Productivity & Trade Briefs

Over the past 30 years, most companies have added new C-level roles in response to changing business environments. The chief financial officer (CFO) role rose to prominence in the mid -1980’s as pressures for value management and more transparent investor relations gained traction.

Ms. Mayer’s announcement banning work from home, or “teleworking,” was, of course, controversial. We write in The Enthusiastic Employee about the steps management frequently takes when they feel they have to whip an organization into shape. Among the most common is to crack down on malingerers.

While health spending in the United States far surpasses that in other industrialized nations, the quality of care in the US is no better overall, and on several measures it is worse. This stark fact has led to a wave of payment reforms that shift from rewarding volume to rewarding quality.

Influence in the C-suite, or lack thereof, has been a long-standing challenge for HR leaders. In too many companies, Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) have wielded less influence in business decisions than the challenges their organizations require. That can change.

Over the last 30 years I have served a large range of organizations as either a director or a trustee with the specific role of helping them exploit IT for competitive advantage. I believe that there are four highly interdependent categories of contributions the CIO and IT function should make.

Uncertainty becomes increasingly dangerous when we rush to understand it with an over-reliance on what we've witnessed before. The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 are a tragic example of this.