As professionals in executive search, it is critical for us to stay informed of current trends and the future outlook of the U.S. job market. We are interested in how companies seek and find talent, how demographic shifts across the country are affecting employment, what qualities businesses today are looking for in candidates, and so on. We have shared some of the most relevant and recent articles here.
Thoughtful Leadership
By Randy Hain, Managing Partner of Bell Oaks
In today’s professional landscape, the term “thought leadership” can be interpreted any number of ways. You see the phrase included in a company’s laundry list of expertise areas, or voiced throughout the course of a strategy meeting. Some business executives embrace the concept more than others, and many bring it to life in a way that benefits the bottom line. Based on my understanding of the subject, I have come to define it this way: Thought leadership is the creation and advocation of an original idea that stimulates change for the benefit of an organization.
Building Your Company's Vision
By James C. Collins, Jerry I. Porras - Harvard Business Review
Companies that enjoy enduring success have a core purpose and core values that remain fixed while their strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world. The rare ability to balance continuity and change—requiring a consciously practiced discipline—is closely linked to the ability to develop a vision.
What Leaders Really Do
By John P. Kotter - Harvard Business Review
Leadership is different from management, but not for the reasons most people think. Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with having charisma or other special personality traits. It's not the province of a chosen few. Nor is leadership necessarily better than management or a replacement for it. Rather, leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action, argues John Kotter in this article, first published in 1990.
Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership
By Alice H. Eagly, Linda L. Carli - Harvard Business Review
Two decades ago, people began using the "glass ceiling" catchphrase to describe organizations' failure to promote women into top leadership roles. Eagly and Carli, of Northwestern University and Wellesley College, argue in this article (based on a forthcoming book from Harvard Business School Press) that the metaphor has outlived its usefulness. In fact, it leads managers to overlook interventions that would attack the problem at its roots, wherever it occurs. A labyrinth is a more fitting image to help organizations understand and address the obstacles to women's progress.
Business Outlook Survey: Tentative optimism rings in the new year
By Joseph McCafferty - CFO Magazine
CFOs are feeling better about the prospects for the U.S. economy in 2007. According to the Duke University/CFO Business Outlook Survey, 30 percent of finance chiefs say they are more optimistic about the direction of the U.S. economy.
Discovering Your Authentic Leadership
By Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean, Diana Mayer - Harvard Business Review
The ongoing problems in business leadership over the past five years have underscored the need for a new kind of leader in the 21st century: the authentic leader.
How Leaders Create and Use Networks
By Herminia Ibarra, Mark Hunter - Harvard Business Review
Most people acknowledge that networking is an essential activity for an ambitious manager. Indeed, it's a requirement even for those focused simply on doing their current jobs well. For some, this is a distasteful reality.
When the Boomers Leave, Will Your Company Have the Leaders It Needs?
By Anne Field - Harvard Business Review
The major demographic change on the horizon--the fact that highly
trained and highly placed baby boomers in leadership positions are
eligible to retire in the next five years—portends leadership crises
for many companies: those that haven't prepared the next generation of
younger managers to step into the departing executives' shoes.
In this article, experts share their advice for providing your
organization's future leaders with training that is both highly
effective and efficient.
