What makes a great leader? Some say confidence. Others say people skills. Some organizations hail innovators and creatives, others move the practical, calculated, high-IQ folks up the ladder. Whatever it is you value most in leaders, it’s important that you can articulate it. Only then can you measure it, develop it, and create an environment that grows high potentials into high performers. But don’t get so caught up in your definition that you lose the forest for the trees. Defining key competencies for your leaders is a good thing, but it’s important to realize these key competencies are not the only thing that matter. Read the rest of this article »

I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago that irritated some of my colleagues at other organizations. I stated that the organization (and not an employee’s manager) is the most important element in retaining and motivating employees. That post was hotly debated and many people in the human resources community vehemently disagreed with my position. They had conventional wisdom backing them. I have data backing me. Read the rest of this article »

If you follow sports even at a passive level, by now you have heard about Jeremy Lin. He is the point guard for the New York Knicks who has emerged from nowhere to captivate the NBA, its followers, and many other people around the world. The Harvard graduate of Taiwanese decent has been lauded by just about every news station, magazine, and newspaper over the last two weeks. Read the rest of this article »

Oh, what amazing things people can do. Sometimes it’s hard to notice. Ever find yourself impressed by fellow commuters on the drive home from work? Chances are they’re all jerks. As the old George Carlin bit goes, anyone driving faster than you is a maniac; anyone driving slower is an idiot. But that sentiment is the product of a caustic environment, everybody is trying to get home and every other car on the road serves as an impediment, so we get judge-y. We can’t stand people. It’s hard to see their value. But one thing I’ve learned from the human capital measurement business is that when viewed in aggregate, the feedback you can get from individuals can provide astounding value. Read the rest of this article »

Modern Survey has an exceptionally industrious employee named Ben Harkins. In addition to being a model employee and curator of problem solving, Ben is also an entrepreneur at heart. Right now that entrepreneurial spirit has him building a real estate portfolio.

Young and capable, Ben does a lot of work on his own home and his rental properties by himself. On a recent Saturday this fall, he was doing a woodworking project using a table saw. One split second and one small mistake severed one of Ben's index fingers completely off and marred two other fingers. His life changed in a heartbeat. Read the rest of this article »

If you haven’t heard already, there has been significant M&A activity in the Human Capital Management (HCM) industry.

Here are some of the headlines:

1. SAP buys SuccessFactors for $3.4B

2. Success Factors buys Jobs2Web for $110M

3. Salesforce buys Rypple for an undisclosed amount, and launches a new Human Capital Management business unit Read the rest of this article »

Timberwolves rookie point guard Ricky Rubio is an everyday discussion topic for basketball fans in Minnesota. Actually, the young Spanish wunderkind has been a hot topic for years, having turned pro over in Europe at the ripe age of 14, later starting in the gold medal game of the Olympics as a wide-eyed 17-year-old and ably holding his own against the ultimately victorious team of U.S. superstars. He’s young, good looking (in a mop-topped early Beatles sort of way), a charming interview (fluent in Spanish, Catalan and English), and he plays with considerable flair, particularly in his passing and ball-handling. But more than anything else, Rubio is a hot topic because his greatest strengths are passing the ball, seeing the floor, facilitating an offense, and generally playing team-oriented basketball, a definite anomaly in the ego-inflated world of the National Basketball Association. Rubio has almost single-handedly made a “pass-first mentality” cool again. Now if only he could fix the performance review. Read the rest of this article »

One of my favorite pastimes is looking through a well-stocked bookstore. The routine is always the same -- first look through the business books, then travel, next history, and finally fiction. It was during a recent trip through the business books when I realized how much professional progress I have made in the last couple years. Read the rest of this article »

You’ve heard it before, "People leave managers not their companies.” It’s a simple adage that consultants love to use. It is also a load of bull. It may have been true at one point, it may be true at some point in the future, but it doesn't ring true now. Read the rest of this article »

Time Magazine just announced their person of the year. Unlike most years, they didn’t choose a politician or a business leader or even a real person. The magazine chose to symbolically anoint “The Protestor.” Citing demonstrations from Arab Spring to Athens, Occupy Wall Street to Moscow, Time’s editorial staff deemed the concept of “The Protestor” to have had the single greatest impact on the world in 2011. And it’s tough to argue otherwise. Arab Spring has already directly resulted in four nations (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen) undergoing forced regime change and protests like Occupy Wall Street have made a significant impact on the sociopolitical dialogue. No matter where you stand politically, it is undeniable that “The Protestor” is being seen, heard and responded to. And while a confluence of various social, political and economic issues have spurred these protestors on, it’s hard to ignore the role that the evolution of the internet and global connectivity has also played in making these events possible. Read the rest of this article »