Future of Work Briefs

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been criticized for implementing the practice of stack ranking. Most of the criticisms of stack ranking center on the seeming arbitrary nature of the practice. Yet stack ranking suffers even more fundamental problems.

It may seem odd to use a dystopian world as a model for an office workspace, but that’s just what Citi did. The physical environment can foster elements of an effective workplace like collaboration and autonomy, work-life fit and opportunities for learning. However, this is easier said than done.

Recognizing that corporate responsibility can offer a company a competitive advantage today, we became interested in IBM as a pioneer in establishing a skills-based volunteerism initiative that also influences its talent and professional development strategies.

Peter Aceto, the CEO of Tangerine, recently said in The Globe and Mail, “I would rather engage in a Twitter conversation with a single customer than see our company attempt to attract the attention of millions in a coveted Superbowl commercial.” This is the preference of a truly social CEO.

And as we grow up, we do not lose our thirst for stories. I work with future leaders at Stanford to help them develop compelling stories that achieve their management goals — and I’ve developed a seven-part formula for storytelling success in presentations and business meetings.

The realities of doing business today often require that employees and their managers work from different locations. When you’re not co-located with your boss — often separated by large distances and time zones — a different set of considerations comes into play.

The concatenated rise of social media, Big Data, and the predictive analytics championed by human capital gurus such as Google’s Laszlo Bock virtually assures that testing will play an ever greater role in the selection and management of employees and their managers.