Springing Into Innovation With Rita Gunther McGrath

/in /
by Jen Sprague | May 12, 2016

Spring in the Big Apple is always invigorating. The environment changes daily as the temps warm and there’s constant motion of cars, people, new ideas. Feels kind of like the ever-changing and fluid business environment that most of us are working in, and a great backdrop for sharing ideas on achieving a sustainable competitive edge from author Rita McGrath. McGrath joined our roundtable discussion at the Harvard Club of New York City with several of our top clients, and followed that with a larger group discussion over breakfast. As an innovation and strategy expert, she stressed to both audience the concept […]

Supporting Transformation At The Coca-Cola Company

/in /
by Stacey Valy-Panayiotou | May 10, 2016

In late 2014, The Coca-Cola Company announced a restructuring of its global business model. We undertook these actions to ensure our organization continues to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible in our fast-changing global marketplace. This company-wide transformation has required our Talent & Development group to make corresponding changes in how we operate. Specifically, we’re tasked with helping drive the transformation through three key areas: Talent Management & Stewardship Linking Development to Tangible Outcomes Enabling Performance & Accountability The core question driving our talent strategy: Given my business priorities, do I have and will I have the talent my […]

The Importance Of Practice – And Our Reluctance To Do It

/in /
by Jennifer Long | April 27, 2016

As leaders, we’re accustomed to being good at what we do. Learning something new is hard, especially at the beginning when we’re likely to struggle and make mistakes.  The reality is, the only way to learn something new is to practice. In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell suggests that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become expert at something. Perhaps more of a realist, Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA, writes that to go from “knowing nothing to being pretty good” actually takes about 20 hours of practice – that’s 45 minutes every day for a month. So whether you aspire to […]

Moving Beyond “Getting And Keeping” Talent

/in /
by Jen Sprague | March 23, 2016

Recently we had the pleasure of spending a day with senior level leadership and learning professionals at our 2016 Leadership Development Forum: Innovation in Talent Advancement. I am always energized by the sincere passion and boundless energy that our industry shares for developing leaders at all levels – from individual contributors to senior leadership – within our organizations. With representation from a broad range of industries, companies in attendance included Apple, Autodesk, Bank of the West, Blue Shield of California, Cadence Design Systems, Capital Group, CBRE, Charles Schwab, The Clorox Company, Colorado Permanente Medical Group, Core-Mark International, eBay, Franklin Templeton Investments, […]

Making The Most Of An Hour

/in /
by Jeff DeSmet | February 26, 2016

For the past eight years, I’ve had an hour-plus commute to work. Over the years, I’ve experimented with ways to make good use of my car time by listening to podcasts and audio books. I even tried learning how to play the harmonica as I drove. (Don’t ask.) Time is such a precious resource that the thought of wasting my commuting hour just seems reckless and irresponsible. I want to make the most of it. Organizations are no different. Harvard Business Review recently published an app that lets you calculate a meeting’s cost. Try it out. You may be startled to see the money […]