Alexander Graham Bell may have invented the telephone but he did not keep one in his office. He felt it was a distraction. He also says that while a lot of people lack the direction in life, often it is staring right at them, when they do not know of it. Bell had been a doer all his life, right from his earliest days in Scotland. He had developed smaller devices even before becoming an adult. Bell also had a business mind, as unlike other before him who had developed similar devices, he actually went out to get his invention protected using a patent. He also faced a number of law suits, all life. Bell’s business innovation actually lasted, eventually helped in ushering a revolution. He also worked closely with the great Thomas Watson, who would go on to establish IBM.

Source:https://inc42.com/resources/purpose-staring-face-says-man-invented-telephone/

Uploaded Date:20 May 2019

There are several reasons why cross- collaboration succeeds or fails. One catch that keeps emerging is the fact that while insisting on such collaboration, leaders tend to primarily highlight the processes and logistics. Individual departments often fall under the existential threat, as they need to grapple with the processes of another department or vertical. Departments instead focus on a sense of security to tide over this. A group identity and further legitimacy gets built around this. To minimize this resistance, one needs to reinforce the team identity. Leaders proficient at talent management, will control the power plays at these times. Territorial assertions and blocking behaviours tend to erode the control here. The leadership has to reassert this control. Each team and even leaders have their blind spots. These need to be understood before venturing out towards any collaborative initiative.

Source:https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-collaboration-blind-spot

Uploaded Date:20 MAY 2019

The future of work maybe unlike anything already seen. Team leaders compelled to reduce costs should not jump the gun and take sudden staff reduction costs as the hallmark, as this may cause adverse effects in the future. Too many initiatives taken though focus merely on effecting incremental gains, rather than towards changing the corporate strategy altogether. Changes in the future will primarily be in two forms. The first will be to see beyond cost as a driver towards organizational success. The other will be to shift the focus away from the company towards the workforce and their customers. A framework has been curated termed as the Future of Work Drivers that explores all such possibilities.

Source:https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/reframing-the-future-of-work/

Uploaded Date:20 May 2019

Bill Gates has been proven correct two decades hence from 1996 when he made the remark that “Content is King”. Indeed, now the internet has become a global marketplace for content. Thus, marketers now need to be armed with Content Intelligence. It is the intersection between content strategy and artificial intelligence. This will help map each stage of the buyer journey to the digital marketing campaign. At the Awareness stage, will be videos, blog posts, infographics and social media will be included. Newsletters, whitepapers and webinars will be part of the Consideration stage while the Decision stage will comprise of case studies and demos. This will help the marketer know the right content for the respective audience. Marketing research firm Curata states that more than half of marketers connected with say distribution is top pain point in content marketing. Content intelligence can also help ascertain what platform’s content will need to be updated.

Source:https://www.searchenginejournal.com/atomic-reach-content-intelligence/295455/

Uploaded Date:15 May 2019

At the start of one’s career, having the right network from an MBA or from a previous experience, helps an individual. But as one grows at work, it has often been noticed that the same proficiency at developing contacts, that had once propelled up his/ her career, is now limiting the person. This is because in larger roles, especially at larger companies, the focus is often on balancing the poles and maintaining the status quo. Individual ties however do matter, so the network density has to be increased, even if the organization isn’t too comfortable in it. Letting one use the network, also helps the firm in spreading out its talent recruitment process across informal chains. Even if the present business is not related, eventually there may be a requirement for the diverse chores.

Source:https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/rethinking-network-ties-5551

Uploaded Date:15 May 2019

In the USA, it is the middle- market companies that are growing the fastest. This includes firms whose revenues clock between ten million and a billion dollars. The Middle Market Indicator (MMI) clearly shows how this segment has grown by 6.5%, in stark contrast to the average for S&P 500 listed firms, of a mere 3.6%. There are some aspects in which these middle market players are exceeding the national average. One of them is market expansion. Another is investment and innovation. Financial management and maintaining efficiency of cost are two other factors. Talent recruitment and retention are aspects that these middle- market players do extremely well at. These firms have also put in place a formal growth strategy. And finally, they are good at staff development, through the deployment of several corporate training workshops. These fast- growing companies can further bee categorized under three headlines. These are the Innovators, Investors and the Efficiency Experts.

Source:https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Masters-of-the-middle-market-universe?gko=a24ac

Uploaded Date:15 May 2019

Family owned firms have a disproportionate sense of power in Latin America. This is because such firms make up about three- fifths of the GDP of these countries and about three- fourths of the list of companies whose turnover exceeds a billion dollars. A new report has been published titled The Institutionalization of Family Firms in Latin America. This study has been developed by the Global Private Equity Initiative (GPEI), which is the business consulting arm of the INSEAD along with the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise (WICFE). Due to this institutionalization mentioned, these family owned firms escaped some of the trappings typically associated with third- generation companies. They outdid their rivals in growth capabilities by twenty- eight percent. The organizational design has been mapped highly intricately. There is abundant access to capital. Among the family assets, there are also intangible pieces. The family ownership and succession has been planned better here in the Latin America region than in Asia- Pacific or the MENA.

Source:https://knowledge.insead.edu/economics-finance/latin-american-family-firms-and-the-path-to-longevity-11331

Uploaded Date:13 May 2019