Tag Archives: innovation

Research: How a New CEO Can Make a Firm More Entrepreneurial

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by Bastian Grühn, Steffen Strese, Malte Brettel

iStock_000015634604Medium - CopyA new face at the top brings new hopes, and often, new strategic priorities. When Target hired Brian Cornell as CEO in 2014, expectations were high that he would inject fresh energy into one of the largest U.S. retail chains. When that same year Microsoft replaced CEO Steve Ballmer with Satya Nadella, the move signaled the possibility for major change. Indeed, the company eventually announced its strategy to venture massively into cloud computing.

Each year, about 10% of the companies on the S&P 500 Index experience a CEO transition. And this transition is much more than a new nameplate on the corner office. When new CEOs take charge, they sometimes change or even reverse the entire strategic course of the company – a course that, such as in the case of Microsoft, often aligns with entrepreneurial growth opportunities. Continue reading →

The one leadership skill that impacts overall success

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By Lydia Dishman

The single most important skill of a good leader may not be what you think. Although it is important to be visionary and a strategic thinker, a new study suggests that it’s more rooted in their daily dealings with people.

According to DDI, the leader who’s mastered having successful conversations is most likely to do well steering their team and/or their business. “By the end of each day, leaders likely have had multiple conversations with a range of their constituents,” DDI’s researchers write. “Each of these interactions will collectively determine their ultimate success as a leader.” Continue reading →

Top 5 Leadership Predictions That Will Impact Business Evolution In 2016 And Beyond

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by Glenn Llopis

Twenty-first century leadership requires you to be a change agent who is not afraid to get uncomfortable and take ownership when it comes to creating the next big thing for your business, people and industry to evolve.

Over the past several years, I’ve witnessed the decline of courageous leadership in American enterprise. Rather than welcome change in order to evolve, leaders are playing it safe. Where are the leaders with the strategic focus and wisdom to take a leap of faith and the tenacity to find new ways of doing things?

Twenty-first century leadership requires you to be a change agent who is not afraid to get uncomfortable and take ownership when it comes to creating the next big thing for your business, people and industry to evolve. But according to research conducted by my organization, 78% of leaders have difficulty understanding and effectively articulating the requirements to thrive in the rapidly changing marketplace – and the consequences of not doing so. Perhaps this explains why only 32% of leaders define themselves as change agents.

Leaders must think differently to act courageously upon the burning platforms that are reinventing industries. Here are my top five leadership predictions for your business to evolve in 2016 and beyond – the burning platforms we can no longer afford to ignore. Top Leadership Predictions Continue reading →

The Unconventional Habits of Transformational Leaders

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by Stanislav Shekshnia

Lessons from two Russian CEOs on turning stumbling state companies into global success stories.

In February 2012, The Economist reported that Russia’s state-owned Sberbank had become one of the best performing corporate stocks in a decade. Every $100 invested in the company in 2002, was worth $3,700 in 2012. Sberbank came second only to Apple, which for every $100 invested in 2002, was then worth $4,000. Although Sberbank’s stock declined following economic sanctions against Russia the bank continued to grow and will report record profits for 2015 despite a deep recession in the country. Continue reading →

The Need for Entrepreneurial Leadership

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by Randel Carlock

Entrepreneurship is not just for startups. It’s a lens through which all organisations should view strategy and leadership in the 21st century to address societal problems.

Management theories come about in response to particular problems. At the turn of the 20th century, the most notable organisations were large and industrialised and carried out routine tasks to manufacture a variety of products. This led Frederick Taylor to develop the scientific management theory, which advocated optimising tasks by breaking big complex jobs into small ones, measuring what workers did and linking pay to performance.

Management practice of that era was designed to seek out efficiencies, improve productivity and make “the trains run on time.” Theory started to evolve by the 1930s, when unions began to reject the dehumanising effects of earlier practices. This formed the beginning of the human relations movement when researchers started realising that treating people nicely was even better for productivity. Continue reading →