Companies that respond and adapt to change direct themselves toward success, while those operating on inertia tend to fall short of their goals. When it’s time to shift gears to meet changing demands, to rise above the new competition, to adjust to industry regulations and keep pace with the vicissitudes of technology, how agile is […]
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In the cultural imagination, humans constantly wage war between their emotions and their rational thoughts. The science officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise – indeed, his entire fictitious race – ranks rationality above emotion, which he believes to be separate from logic. Spock, with his pointy ears and blue eyelids, harked not to a distant future, […]
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As advocates for the power of fun to nourish staff relationships and brand loyalty, it may not surprise you that Venture Up supports having parties at any time of year. What is a surprise is that nearly one-third of company decision-makers are against throwing parties for employees. Why? They’re costly, and the potential for drama […]
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Gender inequality has long overshadowed the corporate policies and business jargon complying with laws against discrimination. You don’t need statistics to know that discrimination remains widespread, and women are still underpaid. The old-fashioned logic of, “He gets paid more because he has to support a family,” hardly fits today’s working demographic, not that it was […]
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Some of the greatest business successes have come not from winning the game, but from changing the rules. As a core business strategy, innovation is what makes a company stand out from the competition. Learning from the masters just got easier with The New York Times bestseller, Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing, a follow-up to the breakthrough title Blue […]
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I’ll never forget my first day training as a Starbucks barista in 2009. Angela, my manager, walked me through the coffee tasting process, presenting me with a row of short cups of coffee, each with a different flavor. As part of the exercise, she asked me to describe the flavors I recognized. “Coffee,” I responded, […]
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Research shows businesses with high levels of employee engagement experience more positive strategic outcomes than those where employees are not engaged. The term “employee engagement” is really a measure of how much interest and respect employees have for their job, how proactive they are and how well they gel with the team. Studies on employee […]
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Once promoted, many new managers find that the qualities and skills that earned them the position do not really measure up to the leader they want to be. These managers are often powerhouses of information with the hard skills needed to drive the company’s success. And they are also ideal candidates for leadership training. The […]
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Satya Nadella rose to CEO of Microsoft in 2014. While some critics view Apple and Google as the ultimate winners in tech company competition, Microsoft has no shortage of recent successes. The Xbox, for example, dominates its niche, netting profits in the billions as the company continues to research and develop cutting-edge gaming technologies. After 43 years […]
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