Human Capital Briefs

Last month, a California jury ruled in favor of a leading venture capital firm, rejecting a female employee’s claims of sex-based discrimination. While in the end, the firm’s actions were not deemed illegal, these distractions spawned the daily release of details through headlines.

As leaders, we can learn a lot about messages and how to package and use them effectively from politics. In The Political Brain, Drew Westen takes us on a journey through some of the most significant political campaigns of recent decades, and dissect why some have worked while others have failed.

It’s harder and, yet perhaps more critical, in today’s world of instantaneous communications that enterprise leaders more generally assess the business and reputational risk of other leader misdeeds, including those which may not directly violate regulatory prohibitions.

Decision-making power resides with a much smaller group, who form what you might call the CEO’s inner cabinet. Members of this elite club wield a disproportionate amount of influence, which is why most executives want to join.

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.