Author Archives: Larry Janis

How To Win The Talent War

Written by Jon Stein

I once hired a developer who had more experience in his field than I did in mine. His resume touted roles at companies I one day hope to emulate, and his Rolodex read like a who’s who of tech startups. I was excited by the possibilities of having someone like this on our team, and I anticipated a long and rewarding career for him at our company.
No doubt he was talented–but the sad reality was that he had no genuine interest in building the company I envisioned. He stayed with us less than six months.
When hiring for roles like this at Betterment.com, the investing startup I founded two years ago, I soon learned the formula for a successful startup. It’s simple: create a product that people need, and hire ridiculously talented, highly motivated people to build it. (more…)

Relationship-Building… Key to Your Success as a CIO

Written by Robert Liley. He is a Principal in The Signal Group, a Vancouver-based management consulting firm. Over the years, he has counseled several successful CIOs, as well as having been one himself. For more on this subject, or to purchase a copy of his guide ‘The CIO’s Executive Handbook’ please visit his web site at www.theciohandbook.com.

The role of the CIO is rapidly changing. Are you ready to meet the increasing demands of this new role? Before you answer this question, we need to first understand the nature of this evolution and the factors that are driving it. In my view, it’s being driven by a significant change in expectations on the part of the CEO and the rest of the Executive Team with respect to the CIO. This has been stimulated by the role that information technology is now beginning to play in enabling fundamental business operations and creating competitive advantage, something that has only recently begun to appear on the radar screens of many executives.  And this, in turn, is being fueled by the continuing rapid advances in information technology which make possible so many of the changes that are impacting the way that societies and organizations work, essentially across the world.  Just ask the Tunisians or the Egyptians about the impact these new technologies can have. The problem, of course, is that many CIOs are not yet prepared to meet the emerging expectations, even if they understood them. Why is this?        (more…)

Turn Your Career into a Work of Art

Written by Gianpiero Petriglieri, MD, He is visiting associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD. Find him on Twitter at @gpetriglieri.

 

Whose life am I living? I’m sure you ask yourself that kind of question from time to time. What am I really good at? What is the purpose of my work? These are not new questions. Sooner or later, we all seek answers to them.

Up to three or four decades ago, most people struggled with such questions once or twice in their lives. When they chose their line of work, or when they resolved to break from the expectations of their family. (more…)