Viewed in Harvard Business Review The ascent of data science is increasingly both undeniable and self-evident. To one degree or another, nearly all large companies are engaged in it and see emerging artificial intelligence and other data-related technology tools available to them with great promise. Joel Shapiro, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School… More
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Viewed in The Wall Street Journal We live in anxious times, and perhaps the biggest contributing factor to this anxiety is our work lives. The American Psychological Association (APA), in 2017, found exactly this when they set out to identify the sources of anxiety. An APA survey found that 61 percent of respondents identified work… More
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Viewed on Spencer Stuart Spencer Stuart, the executive search giant, does a lot more than just executive search these days. The firm increasingly is an exceptional source for research, studies, and content on the direction of global business, including issues that impact the recruiting profession. In this study, Spencer Stuart looks at various statistics on… More
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Viewed in RussellReynolds.com A company is ultimately only as good as the people who comprise it, and a company’s management similarly is only as good as the individuals who comprise its board of directors. But what processes actually exist for selecting a board director? Too often, Russell Reynolds senior member Anthony Goodman writes, its comes… More
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Viewed in Inc. We live in a work culture where the word “yes” is inherently the answer when we are asked to take on new projects or assignments. “Sometimes we say yes to assignments or projects because we don’t want to come across as incompetent or lazy. Or, we will say yes out of guilt… More
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Viewed in pwc.com PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) is the second largest professional services firm in the world. The range of their interactions with companies and these companies’ leadership is vast, which makes their reports hugely valuable contributions to public knowledge of trends in the corporate world and in the economy as a whole. PwC’s annual survey… More
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Viewed in The Wall Street Journal There are many things about business and recruiting that do not change year to year. But Wall Street Journal business columnist John D. Stoll writes in this column about one clearly demonstrable and important change: More and more companies are turning to the world outside of their respective companies… More
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Viewed in Korn Ferry What can employers do to enhance candidates’ experiences with their recruitment processes? One of the greatest disappointments of candidates, they found from repeated comments on the job search site Glassdoor is companies’ inadequate communication during the process and especially when they are not selected. Think this doesn’t impact a company? Think… More
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Viewed in Harvard Business Review When a team of researchers from executive search giant Spencer Stuart set out to assess the world’s best performing CEOs, they assembled a boat load of data on 747 S&P 500 chief executive officers, including shareholder return for each CEO’s company and an abundant amount of demographic and other intriguing… More
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Viewed in Harvard Business Review The business world is comprised on an abundant number of companies. Some are run by very high profile chief executive officers (CEOs) whose names have become synonymous with high-level business performance of iconic businesses with household brand identity. Others, of course, are less known. Yet very few efforts have been… More
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Viewed in Ritholtz.com Barry Ritholtz, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC, last month hosted an intriguing podcast with guest Ilana Weinstein, the founder and CEO of IDW Group, a leading recruitment firm for hedge funds, private equity groups and family offices. In it, Weinstein describes the evolution of her career… More
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Viewed in Financial Times Conventional wisdom holds that the world’s top performing executives largely live their job, logging long days, working weekends, and rarely taking a break from their professional focus and responsibilities. But conventional wisdom likely is wrong, Financial Times‘ Pilata Clark reports in this article. Among others, Clark cites the case of Salesforce.com… More
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Viewed in Bloomberg. Publicly-traded companies have been making a conscientious effort of late to diversify their corporate boards, and one primary objective has been expanding the number of women on them. But how much progress has actually been made? Spencer Stuart, one of the world’s largest and most prominent executive recruitment firms, has completed an… More
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Viewed in The Wall Street Journal. With the rapid ascent of data in corporate decision-making, is there any room left for managerial discretion? Absolutely, Wall Street Journal business columnist John D. Stoll writes in this column. At least in part this is because data is valuable but imperfect. Stoll cites Google chief decision scientist Cassie… More
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Viewed in Financial Times (Paywall). Quantitative investing models have been utilized for decades by money managers, but they are being aided substantially by the ongoing rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Financial Times reports. Some money managers, such as Michael Kharitonov of the San Francisco-based Voleon Group, say the trend is likely to accelerate… More
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Viewed in The Wall Street Journal. The rise to the top of a corporation, as nearly any corporate executive can attest, is hugely competitive. The reality is that, when it comes to securing CEO roles, there are vastly greater numbers of aspirants than there are openings. Logic dictates that this competitiveness might lead some aspirants… More
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Viewed in McKinsey Quarterly. When companies face major strategic initiative and projects, it can be tempting to assign them to a high-performing executive. But this temptation overlooks the reality that such executives are already stretched thin on their existing time commitments. This McKinsey Quarterly article argues that companies need to do a vastly better job… More
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Viewed in Winton.com. Commodity cartels, which were formed after World War II to attempt to establish stable (and lucrative) prices in some commodities, have largely failed in achieving that goal. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which was formed by large petroleum exporting countries to control the price of oil, had some success… More
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Viewed in The Wall Street Journal. Careers in large law firms aren’t what they once were, even if you are a partner. Historically, becoming a law firm partner was a ticket both to long-term employment affiliation and wealth. “Being named a partner once meant joining a band of lawyers who jointly tended to longtime clients… More
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Viewed in Inc. “Good communicators know how they’re going to answer questions about their company’s products, financials, or vision. They don’t ramble or give convoluted responses. They use words that are precise and assertive. And there are few leaders who do it better than Apple CEO Tim Cook,” Carmine Gallo writes. But what words are… More
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