Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
If most of the work of business consists of making decisions, Helena Light Hadley, Marriott Lodging's director of total quality management, has no doubt why business often doesn't work. "Most people are frustrated by the way decisions get made," she says. "We all try to be troopers. People may complain, but then they say, 'Well, I trust the leadership to come up with the best thinking.' But behind closed doors people wonder if the leaders really do have all the information, especially when the decisions affect people who've had no input."
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Choosing a cellular-service provider is not like choosing a long-distance carrier. There are contracts, service plans, and differing coverage areas to consider. By law, there are two cellular providers in each market, and prices and plans vary in each city and district across the country. You purchase a phone through a commissioned outlet, usually at a big discount when you sign up for a service.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
In 1993, Robert Henderson became responsible for opening a factory to build the most powerful commercial jet engine in history: the GE90. It was the first commercial engine that GE had designed from scratch in more than two decades. Developing it took four years and cost more than $1.5 billion.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Well, here's a rockin' party: a gathering of several hundred midlevel human-resources executives in Las Vegas. (Yo, Wayne Newton! How's the 401(k)?) They are here, ensconced for two days at faux-glam Caesars Palace, to confer on "strategic HR leadership," a conceit that sounds, to the lay observer, at once frightening and self-contradictory. If not plain laughable.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Say the right thing.
At the grand level, what HR tells employees has to match what the company actually believes; empty rhetoric only breeds discontent. And when it comes to the details of pay and benefits, explain clearly what's being done and why. For example, asks consultant Dennis Ackley, "When you have a big deductible, do employees understand you're focusing on big costs? Or do they just think HR is being annoying?"
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Dave Ulrich was one of the world's top management gurus until he gave it all up three years ago to run a Mormon mission in Quebec. Now he's heading back to business with a fresh eye -- and some fresh ideas.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Create a shared goal.
Just as missionaries may not want to wake up at 6 a.m. to proselytize for the church, employees may not want what the company wants. "Maybe my goal is to increase shareholder value and yours is to get a new car," he says. The key is to share a common goal. Something that says, "If we share this in common, maybe shareholders will make money, maybe you'll be able to buy a nice car, maybe the customer will get a better product," he says.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Your article on Bell Labs innovation ("Mad Scientist," February) was spot-on. The notion of approaching innovation systematically and being ruthless about the allocation of resources to it (plus ensuring that the established businesses keep their mitts off of it) is one that is corroborated by years of my own research at Columbia Business School.
Many companies that muffle innovation make some very simple mistakes:
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
"Whatever you do, don't hurt Barack!" It was the afternoon of Super Tuesday, and the Chicago sky threatened snow. Senator Barack Obama had just returned to his hometown as voters in 22 states were making history by choosing between a black man and a white woman to be the Democratic nominee for president. The road-weary candidate put off calling fund-raisers or leading one last rally. Instead, he headed over to a downtown gym to play basketball with his nephew, his brother-in-law, and a few buddies.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
When you walk around the Bangalore campus of technology-outsourcing giant Wipro, something feels familiar. Sure, it's India, so the sun is too hot and the women float by in a rainbow of saris. But there's still a sense of déjà vu. At lunchtime, young employees (average age: 27) swarm into cafeteria cliques, or stream into computer labs, or exit en masse from one three-story lecture hall into another. Oh, that's right. It feels like college.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
1. Success: Cloverfield
Breakthrough: Blockbuster event movie shot in digital video
Message: Godzilla meets Blair Witch
Upshot: The film has grossed about $168 million worldwide on a $25 million budget.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Wall Street's woes could creep into every aspect of the job market, but some folks have more to fear than others, career experts say.
If you're a freshly hired middle-manager with a company that's about to be swallowed up in a merger, make sure your resume is up to date. But if you're an accountant who specializes in corporate risk reduction, now might be your time to make a power move.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
When it comes to privacy and security issues on social networks, "The sites most likely to suffer from issues are the most popular ones," Graham Cluley, Chief Technology Officer at UK tech security firm Sophos says. But security issues and privacy issues are entirely two different beasts. A security issue occurs when a hacker gains unauthorized access to a site's protected coding or written language. Privacy issues, those involving the unwarranted access of private information, don't necessarily have to involve security breaches.
Fast Company Feature | 1 recommendations
Memo to CEOs: Yes You Can. The Obama campaign can teach businesses a few things about using technology. The campaign changes the game just as much as the introduction of tracking polls or focus groups, and is perhaps the most prominent example yet of Net Roots, a combination of Internet and grassroots strategies.
How well has the Obama campaign used technology compared to others?
Obama's use of and understanding of technology is better than any campaign I've ever seen -- ever. Certainly better than any campaigns in this cycle.
