Management - Leadership

Research shows that chief executive officers who were given high ratings for character by their employees produced an average of 9.35% return on assets for a two-year period. The four key values for these CEOs were integrity, responsibility, forgiveness, and compassion. CEOs with low character ratings averaged just 1.93%.

As start-ups grow, their strategy shifts, and aligning the sales force with the new direction is critical. Incentive systems should be revised to focus representatives on the new goals during each phase of the shift. The marketing firm HubSpot illustrates how this plan can be developed and implemented.

Conventional salesperson appraisals only measure previous performance, which do not predict how an individual will perform in the future. As a result, underperformers may be overvalued and star performers may be undervalued.

A fictitional human resource management scenario is presented, with contributors providing advice. The scenario involves a drop in morale among employees working at the office, who perceive themselves at a disadvantage compared to employees who are working remotely.

Chief executive officers can benefit from mentoring, but given their high-tier positions, acquiring a mentor with sufficient experience from inside the company can be difficult. A new phenomenon is emerging in which CEOs obtain needed mentoring from veteran leaders outside the company.

The French non-profit Action Tank is testing the social business model, which differs from conventional low-cost models in that its focus is to solve customers' social problems. Key benefits include motivation, image, and innovation.

Today we use far fewer materials than we once did to get the same things done--a phenomenon known as dematerialization. But, paradoxically, this efficiency seems to drive up overall consumption.