Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
You’ve been promoted to a job on an interim basis and perhaps promised a strong shot at that role on a permanent basis.
Your company has just hired a search firm to handle the “permanent” placement.
Are you at risk?
Maybe.
Or maybe not.
That’s the situation that Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinshohn finds himself in with the news reported by Kara Swisher that blue chip executive search firm Spencer Stuart has been hired by the board to handle the firm’s CEO search.… Read the rest
Being a CEO of a public company used the be the ultimate role for anyone in business. So when did it become so undesirable – and just a stepping stone to a better things down the road?
Jobs and roles in companies go through cycles. ABC’s Pan Am shows us that being an airline stewardess was the hot job to land for working women in the 1960’s (boy, does that concept seem dated) and NBC’s The Office vilifies most roles, unless you’re the boss, in organizations today for the unpleasantness you have to tolerate to survive.… Read the rest
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is easy to admire.
The video content distribution company he founded stared bigger companies – Blockbuster, WalMart come to mind – in the eye and outperformed them when the business was a DVD market. As technology evolved away from DVD distribution to streaming video Hastings has astutely guided NetFlix through that transformation into another market leading position.… Read the rest
There is a problem with women in business. Symptoms are everywhere.
And where you expect it the least given the perceived meritocracy – high technology – it appears to be the most present.
“Is the ‘Mommy Track’ Still Taboo?” blared a headline in the Wall Street Journal this week.
That piece follows the Journal’s post “Addressing The Lack of Women Leading Tech Start-Ups” that noted that only 11% of U.S.… Read the rest
The trickle down process is in high gear.
Steve Jobs takes a second medical leave and everywhere business people are scurrying around to do or dust off CEO succession plans.
The fact of the matter is most people avoid contingency planning (Tornado? What tornado?) like Republicans and Democrats avoid candid, authentic dialogue about taxing and spending realities. Succession – particularly at the most senior levels like the CEO – invites thinking about the unthinkable; things like death, firing, or getting “your guy/gal” at the top swiped by another competitor.… Read the rest
There was a 1960’s coming of age movie about four Midwestern guys titled “Where the Boys Are.” Funny and clever for its time, it was also laden with stereotypical models of life – including the roles of women and men – of that era.
If you squint (“Really hard,” some of my colleagues would suggest) there is a different plot playing out in the corporate world in the United States today.… Read the rest