Human Capital Briefs

A reputation can be made in an instant and take much longer to repair. Something as simple as a misguided email exchange can ignite a reaction, followed by a judgment call, and there you have it, a reputation is born! A reputation is a powerful thing. Right or wrong (and we've all heard this before), perception is reality.

If you’re a hiring manager, you’re probably happiest getting a sense of a candidate through unstructured interviews, which allow you to randomly explore details you think are interesting and relevant.

By partnering with arts organizations, companies can provide employees with innovative opportunities for growth and development, which can in turn have positive effects on engagement, morale, retention, and performance.

It was hard to be more of an insider at The Walt Disney Company than COO Thomas Staggs. The 26-year company veteran had been widely seen as the heir apparent to CEO Bob Iger — that is, until Staggs abruptly stepped down this month. News headlines trumpeted “Walt Disney Co Investors on Edge” and “Disney’s Succession Plan in Disarray.”

Fortune favors the bold, goes the old Roman saying. Our research suggests fortune is not alone in this: so do the Americans and the Chinese. But although some cultures do like boldness in their leaders, and reward it when they see it, this isn’t universally true.

D&I professionals do not object to being relevant to the mission of their organizations or to leveraging D&I as an enabler of business strategy. Most agree that all elements of the business, including D&I, must deliver results to help achieve the collective goals of the organization.

Women’s networks – also known as affinity or employee resource groups – are typically viewed by businesses as an essential pillar of their efforts to increase the number of women in leadership roles. Yet, new research shows that networks frequently fail to make headway, leading to frustration and disengagement among female employees.

Measuring D&I’s ROI (return on investment) helps leaders demonstrate the impact of their work by comparing the cost of a solution to its monetary payback, and demand for this metric continues to grow. A challenge in our field, though, is the limited investment often devoted to D&I initiatives.

The way in which companies approach diversity and inclusion and corporate responsibility has come to define the corporate sector in the twenty-first century, as stakeholders demand an increasingly responsible approach to business by the world’s largest companies.