Author Archives: Larry Janis

Workplace Excellence Can Be Contagious

Image resultby Serguei Netessine

Collective outcomes soar when top performers mingle with less adept colleagues.

Big data is helping us learn much more about what drives sales in the digital environment. The traditional service sector, however, remains very much a “black box”. A physical sales environment, such as a clothing store or restaurant, is subject to even more intangible elements than e-commerce sites or apps – perhaps chief among them are the extremely nuanced and significant interactions between customers and staff. Attributing customer purchases to actions taken by an individual employee is ambiguous enough without considering how additional subtleties, such as cross-employee interactions and influence, may affect outcomes.
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Should You Chat Informally Before an Interview?

 

by Brian Swider, Brad Harris,Murray Barrick

 

photo_uniqueJob interviews typically begin with a set of seemingly innocuous questions unrelated to the job: How is your day going? Got any plans for the weekend? How was traffic on your way in?

It is commonly assumed that job candidates and interviewers both prefer to start with these types of questions rather than just diving into the more rigid and formal structured interview topics. After all, small talk is typically how most interactions between strangers begin. Interviewers also believe these little interactions, academically referred to as “rapport building,” help to loosen up nervous job candidates and lead to candid responses in the subsequent job-related questioning. (Note: Although this premise is intuitive, research has yet to substantiate it.) (more…)

What is top talent and how is that identified?

As a part of our talent acquisition engagements, we ask our clients how they define “top talent” and how they would assess those traits in the interview process.  Reflecting on the insightful comments we hear every day, we thought there would be great value in a new blog in which senior executives/thought leaders share their “Take on Talent.”

This is the tenth in a series of blogs/interviews with senior executives who are thought leaders in the areas of Talent Acquisition, Career Development and Leadership who will share their perspectives on this ever present question.

 

Tiger-Tyagarjan-President-and-CEO-Genpact

NV “Tiger” Tyagarajan, President & CEO, Genpact

Based in New York, Tiger is credited as one of the industry leaders who pioneered a new global business model and transformed a division of GE (formerly GE Capital International Services) into Genpact, a leading business process management and technology services company with $2.46 billion in annual revenues in 2015. The company delivers these services with a highly differentiated approach called Lean DigitalSM that helps clients drive disruptive transformation, leveraging digital and analytics.

In his role, Tiger spends a lot of his time with the C-Suite of large global corporations, helping them drive change globally and get more competitive in their industry.Tiger frequently writes and speaks about transformation, digital disruption, global talent issues, continuous skill development, and the importance of building a strong corporate culture. He is also passionate about diversity, serving on the board of the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) in New York and as one of the founding members of the US chapter of the 30% Club, an organization of C-Suite executives, focused on achieving better gender balance at US companies and corporate boards.  Tiger is also a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council. (more…)

Avoiding rifts within company leadership

by Autumn Adeigbo

Do you find it as disappointing as I do when you hear that a company’s co founders have gone their separate ways?

This is especially true when the leadership has put in sweat equity and gotten through the hard stuff: pooling resources, boot-strapping, finding the right funding via investors or loans, hiring and training employees, building a board of directors, and making the company profitable. However sad, these separations within leadership happen all the time. And like a familial divorce- it can be traumatizing for all parties when a company’s foundation crumbles.

So why does it happen so often? Why are some company founders together for decades while others split a year after deciding to work together? I recently experienced a potential rift within my company’s leadership that led me to ask myself this question. It made me think about the subject seriously- because the disagreement I witnessed had the potential to divide the leadership within my company with enduring effects. (more…)

Three Questions Humble Leaders Ask

by Annet Aris

To avoid falling victim to narcissistic tendencies, leaders need to look outside in more ways than one.

My office window looks out on the only grassed square in my neighborhood. The view is wonderful: toddlers stumbling along playing tag, love-struck teenagers flirting shyly, fathers patiently playing ball with their offspring, hopeful they have an Olympics contender in the making.

As a supervisory board member of several companies, I often have to make difficult telephone calls over the course of the day; it may be to address conflicts in the boardroom or discuss tricky takeovers or remuneration issues. In each case, a quick glance out of the window during these conversations provides perspective and significantly improves my mood, which clearly benefits the outcome of the discussions.

It is a shame then that so many directors’ offices are without such a view and are often far away from the ordinary world. (more…)