A lot of business managers fare poorly in talent management metrics such as leadership effectiveness and employee engagement. This is in spite of many actually devoting substantial hours to speaking directly with reporting team members. This because more than the number of hours spent, what is important is the actual mental alertness during such discussions. To achieve improved engagement, some tips have been sorted that will help such team leaders. One of them is of course to focus on the present and not be preoccupied by other thoughts. To do this, management training programmes focussed on mindfulness need to be arranged. The mantra of “do less, be more” needs to be followed where listening to people is important before major decisions taken. Another tactic will be embodied presence. Here, before an actual engagement, the leader visualizes himself/herself in front of the audience to rehearse accordingly.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/12/if-you-aspire-to-be-a-great-leader-be-present

Uploaded Date:19 January 2018

If the life of a CEO was always hectic, it is showing now signs of stagnating. In fact, each year as BCG’s “Index of Complicatedness” shows, complexity at corporates is increasing by seven percent for the past fifty years. This has resulted in CEOs having little to no downtime. Numerous studies have confirmed that reflection leads to improved extraction of business insights from various sources on aspects as diverse as innovation, execution and corporate strategy. While critical thinking aims to solve problems, reflective tries to absorb knowledge and examine accepted beliefs. For CEOs, both kinds of thinking are necessary. As per a report submitted by the Harvard Business Review, today an average CEO spends three-fifths of time on meetings, another fourth on public events or over the phone, leaving barely fifteen percent for other aspects including travel, reading, email and of course, the little bit of reflection. In order to ensure that the CEO receives some downtime for self-reflection, three rules have been put aside. First of all, a structure and schedule need to be prepared with specific time set for reflection. Then, a trusted dialogue [partner needs to be identified with whom such heart-to-heart discussion may take place. These dialogue partners will eventually need to get around with some catalytic conversations with the said CEO from which reflective though may emanate.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/leadership-talent-people-organization-rewards-ceo-reflection.aspx?linkId=45688955&linkId=46179323

Uploaded Date:19 January 2018

As per a study conducted, four kinds of leaders have been identified who have an influence on how the business world will behaving in coming times. The first type is the Learning Zealot such as Garry Ridge who is the CEO of WD-40. He believes in an organization where all employees are constantly learning and improvising on their work. At such places, corporate training is an ongoing activity. The second type is the Personal Disruptor. He/she likes to challenge the accepted theories including one’s own so as not to remain blind about past successes. Rosanne Haggerty of the 10,000 Homes Campaign is one such example. Tough Minded Optimists such as Metro Bank’s Vernon Hill, combine rare qualities of intellect with emotion. A constant zest for living exudes from such personalities. And finally, we have the Eager Experimenter. A lot of products or services that have succeeded have been as a result of lucky breakthrough from failed projects. This is best exemplified by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos who has reinvented the world of business through his constant experimentation.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/12/the-4-kinds-of-leaders-who-create-the-future?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr

Uploaded Date:19 January 2018

The digital age is ripe with examples of how companies attacked the set notions and created a niche for itself. Healthcare major Aetna’s approach is one such example. Its CEO Mark Bertolini realized that the one thing where Aetna had an advantage over all rivals is in data warehousing as they had massive stores of information of customer usage patterns. However, this would only be useful if implemented for some productive purposes. That is why Aetna’s merger with CVS is the perfect deal. Three previously disparate parts of the healthcare system will now be accessible from a single player- insurance, pharmacy benefit management and drugstores. Bertolini feels that visiting the doctor’s should be aesthetically pleasing experience akin to walking into an Apple Store. CVS meanwhile has over ten-thousand drugstores all over the US. Bertolini is also aware of the importance of business analytics in the present scenario, which is why he got the company’s headquarters moved from Hartford in Connecticut to New York City. While operational challenges abound in challenging the established giants, structural opportunities have certainly now been presented in the circumstances.

Source:https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Why-the-Aetna-CVS-Deal-Is-a-Lesson-for-Leaders?gko=d70c2

Uploaded Date:18 January 2018