Though management is among the most popular courses of study worldwide and countless people across possess the word manager somewhere in their designations, studies suggest very few people actually possess leadership skills to deserve the tag. As per a Gallup study, 82% fail to make the grade. Skills, knowledge and experience can be gained, but not talent. The leadership talent dimensions include motivations, accountability, decision-making, assertiveness and ability in developing proper relationships. High talent managers tend to do well in these and do not pass over for short term solutions. Managers possessing these talents are usually more engaged and are focused on strengths. They are also better brand ambassadors.      

While the buying behavior of customers is increasingly veering towards the online mode, the vast majority of marketers still cling to the older ideas. This is why firms are increasingly adopting intensive training programmes for their marketing staff. ADMA is one organization active in this space. A property group Mirvac recently organized a year-long course for their employees in this regard. This enables a more hands on yet tailor made training ideal for firms focusing on the long run. Employees are then exposed to the latest tools and online resources aimed at digital marketing. 

The move from brick-and-mortar to digital is often precipitous, yet necessary to survive in today’s complex business world. There exists a roadmap which firms have used to successfully bridge this transformation. Before one progresses, the vision and frame for the same must be clearly defined. A Hypothesis must be designed, keeping in mind company resources. The entire organization must be engaged for it once the process gets underway. Proper leadership must be assigned for each component of this change. This entire change must then be sustained using a decentralized network. The portfolio must be expanded and change agents must be embraced whole-heartedly by leadership.  

Certain methods exist to ensure greater customer engagement through unique experience. If the workforce is empowered, chances are that the passion derived will be reflected during sales pitches and customer dealings. Sound management training is best way to ensure this. Webinars hosted from company computers help generate customer interaction which may further be converted to leads. Associating a story with a brand helps generate touch-points enabling end users to keep a mental track on the same. This even benefits personalization. Creating public figures as advocates also works as they direct traffic from public forums or their own blogs / websites.

Traditionally, creativity has been seen as more of inspiration than perspiration, occurring randomly to select individuals. Now the process of developing creativity has been democratized and large proportion of people have access to the ‘art’. Thus open data has soared in usage. Sitting in a small town in India, one can access websites of global organizations or think tanks. From a farm in South America one can access online memberships of most resourceful libraries across oceans. This has propelled a unique ecosystem where projects are shared online. This access generates greater data using business analytics which then further fuels open sources. Weather reports can be cited as example where just two hundred years back, data used to be collected at random intervals and not even daily. Now number of government bodies and private players including startups have based their entire business model on weather reports alone.

While majority of firms are now quite active in the field of digital marketing, yet there remain chief executives whose plans are getting disrupted due to this change in landscape. This disruption is higher in developed, more digitally connected countries like Australia and many firms are dying out due to competition from more savvy competitors. The cloud computing platforms, changing workforce, mobile savvy consumers and technology driven supply chain have created this panic and by 2020 further changes are afoot. The IoT (Internet of Things) will further heighten the divide by integrating data, machines and people. As per market research, more than two-fifths of existing jobs in Australia will be under threat of survival by 2020. Also privacy compliances, big data and IPR will become greater issues. Thus digitization will need to be simplified for all to use and accelerate the process of integration. The greater nimbleness thus derived will lead to enhanced business optimization.

Market research has been conducted to gauge the future of management jobs and the profile of potential employees. Almost 90% are prepared to move countries for improving job prospects but nearly half of them are worried that the same may be difficult due to global financial crisis. About three-fifths are worried that another global financial meltdown will seriously disrupt their careers. The respondents are majorly concerned about ethical dimensions as 92% wish to work with organizations which contribute positively to society and a similar number are concerned about the natural environment. 44 and 23% of the students look to pursue careers in professional services or finance post their MBA,BBA or other courses studied. Job loyalty though is not a top priority for this generation as less than a fourth feel they will remain at the same job for entire careers.