Robert Redford’s take on creativity in business | Philadelphia Inquirer

A kid raised in a blue-collar home in Los Angeles, who got into trouble in school, who managed to scrape his way into an acting and directing career, and then went on to create a world-renowned film festival that changed the fortunes of independent filmmakers . . . . . . Even a person like that, even a person like Robert Redford, can screw it up. Redford's faults: hiring badly, impatience, inability to communicate, ineffective relations with subordinates. He laid them all out Thursday before an audience of about 300 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre at a seminar sponsored by the Arts and Business Council of Greater Philadelphia and by Towers Watson & Co., a human resources consulting firm. "I kind of stumbled into business," Redford said, sitting comfortably in an armchair on stage and speaking on the topic "Cultivating a Creative Workforce."

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Management's Dirty Little Secret

A great piece from Gary Hamel's Wall Street Journal blog on Management. How would you feel about a physician who killed more patients than he helped? What about a police detective who committed more murders than he solved? Or a teacher whose students were more likely to get dumber than smarter as the school year progressed? And what if you discovered that these perverse outcomes were more the rule than the exception—that they were characteristic of most doctors, policemen and professors? You’d be more than perplexed. You’d be incensed, outraged. You’d demand that something must be done! Given this, why are we complacent when confronted with data that suggest most managers are more likely to douse the flames of employee enthusiasm than fan them, and are more likely to frustrate extraordinary accomplishment than to foster it? Consider the recent “Global Workforce Survey” conducted by Towers Perrin, an HR consultancy. In an attempt to measure the extent of employee engagement around the world, the company polled more than 90,000 workers in 18 countries. The survey covered many of the key factors that determine workplace engagement, including:

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Job market seeks flexibility, creativity

America's Job Market are looking for creativity and flexibility in the workforce in many ways similar to experiences in Australia. Hannah Hoffman explains... The traditional five-year post-graduation plan may need a renovation. University career counselors agree the keys to starting a career in today's economy are flexibility and creativity, not rigid planning. Counselors from the University Career Center, Lundquist College of Business, and School of Journalism and Communication said there are career possibilities for students who have a strategy. Students can use the poor economy as a chance to stand out, they said.

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