Robert Hebert
The Talent Jungle
Dr. Doug Barber on why tech firms fail
Doug Barber knows a thing or two about building a successful technology firm. He was one of the founders and the long time CEO of Gennum Corporation which he built into one of the most successful and best managed tech firms in Canada. Though I am sure many would disagree, the firm was never the same after he retired in 2000. Dr, Barber has also had an illustrious teaching career at McMaster University and so is familiar with how and what young people are taught at the post-secondary level. Finally, experience aside, Dr. Barber has always impressed me as a very wise man who rarely offers opinions that are ill-considered.
Several years ago Dr. Barber took it upon himself to study some 18 tech (or more specifically R&D intensive) firms which were founded in Canada and gave it the old college try before being subsequently sold or folded. Dr. Barber sought to understand why so many failed, or perhaps better stated why so few thrived long-term. He presented his findings at a breakfast talk I attended this morning in Hamilton.
Ian Ferguson
CEO Rants and Raves
CEO Perspective: Entrepreneurship and/or vs. Experience
Are Entrepreneurship and Experience really opposite ends of a spectrum?
Which one are we really looking for?
Ideally you want the executive running your company to the entrepreneur of the century but also have industry leading experience, knowledge and skills. Sometimes these are seen as conflicting characteristics: Those with yards of operating experience seem too conservative to be entrepreneurial and the real entrepreneurs have no proven operations experience. Which of these two is the show stopper or the priority for your firm.
Robert Hebert
The Talent Jungle
Hiring Leaders - Nortel’s Board of Directors
Everyone has a theory on the Nortel’s descent from first to worst. Many start and end with the murderer’s row of CEOs at its helm.
I cannot even offer an opinion on the degree to which Nortel’s demise was a function of any one of a hundred different factors. But to the degree that the last three or four CEOs played a role, the board of directors has to take a shameful bow.
It is remarkable how many boards of directors lack visibility into the companies they govern. And when these firms struggle these same boards have no real insight into the issues let alone how to address them. Such inconvenient truths invariably push boards to seek solutions that are the safest and most defensible. Thus, when appointing a new CEO, they look for unassailable ‘name’ players from within their industry or from a company known for breeding great leaders. As a book I recently read stated, ‘there is a substantial incentive for boards to select the candidate with the highest reputation regardless of the match between the candidate’s abilities and the company’s needs because of the uncertainty of the outcome and the limited ability to assess fit’. By picking a ‘name’ boards bullet-proof themselves from negative repercussions should the candidate fail.
David Wexler
The Business of HR
Are CEOs Getting Full Value From Their Human Resources Function
Recently I had an opportunity to spend time with several Chief Human Resources Officers (“CHRO”) at an Executive HR off-site. There we heard from a prestigious Management Consulting firm about what CEOs see as the top HR issues that keep them awake at night. While the issues were not a surprise, the reactions of the CHROs in attendance might very well have surprised the 500+ CEOs from large, global corporations, who participated in the Management Consulting firm study.
Three of the most oft-repeated CHRO reactions were: 1. Some to all of the HR issues listed do not apply to our firm. 2. We are already addressing the issues that do apply to our firm. 3. The items listed are mostly tactical or focus only on the current situation.
This got me to thinking. If CEOs are not aware of what HR is working on, or more likely, do not value this work, and if CEOs are not thinking strategically about how CHROs can leverage Human Capital to contribute to longer term business success, how then can HR help CEOs to realize a greater return on their investment in HR?
Below are some thoughts around questions that CEOs should be asking of themselves, and of their CHROs.
David Wexler
The Business of HR
Why Compensation Opaqueness Costs Firms More
No. This is not a commentary on why and how firms should and can be more transparent in terms of their compensation strategy and execution. Rather, this is about how organizations define and value jobs in the external marketplace, and why current processes are sub-optimal and costly (in terms of dollars, time, and inefficiencies) to organizations.
Sean ODonovan
The Pragmatic Marketer
Post-Click Marketing Insights - Leveraging Conversion Paths to Improve Results
In paid search campaigns the majority of organizations simply use their web site (typically their home page) as the destination for the respondent that clicks on their ad.
In most cases this is absolutely the wrong thing to do.
Robert Hebert
The Talent Jungle
Managing your Reputation
Reputations are built over time, easily damaged and difficult to mend. A great reputation yields an army of volunteers happy to speak glowingly on someone’s behalf. A poor reputation can sideline an executive’s career forever. And while we may all long for sparkling reputations most of us have the odd performance smudge, strategic disagreement, business failure, cultural or job misalignment, or even misconduct that is mashed together with our victories to create the individuals we are. How do others see this amalgam that is you?...