also happen when one imagines the problems to be greater than earlier assumed. Another could be distancing themselves from the issue when they realize that they are playing a role in the problem.

Source:http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/articles/heres-how-question-bursts-make-better-brainstorms/?utm_source=mitsloantwitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=burst

Uploaded Date:25 August 2018

A lot of professionals from ethnic minorities, with physical disabilities,differing sexual orientation or women find themselves shunted out from senior executive positions. This is inherent even in organizations which overtly promote workplace inclusion and diversity. It happens often not because of genuine discrimination, but simply due to perceived biases inherent among people. That is why the Center for Talent Innovation has undertaken a research to understand this phenomenon. It was reported that about one out of every eleven white-collar professionals have undergone this at some stage or the other. That is why the ACE Model has been proposed. ACE is named after the six principles of- ambition, ability, connections, commitment, executive presence and emotional intelligence. For organizations to truly ensure it takes place, a system needs to be devised where everyone can get heard. It must be a safe place to propose business innovations. A proper feedback loop needs to be devised. This feedback collected must be implementable. Whatever credit comes your way, must be shared with the broader group. The talent management system must be such that team members are empowered to take decisions at their micro-levels.

Source:https://www.strategy-business.com/article/How-to-Keep-Perceived-Bias-from-Holding-Back-High-Potential-Employees?gko=a8740

Uploaded Date:18 August 2018

There is a serious requirement of humanizing the human capital. This is primarily because of the presence of dual-career couples, very common in the 21^st century. Such an approach will have multi-pronged positive effects on talent recruitment, its retention and development. In order to make this work, family support needs to be the pillar of life. There has to be enough flexibility at work. This should now be easier thanks to the ubiquity of digital gadgets. The right technology will help achieve through tools such as videoconferencing support. Role models are required at each level. The more human they are, the greater will be the impact as people can then relate to these leaders. The definition of success needs a revision. Instead of the material quick-fixes, one needs to focus on slower aspects with long-term benefits.

Source:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/humanizing-human-capital-vincent-chin/?published=t&linkId=55240856

Uploaded Date:16 August 2018

One of the paradoxes that most companies face is what to do with the most productive of frontline professionals. The typical approach is to promote them to managerial positions, as a reward for their good work. But this leads to companies losing a large part of their most productive workforce. A study suggests that large corporations on average have about 30-40% of their workforce in positions not directly contributing to the customers. This is where agile methods can be the best talent management technique. This clusters the organization into smaller agile teams, where managers get back to work. It is also beneficial for the managers themselves as they see new work paths open up for them. A motivating environment needs to be put in place towards this end. Those small teams must be run as small self-organizing ones.

Source:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/agile-putting-managers-back-work-paul-mcnamara/?linkId=55100474

Uploaded Date:16 August 2018

Talent recruitment was changed forever by the use of the internet, since it came to the picture with the Monster Board going live in 1994. Ever since, job aggregators, search engines, LinkedIn, job boards and the use of social media has further digitized it. HR tech solutions have also come in to the picture connecting employers to employees. The ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is one such useful version of this. Now, it is set to get further disrupted thanks to the emergence of another suite of technologies. It includes the likes of Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data. These skills will require another lot of people to fulfil, as prophesied in the PwC 2017 CEO Survey. More than three-fourths of CEOs surveyed fear that skill shortages could seriously hinder their company’s growth. These technologies can reduce the mundane and repetitive workload so humans can focus on the more creative aspects of hiring. The scheduling of phone calls and face-to-face interviews gets simplified. Semantic issues may also be identified and unwanted human bias common during hiring get eliminated.

Source:https://www.hrdive.com/news/the-web-changed-recruitment-forever-and-it-is-still-changing/527880/

Uploaded Date:10 August 2018

Most business owners would want their company executives to prioritize long-term growth rather than the present year’s targets. Yet, most executives would not behave this way as invariably their compensations are tied up to annual company revenues. There exists a wedge between long-term value creation and yearly business targets. A lot of companies confuse price for values. In reality, the real value of an asset is determined by several factors dealing with an uncertain future. The naive view popular in business cycles is that value can be improved by tying performance with measurable KPIs. This approach is known as Red-line management. Linking KPIs with bonuses, compensation and promotion is terrible talent management was it ends up destroying value in the long run. In order to achieve their set KPIs, managers often undercut costs in different ways. It could be through underinvesting in some brand or less of corporate training sessions. Real value creation on the other hand requires experimentation. So, the alternative Blue-line management style must be adopted where all decisions are made with the only objective being long-term organizational value creation.

Source:https://knowledge.insead.edu/economics-finance/kpis-should-never-be-tied-to-compensation-9846

Uploaded Date:09 August 2018