Harvard Business Publishing

I've been homeless. Not technically. I always had the ability to recreate a home over time and never knew the hopelessness of true homelessness. But back in the 1980s, our house burned down and, for three months, we had few possessions and no place to call our own. Yesterday, as I shopped for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I had a flashback to the day after the fire. By then I had borrowed a friend's track suit, and was standing, clad in strange clothing, in the middle of a vast store. The realization that I no longer owned one single item in that store — actually, with the exception of the flannel shirt and sneakers I'd worn out of the house that night, not one single item, period — settled deep in my bones. In the hours, and weeks, and years that followed, I've often thought back to those possession-less months.... Keep Reading »

Many years ago, when the idea of women in professional roles in business was much more novel that it is today, magazines were eager to profile female pioneers. As a very young managing director in one of the then-prominent management consulting companies, I received lots of requests for interviews. One of the first was from a major, serious business magazine. The writer conducted a lengthy interview on topics ranging from the nature of the work I was doing with my clients, my observations on key trends and evolving issues, the challenges of diversity in the workforce, and yes... a then-hot button of topic of women traveling. (For those of you too young to remember, this was an often-stated objection to women entering the business world: who knew what might happen if women were allowed to travel around the country with male colleagues!) I waited eagerly for this very important profile... Keep Reading »

I have been trying to send a wire transfer for over a week now. In the process, I've been asked dozens of times how my day is going, offered multiple cups of coffee, and declined repeated suggestions that perhaps I'd like to run a few errands while I wait. I've been smiled at, welcomed, and offered comfortable chairs. My responses have gone from the standard and polite, "fine, thank you," to the near-hysterical "not well" as tensions mounted. Still, no money arrived in the other person's account. As I had to explain to my friend in the United Kingdom who had not heard of the process, in the United States, one way of sending money from one person's bank account to another's is through the supposedly fast process of asking your bank to wire the money to the bank where the other person maintains an account. It was in trying... Keep Reading »

Much of my work over the past several years has wrestled with issues of diversity, specifically among the generations. My research has shown me time and again how powerfully and unconsciously our past experiences color the way we perceive events today — and how easily we form the wrong conclusion by judging another person through our lens. I've come across dozens of examples of mistaken impressions among the generations. For example, Boomers and X'ers are likely to react very differently if the corporation they're working for asks them to relocate. Boomers tend to be generally pleased, equating the request with greater opportunity, a promotion, a "win," while X'ers are often uneasy, concerned about moving too far out on the seemingly tenuous limb of trust in one institution. Both of these reactions are logical, based on each generation's observations and experience with corporations throughout their lives. More importantly, each generation often... Keep Reading »

William Strauss and Neil Howe, coauthors of Generations, posit that each generation makes a unique bequest to those that follow and generally seeks to correct the excesses of the previous generation. They argue that the Boomer excess is ideology and that the Generation X reaction to that excess involves an emphasis on pragmatism and effectiveness. As many of you know, I've spent much of the last year talking with members of Generation X — those of you born roughly in the 1960s and '70s. The book I've written based on those conversations (What's Next, Gen X? Keeping Up, Moving Ahead, and Getting the Career You Want — safely in the hands of the publisher and due out in December) includes many of your voices — including quotes from your responses to posts on this site. Through this research, I developed a deep admiration for the generational traits evident among most... Keep Reading »

My last post prompted a question that I thought might be worth discussing broadly. JoAnn Becker asked what the major marketplace forces are today and the implications of those forces for the company and the worker — how the recession and shifting talent practices mesh with the trends outlined in the books Workforce Crisis (written for organizations seeking talent), Retire Retirement (written to Boomers), and Plugged In (written to Gen Y's). (My final book in the series, written to Gen X'ers, will be published January 2010.) First, the numbers. My books all describe a world in which the availability of talent will be one of the major factors limiting business growth — one in which individuals with the appropriate skills and abilities will be able to choose among a wide range of work options. I understand that reconciling the short-term realities of today's recession-driven labor market with the idea of... Keep Reading »

By now we've all heard the phrase that a recession is too precious to waste. Recessions are times when we make changes in the way we do things — consciously or not. Although it would be smart to do it consciously, probably some of the most significant changes have just, well, happened. The shift underway today, embedded in companies' responses to this recession, will have major unintended consequences for the relationship between organizations and the individuals who perform work (I hesitate to even use the word "employees"). As msnbc reported recently, there's been a "furlough frenzy" in corporate America lately. We're on a slippery slope. Recent history illustrates how significant shifts in the nature of the relationship between organizations and workers have resulted from practices put in place during a recession. For example, it was during the recession of 1981 that the idea of a "layoff," meaning a permanent separation... Keep Reading »

An increasing percentage of the work done today depends, as Blanche DuBois might have said, on the kindness of strangers. Your success as a leader hinges on your ability to entice people — many of whom you may never even meet — to want to go the extra mile for your business. Discretionary effort is the life blood of today's economy. As we move to business models that depend on people working together, on innovation, on individual expertise and craft, on crowds contributing to the whole, we must also move sharply away from our traditional concepts regarding the key responsibilities of senior executives. I've had the opportunity to conduct a lot of research over many years on how and why people collaborate and innovative; through it all, one conclusion stands clear: you can't make anyone do these things. There is no correlation between traditional "push" management approaches — directives, power-based... Keep Reading »

As thousands of students pour into the sluggish job market this spring, news sources are trumpeting dramatic stories of graduates whose dreams have been dashed by the current economy. First, I suspect most of these stories are written by Boomers (parents of Y's) who, based on my interviews, are far more distressed by the current events than are most of the Y's. Second, let me assure both students and parents that this year's tight job market is likely to be a small blip on Gen Y's otherwise positive life trajectory. From a long-term, generational perspective, the recession of 2008-09 will have the least impact on the rosy Y's than on any other contemporary generation, largely because they had virtually nothing to lose (few had bought homes or begun to invest in 401ks prior to the recession) and will have everything to gain as they begin their asset accumulation period at... Keep Reading »

I had a chance to spend some time with Jim Collins earlier this week. Over the past decade, he's been working on his third major analytical investigation of strong companies, in this case focusing on how successful companies weather crises. His findings are summarized in a new book is due out later this month — How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In. As part of the conversation, Jim reflected on the lessons he's drawn from his three major research programs, including the two earlier investigations that lead to Good to Great and Built to Last. Of several dozen key characteristics and actions he's identified, some stand out as being perhaps the most important — the foundational core of sustainable greatness. One of those primal lessons is from the first study: get the "right people on the bus." Jim has found that great companies have clarity around... Keep Reading »