This week, I asked the MBA and Sloan students at my London Business School elective how many of them wanted to become leaders of large corporations. Looking around the room I saw that less than 15% raised their hand. ... Continue Reading

In The Shift I wrote of the ‘default future’ and the ‘crafted future’. It is the ‘crafted future’ that emerges when we actively make choices about the future with some understanding of the consequences of these choices. ... Continue Reading

You could almost feel the zeitgeist emerging over the four days that the World Economic Forum meets at Davos. Thousands of CEOs, government ministers and a sprinkling of academics packed into a small town surrounded by snow – the perfect place for the fermentation of ideas and thoughts.... Continue Reading

I found myself recently spending almost three days with an extraordinarily diverse group. Of the eight people with me, there was someone from Canada, America, Argentina, Japan, India, China, Germany and the UK; we ranged in age from 27 to 58; and in terms of specialism there was a psychiatrist, an international ice hockey coach, the head of HR for a global IT company, a couple of entrepreneurs and the provost of a major design college. I cannot image a more diverse collection of people spending time together.... Continue Reading

Widely seen as the key for ensuring quality in corporate governance, the board of directors has been a particular focal point for reform. Harry Korine, Marcus Alexander and Pierre-Yves Gomez believe that more leadership at board level could avert many corporate crises in the future.... Continue Reading

This has been very much a leadership couple of months for me – with the World Economic Forum Council on the ‘Future of Leadership’ and indeed our own research on leadership at the Future of Work Consortium. So over the next couple of weeks I plan to talk about what we have found. ... Continue Reading

It’s a surreal place. Picture 2000 people in a mountain resort packed into a conference centre for five days. Weird things are going to happen… and they do. Here is my personal pick of the top 10 weirdest things that happened to me at Davos this year:... Continue Reading

The financial crisis marked the end of a long period of growth in the developed world. This year at Davos the mood was of realism and growing recognition that the going ahead would require more resilience and fortitude than anything many executives had previously encountered in their careers. It’s going to be a long haul.... Continue Reading

Davos may be full of leaders – but that does not stop them questioning how their roles could change. The pervading theme this year is of extraordinary change and challenge – ‘ we don’t have a moment to loose’; ‘we have to do things differently’; ‘this is a moment in history’; ‘there is a crisis of consent’ are phrases I’ve heard from academics, CEO’s and politicians.... Continue Reading

It’s been an exciting year – economic turmoil in Europe, extraordinary growth in many of the developing countries, the rise of some companies and demise of others. What is clear is that we are in the midst of an industrial revolution greater than the world has ever seen with all the turbulence, the challenges and the opportunities that previous revolutions have brought. ... Continue Reading

I’ve just spent the week in Shanghai and Hong Kong with a team from London Business School, meeting alumni, talking to business people and generally understanding the scene. What is clear is that there is no such thing as ‘Asia’, and that broad-brush descriptions such as ‘developing countries’ are antiquated and reductionist. Differences between regions across Asia are becoming ever greater as regions write their own signature. So here are five aspects of the signature that I see shaping China’s human capital future:... Continue Reading

One of the paradoxes of contemporary business life is that, just as unemployment soars, the number of unfilled vacancies increases. In the USA right now there are over 3 million unfilled jobs, while in countries like Spain, youth unemployment stands at a jaw dropping 47%. The extent of the gap between what employers need and what the labour market provides in terms of skills and talents seems to be continuously widening.... Continue Reading

It was tough watching parts of London burn a few weeks ago. My son Dominic, who was roaming around Camden on one of the nights, told me that the looters he saw on the streets were intent on breaking into shops to steal Nike trainers and mobile phones. ... Continue Reading

Last week in New York I was astounded to hear a business head from one of the multinationals, who - just off the flight from Shanghai – remarked that in her business right now, turnover rates for young people is approaching 80%.... Continue Reading

It has been a fascinating week. Sometimes the world seems to stand still – whilst other times it lurches forward at alarming speed. This has been a week when the world seems to have accelerated as we saw four of the trends we are watching in the Future of Work Research Consortium lurch forward. They are part of the portfolio of 32 trends we are tracking, and which we believe have the potential to significantly shape the world of work over the next two decades.... Continue Reading

Who will lead our organisations in the future? As the trajectory of the five shifts which will shape our work is becoming clearer – so to are the competencies that will sit at the heart of leadership effectiveness.... Continue Reading

My HBR article on the End of Middle Management this month continues to bring in a postbag of interesting views. Here is Noah Barsky and Anthony Catanach from Villanova School of Business in Pennsylvania, USA. Their interest is particularly in the impact that technology itself has on the management of projects and the redefinition of the role of routine management. ... Continue Reading

I bumped into a girlfriend this week on the flight back to London after a New York meeting. Immediately she began to tell me about her 26-year-old son’s work hours. That week he had not made it home until after 1.00am in the morning and was needed in the office by 7.00am. She was proud of the salary he is earning, but also aghast at the pressure he is under. ... Continue Reading

An interesting couple of days in London with HR Directors from Europe and the USA. Listening to their stories plus commentators on risk and on the outlook for China, it’s becoming increasingly clear to me that whilst many of the aspects of the future of businesses is very positive (as many of my earlier blogs will attest), the future is also about both volatile and risky. Here is why:... Continue Reading

Last year one of the most interesting ideas that came out of the Future of Work Consortium was that by 2020, five billion people will be connected with each other through their hand held devices. Linked to the Crowd, individuals will have access to most of the digitised knowledge of the world; and using low-energy batteries, even those in the poorest places will be able to join the crowd. ... Continue Reading

As I move back and forth from Europe and the USA, to Singapore and India – one of the questions I encounter is ‘what are the differences between Asia and the West?’ The subset of this broad question is– are employees different (more cooperative, more skillful, more educated, more determined?) – are leaders different (more authoritarian, more inward looking, more specialised?) – are companies different (more hierarchical, more global, more innovative?) This question becomes ever more crucial as we look forward to the next couple of decades.... Continue Reading