Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
It might be nice if you found a job that lasted you for the rest of your life. It’s unlikely to happen –
even if you’re in a profession like a teacher of doctor – and even less likely for anyone who holds what we think of as a “regular” job.
The reality, as career guru Richard Nelson Bolles has said, “is that every job has turned into a temp job — whether people are conscious of that or not.… Read the rest
In Pareto’s world , big things count a lot, but small things count as well. The trick as it were to is make sure you nail the big things very well, and make sure to do the smalls things well too.
It sounds easy to do but my experience is that it’s hard to execute. Many companies – and their functional departments – try to do it all at once – sort of the spaghetti testing method en masse– throwing it against the wall hoping that most of it sticks.… Read the rest
Nothing’s guaranteed except change, and in business (as well as more than just a few non-profits) that means a churn of possible mergers, consolidations, and acquisitions. Across the country biotech companies, financial services firms like asset managers, hedge funds, venture capital and private equity firms, and any number of companies in other sectors are all scrambling – some to stay alive, others to grow by acquisition.… Read the rest
I drove to my client, a company on the Peninsula, past what was formerly Genentech Inc. (acquired by Roche) in South Francisco, on the same day that General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
If I had driven further south I would have passed buildings that formerly housed Bay Networks and 3Com, long gone former or diminished competitors of Cisco, and by a location that was Informix (subsumed by IBM), Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle), and Silicon Graphics , a leader in computer graphics in the mid-1990’s and a recent bankruptcy participant, acquired by Rackable Systems.… Read the rest
The call on the line is from a headhunter: now what?
Richard Nelson Bolles has noted that the best proven job hunting method is when a job hunter takes time to sit down and do some really good work on figuring out who they are and what they have to offer. And working your personal and career network is still the best way bar none to find work opportunities once you’re clear about who you are and what you have to offer.… Read the rest
Mike Latham, who I know through my work at Barclays Global Investors, is a good guy and a good
manager:
He gets things done, is transparent in his dealings, is funny, works hard, knows the business, and is respected and liked by the people with whom he works.
His job title – CEO of United States iShares – looks like a great example though of “paying” people with a title in order to retain them.… Read the rest