The carnival of the capitalists...

I was kicked today when after taking a break from the online world I discovered that my maiden entry for The Carnival of the Capitalists had been accepted !

Is this the equivalent of (corporate) blogging moksh? :-) Oh yes, I think I am entitled to feel proud !

P.S. Will be back to blogging next week.

The HR consulting market

The executive summary of the latest Kennedy Info report on the HR consulting market. Here are the highlights:

HR consulting firms will face increasing competition from BPO players and IT services. We've seen IBM touting it's HR BPO win of P&G, right. Imagine how incredulous that would have sounded 3-4 years ago! Overall the report says that the HR consulting industry will grow at 4.3% CAGR between 2004 and 2007 to around $ 15.5 billion.

 

 

The Scobleizer

I had read about Robert Scoble in the Fast Company earlier. For those who don't know, Robert Scoble (or Scobleizer, as a lot of his readers know him) is a Blogger who works with Microsoft.  And he is a popular Blogger (hundreds of folks link to him !). Here is his posting on "The Corporate Weblog Manifesto"

More on Businesses and Blogging here.

 

For job seekers...

Found a great resource on Vault on how to use Executive recruiters to land a job and giving an insight to how they work.  However, the Canadian Headhunter says that the part about sending your CV by snail mail is a lot of bull....because unless you send your CV in a soft copy how do they ever get it into their database (NO one has filing cabinets these days it seems ;-) Listen to the guy out their in the trenches in the REAL world.

I wonder if Vault or someone like Naukri can bring out something specific to how head hunters work in India...there ought to be a big market for stuff like that.
 
Some nuggets from the article:
 

1. There are two types of recruiters. 33 percent of the firms listed in this directory are retainer, while the remaining 67 percent are contingency. Both charge the client employer a fee and neither should ever charge the prospective employee.
   
2. Some search firms specialize, while others don't. Consider both kinds.
3. Always mail a resume with cover letter, and don't follow up by phone, e-mail or mail. Executive recruiters are interested only in the job-seekers who fit their current openings. Don?t risk alienating a recruiter who may find an opening for you later by taking up his or her valuable time now. Some firms in the directory list web sites. Most of these give detailed advice on whom to contact.

This article was written by Kennedy Information who are like the watchdog of the consulting industry. Yes, recruitment firms are considered part of the consulting industry. That's because they advise the organizations on whom to hire
 
 

Leadership talent management

Economic Times' Corporate Dossier has an interesting feature on Talent Management and how the Indian automaker Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) is grooming its leaders of tomorrow:
 

A seven-member team shadows the directors of Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) in every move they make. They follow the company’s strategy, do their own analysis and draw their own conclusions, even as they bid their time in anticipation of the day when they might take over. No this is not corporate espionage, but talent management at work. M&M’s Shadow Board consists of the company’s brightest stars and they’re getting insights into how things work at the top, even as they give their own out-of-the-box feedback to the top management

.
 
This article shows how much the non-glamourous sector compared to FMCG or IT places on long term thinking and succession planning. And this is an out of the box solution. I think M&M has got something fundamentally right, that training for leadership begins before the role, and in the real-world, not through simulation and not through "training programs". That might sound funny coming from a training person like me, but I seriously believe that "training" is not just an event but only part of a larger process which should look like something like the above.
 
 

google's recruitment ad

now that is what I call a really niche recruitment ad !

And this is another interesting fact taken from Google's official SEC filing, which Mahesh Murthy raves about.

Typically a company would say it needed to raise some round sum of money. But in Google's filing, the number was $2,718, 281,828. Exactly two billion seven hundred and eighteen million and some dollars. I giggled, for as any student who's tried to forget maths knows, this number (2.718281828) is the constant 'e'. And instead of raising $2.5 billion or $3 billion, Google wanted to raise exactly $e billion. Apart from winning the hearts of maths buffs, this gem brought forward an important point - why is it that people pretend they need exactly some round figure sum of money? If it's a guess anyway, why don't you say so?

Goal setting and Unethical behaviour

Picked this up from the BusinessPundit's Blog where he quotes a Wharton research:

"From childhood on, individuals are told that setting goals for themselves will make them more diligent, more focused and generally more successful in whatever they set out to do - whether it's win tennis games, ace their exams or become CEO of their company.
But goal-setting also has a dark side to it, according to a recent research paper by a Wharton faculty member and two colleagues. In addition to motivating constructive behavior, goal setting - especially when it involves rewards - can motivate unethical behavior when people fall short of the goals they set or that are set for them. The relationship between goal setting and unethical behavior is particularly strong when people fall just short of reaching the goal."

That means that managers have to be sensitive to such fact and either hire really honest people or set targets that are more flexible and concentrate not just on the what of achievement but also on the how of the achievement!

A headhunter with a difference?

Did you know that the big search firm Egon Zehnder has some pretty unique practices in the rarefied world of top management search firms?

Some examples:

Clients pay for services rendered, period. There are no contingency fees at the end of a search, no percentage of a newly placed executive's salary that flows into the firm's coffers.

If you want to apply to them be ready to face a gauntlet of 25 to 35 interviews with partners and associates in at least 3 of the firm's 68 offices.

Egon P.S. Zehnder, the owner, in 1976 decided to give up his majority stake so that ownership could be spread equally among all the partners, regardless of when they joined the firm.

The compensation plan within the firm has nothing to do with the revenues of a particular office or the client billings of an individual partner. Instead, paychecks are calculated according to a formula that takes into account base salary, an evenly divided partner's share of the profits, and another share based solely on seniority.

Get more such details at HBS's Alumni Achievement site. Did you know that E.P.S. Zehnder was a Harvard Biz School alumni?

taking a pause to celebrate 2 years of Blogging

I took a look at my Blogger profile then realised that it's now 2 years since I have been blogging ! phew !

Ok, I survived ... :-))

On Blogs and Business

I discovered Rick E. Bruner's Business Blog Consulting which says about itself

Business Blog Consulting is a site devoted to demonstrating how effective weblogs can be for communicating with customers and marketing to new customer prospects. You will find here lots of examples of business blogs, as well as resources to help you learn more about the topic.

I strongly recommend you to check it out, specially if you are interested in the intersection point between Blogging and Business (the new b2b?:-). It was through this site that I discovered Sun's CEO Jonathan Schwartz's Blog. Now that's what I call a cool leader ! Specially because he has a cool writing style !

Tumbled across a Blog Survey which says:

Hi, welcome to our blog. Do you write a blog? If so, please take our survey. It is available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Full details can be found at:

http://drzaius.ics.uci.edu/blogsurvey

It should take at most 15 minutes. Most people finish it sooner, and many of our participants commented that the questions we interesting and enlightening. Plus, since we will publically publish our results, you'll be contributing to a wider understanding of what blogging means to different cultures!

To maximize the validity of our survey results, we need as many responses as possible (ideally several hundred) from as wide range a demographic as possible. Most importantly, we need more results from different countries. Right now, we are lacking responses from non-English speakers. Additionally, we are very interested in responses from English speakers who don't reside in the United States. Of course, we very much welcome those in the US to still fill out the survey. =)

So go ahead fill it up ! And contribute to our collective understanding of why we Blog :-)

Experience in India attracts fast-track foreign executives

Egon Zehnder reports in their Executive News Service

"Foreign executives seeking valuable work experience in a developing
market are flocking to India, reversing the trend of Indians
looking for jobs overseas. For fast-track executives in large
multinationals, Indian market experience is becoming critical,
report Malini Goyal and Stephen David in India Today. The New
Delhi office of management consultants Egon Zehnder International
receives around 20 resumes a month from foreign executives seeking
posts in the country. 'Foreign jobseekers suddenly seem to have
discovered India,' explains managing partner Rajeev Vasudeva.

Improved working conditions and standards of living in India
mean that expats are now finding workplaces and job profiles
comparable to those in Europe. India also offers foreigners lifestyle
benefits they could never hope for at home, note the authors.
Companies face a 20-30 percent payout for foreign managers after
relocation, special perks and matching their previous salaries.
However, this may be justified in high-turnover industries like
call centers, for example, where expats are more likely to complete
their term of employment. There is also a growing interest in
India at the graduate level, with its IT reputation, economic
growth and promising job market. After the exodus of Indians
joining multinationals overseas, the influx of foreign jobseekers
should boost the country's credentials, conclude the authors."

Spinning out cost centres into profit centres

We've all heard about the in house services like HR, Training etc becoming new profit and revenue generating arms of large corporates. Even by those standards JUSCO will be a new concept.

For those who don't know ...Tata Steel one of India's largest steel producers and more than 100 years old, had its own township management operations which provided power, water, utility services, schools, hospitals and other township services to the small village of Sakchi which later became the steel city of Jamshedpur also known as Tatanagar.

Now the services will be offered for a fee to other organizations as well as other Tata group companies. With the amount of townships that India's PSUs and private organizations run JUSCO could either end up offering end to end township management or even go into niche utilities businesses giving competition to private and public electricity and water companies in larger cities.

Ah ! This is going to be an interesting story to watch!

From the Tata.com site:

“Jusco will be the first company in the country, which is likely to provide municipal services to the entire city of Jamshedpur,” said the Jusco managing director Mr Sanjiv Paul.

“The plan is to provide quality service for life,” Mr Paul told FE.

According to Mr Paul: “If India has to move forward, these services, some day or the other, will have to be privatised in the rest of the country also, and we will then be in a position to broadbase our services.”

For supply of water to the township, the company is already having a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with French utilities major — Veolia Water India Pvt Ltd — a part of Veolia Environment (earlier called Vivendi Universal) for management and technical consultancy.

“Although, it is yet to catch up in India, water & sewage is already a big business in the rest of the world,” said the Jusco managing director.

For the past few years, Tata Steel has incurred a deficit of around Rs 100 crore each year in running various town services, including healthcare, which has been kept outside the purview of Jusco. Although, creation of Jusco will not mean disappearance of the deficit in the immediate future, its formation, however, gives hope to both the companies to grow on their own competencies.

Jusco aims to serve various Tata group companies like Tata Engineering, Tata Rolls, TRF, Tinplate Company of India Ltd (TCIL) etc, in addition to Tata Steel. It is expected to gradually spread its wings outside Jamshedpur too.

Moreover, one of the major hurdle faced by Jusco, was the transfer of around 1,200 unionised employees represented mainly by Tisco’s town division.

It is learnt that several round of talks have been initiated between the Tata Workers’ Union (TWU) and the steel major’s management on the issue.

“Modalities are being worked out since the discussion is on, however, it would be unfair to make a comment at this stage,” Mr Paul said. The managing director was, however, optimistic that the impasse would soon be resolved.

(corporate) blogging a job skill?

Heather's Blog Heather's "Marketing at Microsoft" Blog poses the questionWhat is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?"

Interesting post ! What do you all think ? My thought is that Blogging has a long way to go before it becomes a job skill. Skills are important in their various contexts and unless organizations start having "Corporate Blogger" as a job title it is unlikely that Blogging will become a job skill...Guess the dotcoms/tech companies will pave the way for such a job...since some of them like FC and Google have employees blogs on their site !

Here's what Heather has to say:

I know many of us are blogging as part of our jobs. But what will it take for blogging is recognized as a skill in and of itself? How long before you see "blogging" as an experience or skill requirement in a job description?
First, let me say that while blogging is a unique phenomenon that I think will be around in some form for a long time to come, I actually see successful blogging as a combination of several specific skills/qualities:
-A gage (or gauge) for relevance. Frankly, I am not sure that a majority of bloggers have this, but successful bloggers do. I think it could be measured by an increase in view of your blog page, the number of people that access your blog via a search engine and the number of comments per post (except on old blogger posts where there was no commenting capability).
-Strong written communication skills. I don't even think that you need to be exceptionally eloquent as long as you are entertaining, informative and/or clear, and of course, relevant. You have to find your voice (some struggle with this). And your grammar, punctuation and word choice skills should not get in the way of your message. If this isn't your area of strength, your blog will probably still get hits until someone more articulate, with similar topic inclinations, comes along.
-An internal filter. Part relevance, part business smarts. Can you post what you want to post and what your readers are interested in without getting in trouble? A lot of this is common sense, but the most interesting posts are the ones that come the closest to the line. Know where the line is. Stare at it, call it out, dance along it, but don't cross it.
-Have original opinions or read a lot of other blogs and have opinions on them. Either post your own original ideas or provide your opinion on the ideas of others. Linking to a bunch of other blogs without some commentary will not get you far when your links get stale (your blog page won't be as sticky as those you link to). Also, your perception as an “expert“ in your space is in correlation to the originality of your ideas (or at least your ability to post them first).

-Know how to argue diplomatically. This is tough, I know (I mean it's tough for me, anyway). But remember everyone is watching. If someone is acting jerky on your blog, people know and they will be watching to see how you handle it.

So these are the skills that I think make effective corporate blogging.

Will be offline...'cause we've had a baby daughter!

hey folks, We were blessed with a baby daughter on July 2nd ! So will be offline as I enjoy some days of exclusive time with her and my wife and elder daughter :-))

More details at my personal blog here :-))

I intend reading.... The Seven-Day Weekend

I was blown away by Semler's earlier book "Maverick" so I want to read this one too ! Check it out on Amazon.com:

"Ricardo Semler thinks that companies ought to put employee freedom and satisfaction ahead of corporate goals.
Imagine a company where employees set their own hours; where there are no offices, no job titles, no business plans; where employees get to endorse or veto any new venture; where kids are encouraged to run the halls; and where the CEO lets other people make nearly all the decisions. This company-Semco-actually exists, and despite a seeming recipe for chaos, its revenues have grown from $35 million to $160 million in the last six years. It has virtually no staff turnover, and there are no signs that its growth will stop any time soon.
How did Semco become wildly successful despite breaking many of the commonly accepted laws of business?
In The Seven-Day Weekend, Ricardo Semler shows that for those willing to take a chance, there is a better way to run a workplace. He explains how the technology that was supposed to make life easier (laptops, cell phones, e-mail, pagers) has in fact stolen free time and destroyed the traditional nine-to-five workday. But this can be a good thing - if you have the freedom to get your job done on your own terms and to blend your work life and personal life with enthusiasm and creative energy. Smart bosses will eventually realize that you might be most productive if you work on Sunday afternoon, play golf on Monday morning, go to a movie on Tuesday afternoon, and watch your child play soccer on Thursday. "

Do's and Don'ts for Hiring Managers

From the Inc.com article:

Too many bosses rely on gut instinct in their hiring decisions, says William C. Byham, chairman and CEO of Development Dimensions International. A disciplined approach is better. Here are Byham's top Do's and Don'ts.

DO
1. Focus on the right stuff. Pinpoint specific skills necessary for
success in the job. Frame interview questions to reveal whether the
candidate has what it takes.
2. Dig up the past. Get specific examples of how a candidate has
handled different situations at work.
3. Realize that three heads are better than one. Ask colleagues to
interview a candidate and share their findings with you.
4. Put your candidate at ease. You'll get better answers and make a
good impression.
5. Seek a balanced view. No candidate is as perfect as you hope he is.
Seek a frank discussion of strengths and weaknesses.

DON'T
1. Be an amateur shrink. Focus on specific examples of specific
behaviors, not personality assessment.
2. Ignore job interest. Poor motivation is a leading cause of turnover.
3.Rush. Managers who fill an opening too quickly almost always regret it.
4. Take insufficient notes. Relying on memory gives the first and last
candidates an unfair advantage.
5. Place too much emphasis on a single skill. Avoid the "halo effect,"
i.e., when one outstanding accomplishment overshadows something less
attractive.