Managing Talent in Turbulent Times - Deloitte Consulting

Some significant insights on leadership in this report just released by Deloitte Consulting.

Some of the more important findings

• Nearly all executives surveyed “talk the talk” about the importance of leadership development and believe their companies have clear strategies in place to develop corporate leaders. Far fewer “walk the walk,” because they lack the necessary tools to make their leadership development programs more effective. As a result, manyadmit their pipeline of emerging leaders is less than robust.

• Companies heavily invested in leadership development— particularly those with “world-class” leadership programs—act and operate differently than their competitors. While many other companies are still focused on cutting headcount and managing costs, these organizations are effectively opening new career paths to their top performers and cherry-picking the best talent available in the marketplace.

To downlaod and read it in full, click here

Firing Someone: What They Don't Teach You at Business School - Harvard Business Review

When I was 24, I quit an engineering job, declined offers to attend Harvard and Berkeley for grad school, and accepted a carpenter's job in Nantucket. The house I worked on was being built for the CEO of a major multi-national corporation. Without knowing it, I had entered the world of high-end custom building and within two years, I was supervising the construction of a 29,000 square-foot mansion on a 180-acre estate in Fairfield County, Connecticut. In all, I spent nearly five years running a construction company, and in those five years, I learned how to manage. This is the first of a series of posts on that education. I will relate salient experiences in construction with lessons I teach, and lessons that play out in the real world of leadership, every day.

Click to read more ...