Human Capital Briefs

A cynic might conclude that George Washington, the first president of the United States, owes his legacy to his towering physical stature and other superficial characteristics. The man looks like a leader, and perhaps that made him a convenient figurehead on which we hang idealized virtues.

Late last month, The New York Times published a piece about businesses finally opening their eyes to the realities of climate change. Don't get too excited, though. It makes sense that Coca-Cola and Nike, the companies featured in the article, would be taking proactive positions.

Improving innovation is one of the key competencies that companies often look for when replacing a CEO. Yet committees responsible for recommending candidates often grapple with finding the right person for the job when an innovation emperor like Steve Jobs isn’t available.

When CVS/Caremark announced that it would forego some $2 billion in sales of tobacco and related products recently, CEO Larry J. Merlo stated that: “We came to the decision that providing health care and selling cigarettes just don’t go together in the same setting.”

Let’s look 10 years into the future. New approaches and philosophies around work are already emerging as a new generation of employees joins the workforce, as companies globalize, and as new industry sectors mature into their own unique models of work. What might be part of the workplace of 2024?

We know that questioning can trigger innovative thinking. But the key to truly changing the status quo is identifying the right question. Professor Clayton Christensen and I conducted interviews with global leaders.

In one of the most widely scrutinized CEO successions ever, Microsoft directors selected insider Satya Nadella to run the company, only their third CEO pick in the firm’s nearly 40-year history. His challenges will be enormous.

Yesterday’s announcement by Microsoft that insider Satya Nadella would take over as CEO hardly seemed to inspire investors. The company’s stock price barely budged, no doubt in part because Nadella had been the rumored frontrunner but also perhaps because he was widely seen as the “safe” choice.

Whether it’s the world’s largest technology company or a small manufacturer trying find its niche, just about every organization looking for a new chief executive faces the same problem: How do you find a leader who can both innovate and create a culture of disciplined execution?