Stubborn Unemployment

Corporate profits soar; employment stagnates.  2013 promises to be noteworthy for weathering storms of the century, and also for being weighed down by the worst news for workers in 50 years.  

A front-page NYT article by Nelson D. Schwartz on March 4th spells out in plain language how U.S.companies are reaping the rewards of successfully competing in a global economy, while our unemployment rate is stuck near 8% ("Recovery in U.S. Lifting Profits, Not Adding Jobs").  Add in the number of people who have stopped looking for real work and those that are under-employed -- Yikes!

Maybe "Made In America" needs to be the new victory garden.  Most of us are already doing with less -- there must be a way we can collectively support the creation of more American jobs.

Innovation Incubation

Yahoo is pulling in the troops to encourage big ideas.   In trying to turn around the struggling tech company, CEO Marissa Mayer says communciation and collaboration requires everyone to be present in their offices. 

Nascar would probably agree. Their recent development of an Air Titan to remove rain faster from race tracks resulted from a team challenge.  Nascar's chairman and CEO said "Lets change the way we do it, let's innovate, let's get a system and the goal is to improve it by 80 percent." (NYT article by Viv Bernstein - 2/23/13)

On the other hand, some of the best ideas come while we are all alone, driving or dreaming.  The Pantone color system that assigns numbers used around the world came to Lawrence Herbert as he was driving to work as the owner of a printing company.  He single-handedly created a 'universal language' of color in the '60's.  ((The red in the American flag is #193).  (NYT article by Pagan Kennedy - 2/24/13)

Legislating innovation by forcing people to change the way they are working, and living, is a risky deal.  America continues to see child care as a woman's issue, and having a CEO who only needed two weeks of maternity leave is not an encouraging signal to moms.  It will be interesting to see if Yahoo's reversal of telecommuting creates the next new thing.

New HR/Management Series

 

I am honored to have one of my e-books included in an affordable, comprehensive package of performance and assessment tools.  The Ryan Group offers 12 books and competency-building resources at a low group rate.  E mail wayne.davis@ryangroupinc.com for details. 

Clean Slate vs. Quick Fix

According to Peter G. Neumann, an 80- year old computer scientist, 'Most of the people responsible (for computer security) don't want to hear about complexity.  They are interested in quick and dirty solutions.'  (NYT Science Times, John Markoff-10/30/12).

Uh, oh. Many experts agree with him that a "clean slate" effort is needed to secure our networks, and that means complex re-design.  The stakes are high.  Leon E. Panetta, defense secretary, recently warned about cyberwarfare as a threat to global security. 

The good news is, a 'cyber resilience' research group has spawned dozens of efforts - but who in the business world will be the visionary to say "Stop - we have to take the time to fix things the right way?"  Dr. Neumann bemoans the trend for us to repeat mistakes from the past, to allow vulnerabilities to endure.

Sounds like human nature has evolved slower than computer systems.

NERVOUS CEOS? O MY!

So maybe the sky is not really falling, but when the CEOs aren't happy, nobody's happy. 

A September, 2012 Reuters report says 34% of U.S. CEOs plan to cut American jobs, vs. 20% only 3 months prior -- and, they are also decreasing their capital spending plans.  Not surprisingly, another study says CFOS agree with their bosses.

Seems that CEOs don't relish the idea of trying to grow a business while Washington is facing a January, 2013 fiscal cliff of reduced spending  and higher taxes.  The global financial crisis, including recent riots in Greece over proposed cuts in pensions, add fuel to the fire.

While companies in the S&P 1500 index collectively hold $1 trillion in cash & assets, doesn't look like they are in a spending mood. 

Time for some creative thinking - or are we are own worst enemies?

Source:  Hartford Courant article by Scott Malone, 09/27/12