You've probably noticed what I've noticed: Soaring gas prices are finally, finally, causing people to change their behavior. Take me, for example. I now share my 44-mile commute into Boston with a co-worker, something I thought I would never do. So people are ready to change. How...
Expanding on yesterday's blog on the diminishing ROI for business users of Facebook, Harvard Business Online blogger John Sviokla checks in with a positive look at its main competitor for business users, LinkedIn. His take: LinkedIn delivers tremendous reach to business professionals for a relatively small investment....
Do you find Facebook a helpful tool for maintaining and growing business contacts, or are you contemplating what Harvard Online editor Paul Michelman is about to do: "Defriend" all his business contacts. As a business tool, says Michelman, Facebook is not working, and it's...
In a much debated research paper last year, Princeton economist Alan S. Blinder concluded that up to 38 million jobs, or 29 percent, of US jobs are potentially offshorable within the next couple of decades -- that is, capable of being outsourced to workers in other countries. ...
Do you work in a building designed to keep you energized, more productive, and that tells your company mission to all staff and visitors within a few steps of entering? I suspect most of us work in Dilbert's Cubicle World. So it's intriguing to see the HQ...
I love products made by 37signals and now, thanks to innovation blogger Bill Taylor, I now admire the company as much as what it makes. As Taylor points out in an enlightening Harvard Online post, 37signals lives as a company by the same principles it embraces in...
Do you spend your work time as effectively as you could? Let me answer for you. No. Everyone from CEOs to front-line managers squander their most valuable resource -- time -- like an untuned automobile wastes fuel. Our opportunities to create real value for the organization are...
Do you feel as if you are pulling the wool over the eyes of your workmates, hiding your incompetence? You are not alone. There is even a name for it: Imposter Syndrome. Management consultant Gill Corkindale takes up the subject of business professionals with...
Even in a decelerating economy, competition for top young talent remains high. To attract these folks, you need to be creative. Your competitors certainly are. Tammy Erickson blogs on Harvard Business some examples of what top companies are offering hot candidates. Here's a sample: ...
Economy-driven layoffs have already begun, more will follow. Will you be one of them? Harvard Business Review editor Diane Coutu believes she has a formula to help you keep your job while others around you are losing theirs. It goes like this: ...
A friend of mine recently was part of a merger that left him reporting to a boss in his mid-30s. Since my friend is 53 -- about the age of his superior's own parents -- he found the relationship more than a little awkward. So I was...
Be honest. We're you really surprised at the revelations that State Department employees took clandestine peeks at the presidential candidate's passport files? I wasn't. I know of a department store credit office where the night shift routinely passes the time by pulling up records of famous customers....
One pitch entrepreneurs often hear from VCs and other investors is that they will help you find top talent for your organization. This is only partly true. If you want a CEO or CFO, then, yes, your venture funding partners can help recruit top names. But if...
Wal-Mart doesn't always win when it enters a new market. In business, David can beat Goliath, or at least maintain competitive advantage, by understanding weaknesses inherent in big companies and strengths to be derived from playing smart in your own backyard. The subject of...
Most of us have lived long enough corporate lives to recognize this scenario. CEO announces sweeping strategy shift for company. Managers and employees buy in enthusiastically -- everyone is on board! And the result is... Nothing. Change doesn't take hold....
Harvard Business Review has just published its top breakthrough business ideas for 2008 Registration required. The list of 22 trends ranges wide, from a public transit agency that uses crowd sourcing to improve service, to hackers who increasingly are outsourcing their nefarious deeds to service providers. Want a real...
As the labor shortage continues to grow in the coming decades, the very nature of work may change with it. The model of the future? Think Hollywood. That's the insight offered by Harvard Business blogger Tammy J. Erickson in her piece, Cycling: The Hollywood Approach to Talent...
Some bosses lead through empowerment, others through intimidation. When I think of an empowering boss, I think of exemplars such as Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard and "The H-P Way." On the intimidation side, well, let's just say Al Dunlap earned his nickname "Chainsaw". So which...
As most managers know, mediocre and poor employees take up most of your time. Your great performers -- well it's easy to let them do their thing without much guidance. A boat on a steady heading doesn't need much work at the helm. Or does it? A...
Many of us "mature" managers remember being told at the beginning of our work careers that the quickest way to the top was by being "seen and not heard." Seen but not heard does not cut it in today's workplace. Organizations need vital contributions from every employee,...
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