Why Flexible Hours Inspire Performance
"What time do you want me to start work?" That's the question a new hire recently asked me. She looked a little startled by my reply. "I don't care." But it was the truth. I didn't care—and I never have—what hours are kept by the people who work for me.
How Data Can Help You Land Top Talent
Tech founders know that landing top-notch talent is key to their businesses. Bright stars in the employment pool are in high demand. The last thing they want to do is elongate the interview and hiring process. Take your time making an offer, and that genius programmer or well-connected executive could sign with someone else while you're still trying to make a decision. This is exactly the problem BlueKai set out to eliminate.
BRAVE Framework for Thinking About Culture
Organizational Culture: So Important – So Misunderstood We created some new frameworks for the 3rd edition of our book The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan. One of those is the BRAVE cultural framework. At some level, everyone knows culture is important, but people struggle to define, understand, and influence it.
Crossing the Bridge
It’s difficult to create a life of abundance until you have a truly inspiring vision of what life will be like on the other side. Many people try to move towards abundance because they’re fed up with scarcity. They’re tired of working at jobs they semi-dislike just to pay the bills. They notice the years passing and don’t feel they have much to show for it.
The Pitfalls of Freelancing
Let's get one thing straight: Freelancing is not easy. While it offers fantastic benefits — flexible hours, more control and creative independence — there are still plenty of risks involved with striking out on your own and running your own business. And while the economy struggles to recover, freelancing poses pitfalls. According to the infographic below, compiled with information from MastersDegree.net, a surprising 80% of freelancers have dealt with a client who ultimately didn't pay for work that was completed.
8 Things Your Employees Need Most
Pay is important. But pay only goes so far. Getting a raise is like buying a bigger house; soon, more becomes the new normal. Higher wages won’t cause employees to automatically perform at a higher level.
When Hiring Graduates, Avoid These Mistakes - Tom Moore and Brandon Labman
by Tom Moore and Brandon Labman | 9:28 AM May 3, 2011 It’s that time of year again, and many a manager’s inbox has become flooded with the résumés of (very) soon-to-be college graduates. And while most hiring managers are well-versed in best practices for recruiting Millennials, it’s amazing to us — as somewhat recent graduates ourselves — how many firms still make the same mistakes when hiring “the best” of Gen Y. Take this example from our experience of one old-school hiring process, in which an IT firm disheartened several qualified candidates with an overly formal and invasive first-round interview. After a three-hour initial meeting, the firm had mentally drained the young candidates with surprise skill assessment tests and a last-minute decision to have them re-screened by multiple executives.
Report: Making The Business Case For Enterprise Social Networks
In 2011, the US hit a milestone — more than half of all adults visit social networking sites at least once a month. But when it comes to using social-networking technologies inside organizations, many business leaders are at a loss to understand what value can be created from Facebook-like status updates within the enterprise. Some organizations have deployed social-networking features with an initial enthusiastic reception, only to see these early efforts wither to just a few stalwart participants. The problem: Most companies approach enterprise social networks as a technology deployment and fail to understand that the new relationships created by enterprise social networks are the source for value creation.
Is This the Best Startup Launch Video Ever?
A dollar a month for razors, shipped to your door? Most thrifty guys and gals who wield a blade in the bathroom won't need much convincing that that's a good idea for a startup. But how to ensure that they hear about it, and that they have enough confidence in the company to sign up? Simple: create a funny YouTube video — one with so much swagger, sight gags and bear costumes that it seems poised to go viral. That's the apparent strategy behind Dollar Shave Club, a startup from LA-based Incubator Science.
How To Hire a Great Developer [FLOW CHART]
Thomas Edison once said that "genius" is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. In the world of technology startups, that 99% involves a heck of a lot of coding and wireframing. If you've got an idea for a startup, that's great — but odds are that an idea is all you have. (Well, maybe you have passion and some savings, too.)
