Eight Ways Out
It’s been said that employees don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad leaders. If you’ve had an employee leave because they were offered a huge compensation increase (often by a much larger company) that you couldn’t match, you may be wondering if that adage is always true. It may be that some offers are irresistible but that doesn’t mean that other key players you’ve lost couldn’t have been retained. The real question is: were you actually (and unintentionally) inviting them to leave you?
This short checklist from HBR suggests that you evaluate your employee retention program by looking in the mirror and asking yourself if you’re doing one of the 8 Things Leaders Do That Make Employees Quit.
Bill and Warren Pull a Shift at Dairy Queen
Among the many companies that Warren Buffett owns, the one that many people may know best is Dairy Queen. Never let it be said that the Sage of Omaha doesn’t understand the details of his business through ‘hands on’ experience (at least when it comes to Dairy Queen) . Check out this fun short video of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates working a shift at Dairy Queen.
Required Viewing: Dr. Galloway’s Latest
There are some people who I always take time to listen to and Dr. Scott Galloway is one of them. NYU Marketing professor, start-up veteran and member of a dozen public and private boards, Dr. Galloway’s presentations on the retail sector , IT and business in general are not to be missed; especially his thoughts on how the big players (Amazon, Google et al) are impacting the rest of the economy.
He presented recently at Recode’s Code Commerce Conference. In his first video he looks at the overall e-commerce economy with a mix of hard data, cogent analysis and sharp edged humor. He shares what he feels the real role of a CEO is and why Tesla will be acquired (and by whom). The second video focuses primarily on the “state of play” regarding the retail sector including what Galloway calls “funnel wars” and the “era of non-innovation. “
From Y to Z
There are now five different generational cohorts in the workplace. Just when you were getting the hang of managing Millennial’s (Gen Y), Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2010) is now making its way into our companies. If you’d like a quick primer on how the two cohorts differ and how to manage the “Z’s” check out this short article “Move Over Millennial’s, There’s a New Workforce in Town.”
Econ Recon:
This time it’s different… Sound like “famous last words?” There’s been a lot written recently about the inverting of the yield curve of interest rates and how it historically has presaged a recession at some point. Dr. Brian Wesbury thinks that yes, this time it is different and that the recent inversions need to be interpreted differently due to changes at the Fed in 2008 in coping with the 2008 recession. Learn more in this two part Wesbury 101 offering: Click here to watch Inversion: It’s Different this Time – Part 1 , then.. Click here to watch Inversion: It’s Different this Time – Part 2
Down, then Up?: Alex Chausovsky of ITR Economics is looking a year out and sees a pattern that you might do well to learn a little more about. According to him, it appears that things may be down, and then up. Check out his latest blog posting:”The Timing of the Next Cyclical Low” the ITR site.