Human Capital Briefs

According to research my company conducted, only 32.5% of America’s workforce is actually satisfied with this aspect of work. It comes as no surprise that several management gurus, including Peter Cappelli and Anna Tavis, advocate for upending the performance review process entirely. Regardless of your perspective, the fact that only three in 10 workers prefer the status quo should capture the attention of every manager looking to attract and retain the best and brightest.

Alex Goryachev, Cisco System’s Director, Innovation Strategy and Programs, shares the most common mistakes he has seen at companies working to build a culture of innovation. The key concept tying together Goryachev’s observations: the need to focus on the people innovating, not the “innovations” themselves. Goryachev will be speaking at The Conference Board Innovation Master Class this December in Palo Alto.

There are many and varied definitions of the word innovation. The word often conjures up visions of scientists in white lab coats holding clipboards, but the most successful innovations that drive business results are often small and incremental cultural innovations rather than dramatic large-scale R&D endeavors.

“I think we have a shot at building the best office building in the world” were the words Steve Jobs used to describe Apple’s new headquarters in 2011. The grand vision at the heart of his last project is now being unveiled as Apple finalizes construction on Apple Park. Wired called the facility “insanely great (or just insane),” and in many ways it is exactly that.

This all creates challenges for those who would manage narcissistic individuals. Making matters worse, narcissists refuse to acknowledge that they have a problem. Why would they ask for help, when they think that they are better than anybody else? How can they learn from mistakes if they can’t admit that they’ve ever made one?

As Defined Contribution (DC) plans have become the primary retirement vehicle in more organizations, there is a growing recognition that the method of payout and the options during the payout periods are an important part of making these plans real retirement vehicles rather than just asset accumulation plans.

Should CEO performance be assessed only on “hard” measures? Should soft measures be part of a CEO’s scorecard? Is there a framework that might assist you to tackle the CEO appraisal task?

Bundled payments in health care have gained favor because they can reduce costs and help improve outcomes. In essence, episodic bundles cover the cost of a patient’s care from start to finish—all the procedures, devices, tests, drugs and services a patient will need for, say, a knee replacement or back surgery.