Despite the fact that I wrote this a couple of years ago, the suggestions continue to hold up well. Wishing you a happy, healthy holiday season. ‘Tis the season… when leaders everywhere scramble to find the perfect holiday gift for their staffs. This year, will it be: The latest business title? A gift card for designer coffee? An outing featuring laser tag, team building and pizza? Perhaps you’d like to do something entirely different.  Why not give employees something they really want this year - a gift that will keep giving long after the egg nog is gone?  Consider something from my Holiday Gift Guide… for leaders who want to delight employees and deliver results. 1.  Encourage career development. Employee Delight:     Price: $0 According to recent research conducted by Aon Hewitt, 91% of all employees report that career development is among their top priorities. Yet, in engagement survey after engagement survey, managers consistently earn their lowest marks in this area. Imagine your employees’ delight if this holiday season, you invested some genuine attention in understanding who they are and their hopes and dreams, as well as toward helping them develop plans to move forward, toward their career goals. (And this gift teaches why giving is a good as receiving because as you grow others, you’ll also deck the halls with greater capacity and capability.) 2.  Remove roadblocks. Employee Delight:     Price: N/A Forget the visions of sugar plums. What employees really dream about is working without unnecessary obstacles, fire drills, or other irritants.  Ask them about what gets in the way of their best work and you’ll likely be surprised by the struggles and work-arounds that are part of their daily routines. Watch employees light up brighter than any holiday decoration if you take even small steps toward clearing the way for them. 3.  Express genuine appreciation. Employee Delight:     Price: Priceless Spread good cheer in the form of recognition and positive feedback. Too frequently, leaders become inadvertent Scrooges, withholding praise and wondering why performance is lackluster and morale is low. Catch people in the act of doing things right. Be on the look-out for contributions - large and small. "Thank you" doesn’t require fancy wrapping or a bow; yet it’s warmer than chestnuts roasting to the hearts of employees. These Holiday Gift Guide suggestions come with a range of benefits. They’re value-priced to fit any budget.  There’s no tax or shipping.  And you can even hope that they’re re-gifted as employees find ways to extend the positive practices you model to others. So, with the number of holiday shopping days quickly dwindling, skip the malls, dig deeper - within yourself not your wallet - and experience some real magic this holiday season… and all year long. Gift me with your own thoughts!  What do you employees want most? What gifts are you considering this holiday season? The post Top 3 Gifts Employees Want Most this Holiday Season (and All Year Long) appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Aaron Auld's blog post was featured50 Shades of Bluer vs. Grayer: How HANA Will Galvanize the SAP Installed BaseLast month, SAP announced its Business Suite 4 SAP HANA. The SAP installed-base has long been known as one of the great treasure troves of the IT industry. Many a vendor has set its sights on penetrating this venerable hoard of the world’s richest, most successful companies to varying degrees of success.One of the most successful vendors at penetrating the SAP installed-base has been Oracle who benefited enormously from SAP’s grave error of judgment in OEM’ing the Oracle database as part of the SAP Business Suite. Now, the S4 HANA Business Suite announcement has SAP kicking off another upgrade cycle for its installed-base that will force its customers to make hard choices about the future of their IT landscape.Let there be no doubt that there are many "true blue" SAP customers who want nothing better than to banish Oracle from their IT landscape; customers who allowed Oracle into their networks at face value simply because SAP OEM’ed it. These are customers who have suffered under Oracle’s hardball licensing tactics where Oracle is masterful at extracting money by exploiting a customer’s changing usage patterns. In fact, in a recent Oracle user survey covered by Information Week, 92 percent of Oracle customers are unhappy with their licensing practices, this includes the SAP installed-base.There is also a large portion of the SAP installed-base who have already been through SAP upgrade cycles and subsequently failed to see the value to justify the actual cost and expense of upgrading. The last upgrade cycle of the SAP Business Suite, which was promised to be the last ever customers would need to make, was pushing an "enhancement packet" strategy of continuous innovation. These enhancement packets were supposed to enable customers to update functionality in a modular fashion. However, adoption of this SAP Business Suite upgrade was mediocre at best. SAP customers discovered that upgrading was not only a painful multi-year process, but that it was next to impossible to justify the cost. Many SAP customers even opted for a paper upgrade of their Business Suite license without actually installing the software, with a promise from SAP to continue support of their older systems.So now here again is SAP with yet another upgrade, which will quite justifiably give cause for concern to a good portion of their installed-base. Most SAP customers are not about being an "all-in" SAP shop as much as they are focused on growing their business in the best way they can and showing a tidy profit at the end of the day. They are likely to be less than overjoyed at hearing SAP’s renewed upgrade plans.An SAP Business Suite upgrade is no trifle; customers know this could pose significant operational overhead on their margins. These customers are already eyeing the cloud and alternative offerings from best-of-breed vendors, which will allow them to extend the life of aging SAP applications for as long as possible in a strategic bid to manage their company margins.The S4 HANA Business Suite upgrade cycle could well miss the desired effect and end up exposing a large share of the most fabulous treasure chest in the IT industry to new upstart technology vendors who can address specific SAP customer pain points and help them avoid an expensive and painful upgrade process. Ultimately, as customer options grow, the blue will fade to gray.We see more and more companies shying away from classical lock-in situations. They know that the IT space is evolving and they want to keep their options open. Cumbersome, multi-year, resource-consuming IT projects are being replaced by lighter, more flexible and agile solutions which can evolve or be replaced further down the line without ripping the heart out of a company’s operations. We believe the days of customers putting all their eggs in one basket are long gone. We’re especially skeptical of any vendor who claims that their solutions can perfectly address a customer’s every need. We certainly wouldn’t want to stake our company’s future on such a bold (and unproven) claim.Ultimately, the trend that’s worth paying attention to is a more thoughtful, flexible and heterogeneous data and IT eco system that connects smoothly, scales quickly and simply to requirements, is easy to manage and relieves increasing budgetary pressures. What modern organization does not want to identify and implement the best solutions for every individual business application, even if that means engaging more with the market place, looking at other vendors and doing some testing, rather than blindly locking in to one vendor’s strategy for better or for worse?Aaron Auld is CEO of EXASOL.See More

We’ve all experienced it. The meeting goes well. Everyone nods, smiles, and quickly agrees. There are no objections or even questions to answer. You leave feeling confident that your proposal will be unanimously adopted. Then you hear about the meeting after the meeting… and the lingering concerns and worries that ‘everyone’ has… and you know that the torpedoes have already been launched and your proposal is sunk. I call this dynamic ‘dysfunctional politeness.’ It costs organization dearly in terms of dollars, but it also takes an enormous human toll: disappointment, mistrust, frustration, and disengagement. Each time we choose to be agreeable rather than raising legitimate concerns, offering candid feedback, or telling the truth about our reactions, we hurt both the results and our relationships with others. THE GIFTS OF CONFLICT The ability to engage in constructive conflict - focused on issues and expressed with respect - is a key hallmark of effective teams. And it makes sense. Openly airing different points of views and passionately testing ideas helps groups: Identify and adjust faulty assumptions, Eliminate or solve problems early, and Bring the broadest and best thinking to decisions.  "Conflict is what prevents all forms of stagnation and vulnerability from being overtaken by your competition." - Steven Berglas, consultant/clinical psychologist at Harvard Medical School But beyond the business argument for constructive conflict, there’s a human one. It also builds relationships and teamwork. While it might seem counterintuitive, teams that engage in the most heated and intense conflicts are frequently the strongest. They know they can count on each other for absolute candor. They know that once the group makes a decision, everyone will own it and work toward its success. They know that whatever someone has to say will be shared in a forthright way that allows for the back-and-forth required to fully understand and respond to issues or concerns.  "Tumultuous meetings are of a sign of progress." - Patrick Lencioni CULTIVATING CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT: 3 STEPS Are you and your team not realizing the benefits of constructive conflict? Here are three steps you can take today to start cultivating this critical team competency. Do a Personal Gut Check Check your own reaction to conflict and evaluate the effect it has on your team. Your mindset drives your behavior. If differences make you tense, team members will pick up on that. If you rush in to smooth over minor disagreements, others will quickly learn that conflict is not OK… and dysfunctional politeness may creep in. Set Expectations and Ground Rules Share what you know about the value of conflict and the role it can play in helping your team achieve excellence. Brainstorm agreements that keep conflict safe. Examples include: focus on issues and ideas but never people; use respectful language always; listen to understand the other point of view fully before speaking. Model the Conflict You Want to See Your own behavior is the most powerful leadership tool at your disposal. Others learn far more from what you do than what you say. So model effective conflict daily. Challenge ideas in a respectful and supportive way. Test assumptions with open-ended questions. Demonstrate high-quality listening and the courage to ask questions that stir up productive controversy.  "All polishing is done by friction." - Mary Parker Follett What do you think?  How is dysfunctional politeness hurting your organization? What does constructive conflict look like to you… and how do you promote it? This post originally appeared at Lead Change Group. Image:  www.dreamstime.com and Liz Price The post An Argument for Conflict appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Kelli Richards's blog post was featuredCan Apple’s Interactive Digital Music Solution Refresh the Music Industry?When U2 released its album "Songs of Innocence" with an exclusive iTunes partnership, the band was trying to figure out something a bit more complex than simply reaching as many fans as possible. It was grappling with which side of music history it wanted to fall into: the "stream or die" path of slowly decreasing record sales and pirated downloads or the path to reviving the music industry.While automatically downloading the album to all iTunes users’ libraries felt a little too "Big Brother" for some consumers, it’s a great example of revenue-generating experiments on the horizon. As piracy and streaming continue to cut into artists’ revenues, bands and record labels are actively upping their game to encourage fans to purchase more music, goods, and experiences.Few artists are likely to follow in U2’s footsteps with the same strategy after the backlash from iTunes users, but when a challenge emerges in the market, we can always look to Apple to lead with the most creative solutions. The "Songs of Innocence" maneuver was Apple showing its hand: The solution to diminishing music sales could be an interactive digital music approach.How Innovation Shaped the Music Industry’s Path.Fans crave a sense of being closer to the artist, and even 20 years ago, Apple was involved in making this happen. During my years at Apple, my good friend Ty Roberts of Gracenote had created something called the enhanced CD, which created the same types of immersive artist-to-fan experiences for the CD (years ahead of the digital online music curve).For more than 25 years, Apple has been a leading innovator in the way bands make, market, and distribute music. During my tenure driving music initiatives at Apple, I spent a fair amount of time encouraging artists to use Macintosh (coupled with software such as Pro Tools) as a partner in liberating their music-creation process from expensive recording studios. For the first time, artists could write, record, and mix their music from their own home studios at their leisure.The digital landscape subsequently changed the industry forever. The 2001 introduction of the iPod and the launch of iTunes in 2003 were seismic shifts. But when songs first became available in MP3 format, pirating software such as Napster and BitTorrent took over, costing the music industry billions in illegally downloaded songs every year. To be fair, both services attempted to demonstrate to record labels how they could monetize the many millions of users who were accessing songs through these torrents — but those efforts fell on deaf ears back then.This demand for free media led to the development of streaming music options such as Spotify and Rdio. While access to artists is at an all-time high (a pro for consumers and smaller bands), the sweeping popularity of these applications deprives established artists of fair compensation. Streaming music has its share of detractors, including Taylor Swift and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. These big-name naysayers choose to ride a new wave of marketing and distribution that will protect their hard-earned income: the creation of products desirable enough (and personal enough) to coax fans into paying.How Interactivity Feeds the Artist and the FanInteractive digital music is one attempt at recapturing these lost music dollars. Rather than downloading individual songs (legally or illegally), interactive albums give fans access to a rich, immersive visual and audio experience with add-ons they can’t get from a streaming service, such as photography, interactive lyrics, and fan remixes.Then, these interactive downloads can be woven into an artist-focused app that organizes each artist’s concerts, brand partnerships, merchandise, and product offerings into one place and sends revenue straight to the artist — instead of to the other players in the music ecosystem.Interactive digital music is a perfect extension of Apple’s philosophy because it allows musicians to embrace their creativity and recapture some of what made physical albums special. It’s a flashback to a time when artists had the resources to care about the presentation of the artwork, write long-form albums on specific themes, and design a rich and powerful artist-to-fan experience.Although we can sense hunger from fans for more of this engagement, we don’t yet know how much money they’re willing to pay for these types of experiences or how they’ll actually embrace these opportunities. One of the most important aspects of developing any new product is deciding whether it meets the needs and desires of consumers. But as Apple has proven time and again, consumers often don’t know they want something until it’s presented for them to try.Like anything in marketing, interactive digital music is an evolving experiment. But as long as companies dabbling in this arena avoid a fiasco like Sony’s ill-fated anti-copy rootkit technology, there aren’t a whole lot of foreseeable downsides. Apple has the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the growing interest of artists, fans, and its own products that can deliver this new immersive experience.The music industry has always been about more than sounding good and getting a record deal. But today, artists have to give more than ever just to get what they got in the past. Artists who want to recoup lost sales and protect their livelihood from piracy must be willing to try new things — and surprise and delight fans with engaging, cutting-edge, interactive experiences.Kelli Richards is the CEO of The All Access Group. She is also the author of a bestselling e-book, "The Magic and Moxie of Apple: An Insider’s View."See More

I’ve opened a few recent workshops using electronic polling applications. (If you’re not familiar with the technology, it might be worth a look.) I asked a few questions to establish a base of understanding and interest, and using their cell phones, participants texted their answers. The responses were aggregated and displayed in real time; I then used the data to drive the rest of the session. The groups loved this approach and insisted it be incorporated into future workshops. I have to admit, the technology is pretty cool — but the groups’ positive reactions struck me as disproportionate to the level of freshness and flash. It was clear that something else was going on. Could it be that at our cores, human beings want evidence that what we think, speak, or share is real? That is has power? That it makes a difference? "If employees feel like they are throwing pennies down a bottomless well and they never hear a splash, they are going to stop throwing the pennies. We have got to show them that we are listening."                                                     — "Lead for Loyalty" by Frederick F. Reichheld. In many organizations today, employees have come to expect that their perspectives are powerless, their input ineffectual and their thoughts thankless. Organizations commit tremendous energy and resources to help leaders become better listeners. They teach this skill in an ever-evolving array of flavors: reactive, reflective, proactive, empathic, co-active. Yet leaders aren’t showing that they’re listening and employees aren’t hearing the splash. I’m listening Executives would likely bristle at an employee’s perception that they aren’t being heard. Sophisticated listening systems and tools abound in organizations. Yet there are fundamental disconnects and mixed messages for many employees. False involvement in decision-making In an effort to elevate involvement and engagement, leaders ask for input to decisions they have no intention of turning over to employees. When employees’ reactions are ignored, they miss the splash. Employee-input systems launched but not maintained Well-intentioned systems and processes are established to systematically gather ideas and innovations, but the organization can’t dedicate the resources to keep it up. The feedback loop is left eternally open, and employees miss the splash. Survey-mania Hungry for data, many organization engage in annual surveys of employee perceptions, engagement, and satisfaction. Energy is invested in data gathering and analysis. Statistical abnormalities and data anomalies are explained away. And the survey goes out again next year. When employees engage in repeated rounds of data gathering and don’t see changes as a result, they miss the splash. The simple act of listening Leaders have learned to reflect emotions and paraphrase content. But, when it’s left at that and employees don’t see action as a result, they miss the splash. Despite an increased ability to engage in a range of listening activities, employees are feeling less "heard" than ever before. From hear to hero For the most part, employees trust that their leaders are hearing the information they share. What’s missing is a commitment to doing something with that. That’s what meaningful listening would look like. And that’s the splash employees are looking for. Leaders today need to practice listening 2.0, which involves changing the focus from soliciting and gathering more input to actually using it. This new focus involves three critical steps. Apply a strategic lens to what you’re asking. Really be intentional, making sure that there’s a good likelihood that you’ll be able to act on what you hear. Do something with what you hear. Take appropriate action. Make the employees’ investment in sharing information with you pay off in some way. Let others know how you’re using their input. Communicating the value of what’s been shared in terms of the action you intend to take reinforces employee commitment. It also trains employees about the kind of information you find most valuable so they can bring you more of that. Sharing why you’re not acting on information is equally helpful. It communicates your bias to make productive use of what others offer up and encourages more input in the future. Listening 2.0 blasts past the old artifacts of listening ("uh-huh," "interesting," "tell me more," "if I’m hearing you correctly") by focusing beyond the message to something more fundamental and satisfying to employees: how to systematically make use of it. And that is sure to make quite a splash. What about you? What kind of listening splash are you making with your employees? How does your organization systematically use what it hears? The post Listening 2.0: Making a Splash with Employees appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Lisa Cheng commented on Gareth Price's blog post Happiness Is an Open-Source Project

Swapnil Shah posted a blog postWhat the Telecom Industry Can Teach Utilities About Staying Relevant in a Market EvolutionRemember the days when a residential move would mean not just a new telephone number, but often a whole new telephone provider? The days when people and businesses fell into zones determined by their address and whatever telecom provider held stakes over that address? Though this model reigned just 20 years ago, it seems almost pre-historic. That’s because we, as consumers, have become accustomed to choice in our telephone provider selection and carrier package, as well as control over how much we spend on our monthly telecommunications bill.Nowadays, we expect a bill that breaks down our phone use. With that information, we know exactly how we’re using our phones - both landline and mobile - and can use that information to pick an option that works best for our lifestyles. That may mean sticking with just a landline, opting for a cellular only plan or going with a family plan. We also expect that AT&T, Sprint or Verizon will send us regular texts to let us know that we’re nearing our monthly data allowance so that we can respond accordingly - cutting back on texting or using our favorite apps. And if we don’t want to change our habits? Then we just sign up for a different package or provider that better delivers value based on our usage patterns.We’re on the cusp of a similar shift in the energy market, where utilities are being forced to innovate in order to deliver better value to customers. Much like the telecom industry in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the utility market is facing new technologies and deregulation - thereby opening up new doors for customers who were previously confined to one energy choice. As a result, consumers and businesses are increasingly seeking out new, lower cost and more flexible alternatives - such as solar, microgrids and retail energy suppliers. In this environment, the traditional utility service of generating and providing energy hold less value than it once did.Utilities now find themselves at a pivotal inflection point where they must shift their business models in order to compete with this environment of increased customer choice. According to an Accenture report, continued growth of distributed energy resources could drive down utilities’ revenues by up to $48 billion in the US. And studies by Accenture and Pike Research show that 90% of utility customers are looking for more engagement and better services from their utility. Taking a cue from the much transformed telecom market, utilities are beginning to find that the key to staying in the game is to bolster customer engagement via customized intelligence. Customer relationships will become utilities’ most important assets, and customer data - previously only used for billing purposes - will be the foundation for building those relationships.By leveraging data-driven technology capable of tracking particular buildings’ energy consumption in real-time, utilities can unlock insight into specific ways their customers are using energy. They can then use this information to engage customers with recommendations and/or offerings that best fit their needs, while creating new revenue channels for their own businesses. This approach allows utilities to ensure customers view them as trusted advisors (not just de facto bill senders) which creates a deeper relationship with the customer that, in turn, increases customer satisfaction. The deep insight into energy use consumption also opens the door for utilities to engage customers on up-sell options that fit their needs, resulting in new revenue streams.Already, some utilities are evolving their approaches to better engage customers. British utility E.ON recently launched an Energy Toolkit, which leverages FirstFuel’s analytical software to provide its commercial customers with ongoing, personalized insight into their energy use, along with suggestions for how they can improve their consumption. Not only does this intelligence deliver value to customers, it improves E.ON’s bottom line. The ability to provide custom energy use insights and savings recommendations shifts E.ON’s role from commodity provider to trusted energy advisor and helpful resource - a beneficial shift in this evolving environment.As distributed generation continues to play a role in the rapidly evolving market, we’ll undoubtedly see more utilities follow in E.ON’s footsteps. Utilities will find that in order to compete with customers who are increasingly creating their own energy they must find innovative ways to stay relevant. Through customer intelligence analytics, they can secure the insight needed to help customers make smart energy use choices and to deliver new products and services that help customers optimize their bills. By using data-driven insights to deliver enhanced, personalized experiences, utilities - much like the telecom providers before them - will then be able to effectively engage consumers, and maintain their market share and coveted spot on the value chain.Swapnil Shah is co-founder and CEO of FirstFuel Software.See More

Over the past several years, a focus on authenticity has touched nearly every aspect of life. At work and at home, we try to ‘keep it real.’ In customer and employee interactions, we’re encouraged to remain genuine. Open, frank conversation is sought after and candor is valued. But has the pendulum swung too far? A case in point: When a recent cross-country flight sat for a half-hour on the tarmac, the pilot shared over the PA system that the delay was not their fault and that if we passengers were as frustrated as they were, we should leave a message on the airline’s website.  He went on to explain that he and his co-pilot ‘don’t get paid for sitting around like this.’ Another case in point: When I called Dr. K, a family member’s primary care physician following surgery conducted by another practitioner, Dr. K shared in no uncertain terms that the surgeon had not informed him of this procedure and the he never informs other general practitioners when he works on their patients. In both cases, highly educated individuals who hold positions of tremendous responsibility with extensive experience under their belts were being authentic, transparent, and candid. The information they shared was likely true. And unnerving. I want people who are flying my airplanes and taking care of my loved ones to be professional. I want them to demonstrate emotional intelligence. I want them to use good judgment and share what I need to know - not what they need to get off their chests. And employees feel the same way about their leaders. During a recent focus group, service workers shared the following comments: "I wish my supervisor tried to be more of a boss and less of a friend." "The busier I get, the less extraneous information I need." "He’s just trying to connect with the troops, but when he bad-mouths the company, it makes me feel bad." "I don’t need to know all the battles my boss is fighting with his peers and the organization." As leaders, we owe it to our employees to be authentic and transparent… but there’s a clear line when this becomes unproductive and shifts into abdicating responsibility, complaining, and blaming others.  When we don’t honor this line, we undermine the employee’s engagement and connection to the organization and we seriously compromise our own credibility. So, before you are tempted to be completely transparent and authentic, ask yourself: Is this information others need to get the job done? What is my motivation in sharing this information? Can I frame the information in a constructive rather than destructive fashion? In the case of the airline pilot, his frustration was valid. And there’s no reason for him to take personal responsibility for something beyond his control. But, I would have had a lot more confidence in him as a person and in his airline if he has instead said something like: "We’re sorry for the delay. And my co-pilot and I just love to fly… so we promise to take off just as soon as we can." Professionalism and authenticity are not mutually exclusive. And successful leaders find a way to integrate the two - serving their employees, organizations, and themselves. The post Has Professionalism Become Passé? appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Craig Bueker's blog post was featuredWhy Enterprise Technology Teams Are Losing the Battle Against Digital RiskGartner recently published the results of a senior executive survey which revealed that an estimated 60% of large-scale enterprises will experience a significant digital security breach. These breaches will be caused by internal IT teams’ inability to manage digital risk as new technologies and the internet of things creates more complex and interconnected technology environments.Why are technology teams unable to effectively manage the emerging complexities around digital innovation, exposing their organizations to such significant digital risk?  Understanding the answer to this question is a critical step in finding the solution that will put your organization into the 40% that will remain digitally safe.Digital Risk Factor 1: Unrealistic ExpectationsIn a report titled, "Top 10 Strategic Predictions for Businesses to Watch Out For," Gartner estimates that digital businesses will require 50% less IT business process workers and 500% more digital business jobs by 2018. This statistic is significant for two reasons. First, in the past, IT teams were the gatekeepers of technology for organization staffed with people who were experts in their disciplines but held little technical knowledge. However, today’s enterprise environment is drastically different. Technology now pervades and sometimes defines the way people work, making business jobs inherently digital. IT teams are no longer the experts on the technology being used by organizations and users are increasingly making purchasing decisions, expecting IT teams to manage integrations and digital risk around platforms with which they have no experience and cannot even evaluate.Second, as digital tools and their accompanying data integrations proliferate, it becomes fundamentally impossible for IT staff to be experts on all things technology. Expecting the IT team to be a one-stop shop for the management of all enterprise technology, let alone to mitigate the accompanying digital risk exposure, is in and of itself one of the biggest digital risk factors of all.Digital Risk Factor 2: Independent Assessments That Are Nothing More Than Self-AssessmentsHistorically, organizations have evaluated technology team performance through compliance audits. These audits are often performed by non-engineers, who are either part of the internal operations staff or external consultants with operational or financial backgrounds. In order to gather the necessary data for an assessment, engineering skills are required. As a result, IT teams are asked to gather the data on which their performance will be evaluated. Essentially, IT performance is determined by a self- assessment without checks and balances, creating situations where weaknesses are often covered up, unseen, or in some cases, exacerbated over years creating enormous technical debt—the accumulation of technological problems that become increasingly difficult and expensive to address as more systems are built on faulty foundations.Digital Risk Factor 3: IT Brain DrainA recent report from Beazley reveals that corporate data breaches attributable to human error comprise over one-third of all breaches that occur. And, the report continues, the frequency of these types of breaches is on the rise, with a 10% reported increase between 2013 and 2014 alone. Even more alarmingly, when organizations combine the risks associated with poorly designed systems, protocols and workflows along with human error, the degree of total risk explodes. According to a report issued by Online Trust Alliance in January, 2015, over 90% of the data breaches that occurred during the first half of 2014 could have been prevented if organizations had rethought their digital risk management strategies and policies.But who is qualified to rethink digital risk management strategy? Gifted engineering talent is aggressively pursued by the best technology companies in the world to innovate and create new products that change the way people live. This lure of this call coupled with high compensation rates has drained the engineering talent pool of the minds who are the best equipped to design the complex architectures and synthesize cross-disciplinary technology solutions. The engineering teams required to comprehensively manage digital risk and enterprise technology have become incredibly difficult to recruit and when found, prohibitively expensive.So how do we set up our technology departments to succeed?Be realistic about the expectations laid on technology teams. We must revise technology and digital risk management strategies to reflect the modern day tech landscape, instead of carrying forward structures, hierarchies and processes that no longer work.Create checks and balances that enable your organizations to independently assess technology performance. These assessments should be performed by independent, third-party engineering teams who can also benchmark performance against best-practices, as well as competitors in your vertical.Support internal teams with the subject matter experts who are focused on the digital risk management and have the engineering skill and experience to help them succeed.Craig Bueker is founder and CEO of Criterion Advisory.See More

Guest post by John Bell This post celebrates the launch of former CEO John Bell’s new book, Do Less Better: The Power of Strategic Sacrifice in a Complex World.   It’s easy to preach about the merits of simplification, but John takes it to the next step with real-life examples and tactical advice about how to improve results by doing ‘less better’. This post gives you a sense of where the book might take you. The dictionary describes "momentum" as a strength or force that keeps growing. Gamblers in the rush of a hot-streak believe it. Sports teams enjoying this hidden force go on inexplicable winning streaks while opponents can’t seem to string two wins together no matter how hard they try or how ‘talented’ their roster. Those of us who watched the recent near impossible comeback by the Seattle Seahawks against the Green Bay Packers with a few minutes on the clock witnessed the incredible strength of momentum. Business isn’t all that different. But unlike finite measurements such as sales, market share, profit, stock price or market cap, momentum remains an intangible - a powerful one. Companies short on momentum have a heck of a time finding it, and those who enjoy momentum can ride the big surf for extended periods of time. But take momentum for granted and the tide will turn - at first you won’t even realize that it has gone. And then, all of a sudden, the signposts are everywhere. No matter how hard you work to stop the erosion, the reversal is evasive. Sustaining high growth over the long haul isn’t easy. Winners are suddenly losers. Look at Kodak, Blockbuster, Blackberry, and Nortel. Each rode the wave of success, only to come crashing down. Like the phoenix, some rise again. Leaders who suffer the tough days of turnarounds and manage to resurrect a business are the ones who think about momentum in strategic terms. These folks know the success factors that raised them from their corporate cesspool. Most will continue to leverage the factors with unabashed zeal. For example, if it was innovation and creativity that brought revival, chances are high that innovation and creativity will remain a cornerstone of their corporate culture. This is how one sustains this intangible asset. Early in my career, I was part of a management team that swam in four years of red ink at Jacobs Suchard’s Canadian subsidiary. We just couldn’t find the momentum even though we thought we were doing all the right things. And then suddenly, our innovations in the market took hold and market share started edging up. At first we were cautiously optimistic, but after a year of impressive sales growth, it was clear that we had rediscovered momentum. Profitability followed, and with that, a very important intangible asset - confidence. Those of us who suffered those dark days of red ink would never forget the agony. Never would we allow ourselves to take momentum for granted. The shareholders benefited handsomely, and so did several young managers who were part of that company before the takeover by Kraft Foods. Those talents went on to become CEOs and business unit Presidents for such notables as Nestle, ConAgra, Anheuser Busch In-Bev, Warner-Lambert, Rogers Communications, Electronic Arts and Coca-Cola. This lesson in sports momentum and business momentum is also a lesson in life. Think about it.   John Bell is a retired consumer packaged goods CEO and global strategy consultant to some of the world’s most respected blue-chip organizations. His latest book has just been released by Macmillan USA. Do Less Better: The Power of Strategic Sacrifice in a Complex World is available at all online book sellers. The post Momentum: Your Most Undervalued Asset appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.