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"As a senior faculty member at the Wharton School of Business, I am best known for my work in negotiation, persuasion, and interpersonal influence. [… ] Given what I do now, most people are surprised to learn that I did not start my my academic career until I was thirty-seven and spent most of my twenties unemployed, much of the time deeply uncertain about who I was and what I wanted to do. But I count those years as the most important of my life. It was during that intense period of living with failure that I gained my first insights into the true meaning of success."
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"You tell yourself ... It would be selfish and reckless of me to try to break out of my box; I have a family to support, massive student loans to pay off. I can't afford to take that risk. But still, you want in. You want a piece of the new creative economy, the happiness economy, or the purpose-driven career path. You want to make a difference, set a vision, set a course for your life.
The whole paradigm of work is changing, and many of us are still stuck under the thumb of the boss in our life when what we want is to be the boss of our own life. We crave the freedom to manage our own time, to be valued for who we are. We want a career that encourages risk and excitement, growth and personal development, learning and exploration.
Do you really have to stifle your inner child, who is dying to come out and play in this dynamic new world? Is stultification the price of security? Is it asking too much of your family to risk trying for more?
Our parents went to work every day too, but when they looked around, everyone was in the same box, following the same well-worn paths. Now there are those who pave their own paths and create their own futures—and those who are bound by the old system with its old rules."
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"Passion fuels word-of-mouth conversations and excitement. Our passions make us happy and let us know that life is worth living. They motivate us to do remarkable things. When we are passionate about someone, we really do talk about that person all the time. We're eager and excited to share the tiniest details. Spend just a few minutes around a new parent and you'll see what we mean.
Passion is not something you own; it's something you pass forward. So if you take the time to understand your own unique passion conversation—and yes, we believe everyone has them—as well as the ones that excite those you serve, something amazing will happen."
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"In a prophetic speech at a 1943 assembly, Winston Churchill predicted that 'the empires of the future will be empires of the mind.' The future is now: The knowledge economy is here. Gone are the days when competitive advantage came from 'real' assets. It's human assets that give companies an edge. Skill, creativity, and smarts are the modern ingredients of success. Talent has become the most valuable asset for a company and talent is scarce. There is a scientist drought. There is an engineer drought. A recent McKinsey Global Institute report finds that despite unemployment rates being high, a third of American companies have positions that remain open for extended periods because the right people are hard to find.
The best and the brightest are in fierce demand, and we fight over them like we fight over no other asset. This fight, the talent war, is only projected to become more intense. An American Society for Training and Development report predicts that by 2015, 76% of U.S. jobs will require highly-skilled workers. The report projects that 60% of new jobs will require skills held by 20% of the population.
But, talent is not a commodity. It lives and breathes. It can be enhanced and it can be depleted, depending on how we treat it. The ways we fight over talent determine the economic success of a region."
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"When people talk about innovation in business, a single company—Apple—usually gets all the attention. ... Many managers ask: How do I follow in Apple's footsteps? ... The truth is Apple is no model for innovation management. Steve Jobs was utterly one of a kind. He co-founded Apple and made it in his own image. No other "Steve" would have anywhere near the clout or force of personality. And don't try finding one in the first place, as people like that simply don't come around that often.
So ignore all the lessons about innovation management that you might be tempted to learn from business press articles about Apple. There are much better examples for you to consider.
One of the best is LEGO. Yes, the plastic brick company. The 80-year old, family-owned business is one of the giants of the toy industry, with $4 billion in sales and $1.3 billion in profits in 2012. Revenue growth for the past five years has averaged 24 percent per year, and profit growth a stunning 40% per year.
Growth like that keeps occurring year-in and year-out because after a lot of trial and error, LEGO has created an extraordinarily effective system of innovation management that works within a traditional management structure."
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