Leadership Reading to Start Your Week: 1/4/16

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Here are choice articles on hot leadership topics culled from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms, to start off your work week. I’m pointing you to articles about leadership, strategy, industries, innovation, women and work, and work and learning now and in the future. Highlights include 2016 Best Companies for Leaders, an insider’s guide to the transformation of health care, how 2015 changed corporate innovation, how women fared in 2015 (by the numbers), and the no-office workplace.

Be sure to look for dots that you can connect.

Note: Some links require you to register or are to publications that have some form of limited paywall.

Thinking about Leadership and Strategy

From Stanislav Shekshnia: The Unconventional Habits of Transformational Leaders

“Lessons from two Russian CEOs on turning stumbling state companies into global success stories.”

From McKinsey & Company: The keys to organizational agility

“The leaders behind McKinsey’s work on organization design explain the importance of agility and how established companies can become more dynamic.”

From Dan Weinfurter and J.P. Donlon: 2016 Best Companies for Leaders

“The final, top-40 ranking consists of public companies with over $1 billion in revenue, and the top 10 on the list scored within several points of one another. We also rank the top 10 private companies. Rankings are affected by a company’s reputation among its peers as a source for well-rounded talent. The percent of senior management recruited from internal talent pools is another criterion.”

Industries and Analysis

From Darrell Rigby, Erika Serow, Suzanne Tager and Jen Hayes: Digical retail and why stores matter

“Although e-commerce sales are growing at double-digit rates, the reality is that 90% of retail sales still happen in stores. In this issue, we look at the holiday shopping season to date and explore the evolving role of stores in a Digical® world. We examine how the most successful retailers are blending the best aspects of digital and physical to deliver better experiences and better economics this holiday season.”

From Hermann Requardt: An Insider’s Guide to the Transformation of Health Care

“Hermann Requardt is the former CEO of Siemens Healthcare, which under his leadership became one of the top five medical technology companies worldwide. He recently became a senior advisor to The Boston Consulting Group.”

From Marcus Ehrhardt: Is Pharma Ready for the Future?

“The way medicine is manufactured is about to be radically transformed.”

Innovation and Technology

From Anthony Ferrier: How 2015 Changed Corporate Innovation: An Overview

“There were several key (and generally welcome) themes that emerged throughout 2015 within corporate innovation. These are, in part, driven by the increasing value that corporate and business leadership place on this (still relatively) new competency, the sophistication of practitioners in the field, and the results of seeing what works or fails. It is truly an exciting time to be in this field and to see these changes form across the industry.”

From Eric J. McNulty: Let’s Argue About It

“Debates within organizations rarely contain that level of vitriol, but it can be deceptively easy to slip into battles for the triumph of your idea rather than a spirited quest for the best idea. It’s a natural impulse — few people have been formally trained to argue and critique and, after all, we work in highly competitive environments. Despite our higher-ups encouraging us to collaborate, winning is too often the dominant goal.”

From Kevin McFarthing: Innovation Risk & Return: Horizons, Uncertainty and the Teddy Bear Principle

“I’ve had a couple of interesting conversations recently focused on the strategic view of innovation using the 3 Horizons framework originally proposed by McKinsey, and the assessment of risk and return from innovation.”

Women and the Workplace

From Personnel Today: Female HR professionals earn 11% less than men, says survey

“Women in the HR profession earn on average 11% less than men – the equivalent of £4,534 per person in cash terms, XpertHR’s annual HR salary survey has revealed.”

From Melissa Wylie: By the numbers: How women fared in 2015

“Numbers can often illustrate a topic better than words. Take a look back at some key statistics from the year to see how women fared in 2015.”

From Kristen Bellstrom: When Employers Demand More Collaboration, Women Are Saddled With The Extra Work

“No man—or woman—is an island at the office. Indeed, new research from a trio of management experts finds that over the past 20 years, the amount of time employees are spending on collaborative tasks has surged by roughly 50%. And who is shouldering the bulk of that time-consuming, if often rewarding, work? Women.”

Work and Learning Now and in the Future

From Laura Putre: Six Manufacturers That Do Apprenticeships Right

“If the word ‘apprenticeship’ has a nostalgic ring to it, maybe it’s because high school vocational programs aren’t what they used to be, and in-house training programs are a casualty of consolidation and cost-cutting. But at these manufacturers, apprenticeships are an important part of the culture. They see the value of investing substantial money and time teaching specialized skills to smart, hard-working people who are eager to learn, and eager to make a good living.”

From Bourree Lam: The No-Office Workplace

“Anti-cubical backlash might be close to peaking, as yet another American company is embracing the idea of an office-less office: Citigroup announced that its downtown Manhattan office will, in addition to having better coffee and faster elevators, feature an open-seating plan once renovations are complete. Starting next month, Citigroup employees at that Tribeca location will have their choice of desks every morning, and not even the company’s CEO will have an office with a door.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Workforce for pointing me to this story

From Rob Cross, Reb Rebele, and Adam Grant: Collaborative Overload

“Collaboration is taking over the workplace. As business becomes increasingly global and cross-functional, silos are breaking down, connectivity is increasing, and teamwork is seen as a key to organizational success. According to data we have collected over the past two decades, the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50% or more.”

More Leadership Posts from Wally Bock

A look back at 2015

Here are pointers to several articles about 2015.

Best Business Books of 2015

Here are three excellent list of 2015’s best business books.

By and About Leaders: 12/29/15

Pointers to pieces by and about Sri Shivananda, César Melgoza, Kim Kaupe, Elizabeth Holmes, and Claudia San Pedro.

From the Independent Business Blogs: 12/30/15

Pointers to posts by Kate Nasser, Chris Edmonds, Lolly Daskal, Anne Perschel, and Mary Jo Asmus.

Stories and Strategies from Real Life: 1/1/16

Pointers to stories about Barnes and Noble, Chipotle, Olive Garden, Axel Springer, and the Amish in the Digital Age.

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