BY: JAMES CAAN There are several factors to take into account when mulling over a job offer, but one which often gets overlooked is the company culture on offer and how you will fit into it. Work is a very big part of all of our lives; in fact we probably spend more time there than anywhere else. Therefore it is important to be in an environment that you enjoy and are comfortable in. There are many businesses that take their interviewees around the office and introduce them to team members who they could be working with. This is something I often do, and it’s important for the candidate to ask questions about the culture during this process. Find out as much as you can – actually being in the office and speaking to people gives you a far better idea than a website or job description. Remember culture is not just about Christmas parties and fun days out – it's also about the people at the top being open to ideas from everyone. In my business, I have always encouraged people at all levels to put forward any ideas they may have. This is a great motivator, and shows them how valued they are. Ask your interviewer whether this is the case with their company. However at the same time, you need to realise that the interviewers themselves will be asking you questions to see whether you fit in. I have said on numerous occasions that interviews are a two way process in which both company and candidate are trying to sell themselves. Your attitude to the actual work you do will give the interviewer a good indication of your cultural fit. Do you see it as merely a job, or something more? We once had a receptionist at Hamilton Bradshaw who saw herself as more than just that. In fact, as I explain in the video below, she even gave herself a different job title which I thought was excellent. Of course, no good manager will underestimate the importance of team spirit, so when it comes to interviewing candidates, they will want to know how you fit into the company. They want to establish your personality and what you bring to the table outside of your work. This doesn’t mean you need to be a sociable, outgoing extrovert. Not everybody has that sort of personality and there is absolutely nothing wrong with being more of an introvert. The most important thing is that you are warm and receptive to your colleagues and make the effort with them. At the end of the day, everybody prefers to work with people that they can get on with. BY: ISABELLE ROUGHOL DOWN THE AISLE – Wedding bells are chiming again in the corporate world. GE made an official bid of $17.1 billion cash for Alstom's energy branch, which the French company's board unanimously endorsed. Siemens could still crash the party by taking advantage of the one-month review period to offer a sweeter deal. The markets are thrilled, with Alstom's stock up 15 percent after the news, but for the French government, it's another story: the company is a strategic industrial jewel, which lives on orders from public utilities, supplying equipment for nuclear reactors providing 80 percent of France's power supply and manufacturing the iconic TGV high-speed trains. It was saved from bankruptcy with taxpayer money a decade ago.Any sale would have to guarantee jobs and energy independence for Paris.
MERGER FEVER – GE/Alstom, Comcast/TimeWarner, Pfizer/AstraZeneca, Sun/Ranbaxy, Allergan/Valeant... noticing a trend? Corporations have gone M&A-crazy this spring, and this time we're not talking about Silicon Valley giants gobbling one startup after another: 2014 could sign the return of the megadeal, with the pharmaceutical industry leading the charge. "It’s a huge shift in sentiment. Last year, corporations were just dipping their toes in the M&A pool—but moves like Valeant’s prove that now they are now jumping in cannonball style," writes LinkedIn member Brad Grossman. "It might not, however, be great for consumers—or employees. Valeant, for instance, is known for slashing costs. Fewer players in an industry also can stifle innovation." LinkedIn member Shideh Sedgh Bina notes that even shareholders may not benefit – in fact, in M&A history, they usually haven't. That's because combining assets is easy; combining cultures isn't. Written and unwritten rules change, strategy is often dramatically altered, new managers are put into new jobs with new teams, different leadership styles, changes in compensation, the list of variables that impact the mindset, the culture and thereby the performance of people in any enterprise is miles long. Any executive can tell you about these dependencies and ramifications. So why, then, does 85% of the money spent in closing M&A deals go to assessing financial and operational integration, while just 15% is spent on assessing people issues? (Read on, really, for a play-by-play on how to avoid these pitfalls.)#1 – Yes, figures can be looked at a million different ways and per capita numbers tell a very different story (I'm a European, per capita figures are my friend.) That said,China is about to overtake the US as the world's largest economy. That's when looking at GDP adjusted for exchange rates and purchasing power parity (i.e. how much you can stretch a dollar in each country.) The International Comparison Program, a partnership of institutions such as the World Bank and UN which does exactly what it says, showed that China's economy was worth 43 percent of the US economy in 2005... and 87 percent in 2011. The two curves should cross this year. The US has held the #1 spot for 142 years after passing the UK. , it's an opportunity to again question the value of GDP, even adjusted, as a metric: these numbers don't take into account the negative externalities of China's growth, chief among them pollution, which has a huge cost, financial and otherwise. OMG, OMG, OMG – Just look at this picture and weep. In one tiny blog post, the cast of the new Star Wars movie (yes, another one) was revealed and a nerd squeal could be heard around the world. No one's missing: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew (the guy in the Chewbacca suit), Kenny Baker (the guy in the R2-D2 suit) and Anthony Daniels (... C-3PO suit) will all return to their 1977 roles for what is probably the surest bet ever in the movie business. I could lament the fact that Hollywood has forgotten how to take risks, content with rehashing fairy tales, best sellers and franchises and relinquishing all creativity to "TV" content that no longer airs on TV. But really, I'm just squealing too. Episode VII, which story takes place after the original trilogy and The Return of the Jedi, will be directed by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Star Trek, etc...) and released December 18, 2015. Mark your calendars. Are you already standing in line for Episode VII? Have you experienced a botched merger where culture wasn't accounted for? If you have insider knowledge of these or other topics in the news today, write your own post explaining what's happening. Share the URL here in the comments mentioning me or tweet @LinkedInPulse. (Want to write, but don't yet have access? Leave your info here.) BY: MARCUS NELSON Two years ago I left Salesforce to launch the first employee advocacy platform. The vision was straightforward. I would help companies put their people first when it came to social media —- grow brand advocacy, reduce time & costs, solve problems, drive sales, and improve brand reputation. That all changed. I am no longer the CEO or an employee.These are never easy situations, but there really was no choice. I join the legions of other founders who’ve reached the same decision. I have the most fun identifying opportunities and devising ways to disrupt markets and building the teams and the products that will achieve that. I decided it was time for me to use my experience and my expertise to take on new challenges that will disrupt the status quo. Go forward guys.I wish the team the best of luck and urge them to continue pushing forward. Companies should absolutely strive to cultivate a culture of empathy that encourages everyone throughout the organization to connect with customers, contribute comments, solve problems, and safeguard the reputation of the enterprise. Keep building — and I will cheer you on from afar. Thank you to my cofounder,Abraham Williams and the rest of our team for putting yourselves on the line for this vision. Would also like to thank the Angel Investors who believed in me enough to put their money where their mouth was. We built a solid brand, and did it well. What happens from here is beyond me, but I wish you all the best. As for what I'll do next.I have a lot of options. At this point, I’m still trying to decide which avenue is worth pursuing.
BY: J. T. ODONNELL We know in recessionary times, the number of start-up businesses significantly increases. Aspiring entrepreneurs, tired of being linked with golden handcuffs to employers, venture out on their own. It's good for the economy, but usually doesn't end well for many start-ups. Studies show less than 50% of companies launched are still around after five years. Plain and simple: keeping a business alive is more challenging than anyone can imagine.
You Created A Business That's Working....Now What? As those rare start-up success stories solidify into sustainable businesses, the entrepreneurs running these small companies start to focus on making their businesses bigger. That's where mergers and acquisitions expert, Peter Worrell, says there's a pivotal point in an entrepreneur's life which will determine whether their $1M company can become a $50M+ entity with a lasting impact. In the life arc of a business, entrepreneur owner-managers spend the early years focused on cash flow. They address short-term symptoms to keep the business alive, rarely making time to look at the big picture. Eventually, they become drained and hit an emotional wall. They're frustrated by the continued output of time and energy it's taking to get the business to a stable level. Instead of looking over their shoulder and being satisfied by what they've accomplished, they only stare forward at what looks like an impossible mountain of work. Ultimately, questioning if they should keep going. Worrell is the CEO and Managing Director of Bigelow, LLC, where he has spent the last 20+ years studying entrepreneur owner-managers and their traits. In his book,"Enterprise Value: How the Best Owner-Managers Build Their Fortune, Their Company's Gains, and Create Their Legacy," Worrell outlines some extensive research he's done around the entrepreneurial mindset and its impact on business success. Worrell focused his studies on the actions of owner-managers who had extremely high levels of business growth and compared them to those who made decisions which limited the success of their companies. Then, using his findings, he wrote a book designed to help those looking to take their businesses to incredible places ($50M+), avoid the most common mistakes. 6 Limiting Mindsets Hold Most Entrepreneurs Back As a first-time entrepreneur owner-manager myself, I can tell you Worrell's book was extremely useful. After reading it, I came away feeling I have the ability to make my dreams for the company a reality. But, I also learned exactly why I'm one of the biggest threats to its success. The book offers detailed examples of six common mindsets that usually work against the typical entrepreneur:
One Key Difference = High Levels Of Grit When I told Peter Worrell about my loss aversion, he said something powerful, "J.T., there's no reward for holding back." He then followed up by sharing the work of Angela Duckworth. Also outlined in his book, Duckworth and her colleagues created a test to determine grit, which they defined as a combination of passion and persistence for long-term goals. Grit is what gets that $1M entrepreneur owner-manager to the $50M+ level. Grit pushes them through the life arc of the business and helps them get to the other side. Grit comes from within, and those people who have it aren’t particularly dependent on feedback or praise from others. Grit endures— and even strengthens— in the face of challenges and in response to setbacks. According to Worrell: I view grit as an alchemical combination of enthusiasm, persistence, and motivation. Perhaps the persistence is related to their willingness to fail, make a course correction, and continue on their journey. Certainly, the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who persist and adjust long after others might rationally call it a day. To paraphrase William James, seasoned entrepreneurs seem to have found their second wind— they have tapped a new level of energy. Sure, other types of people manage to get a “second wind” in their careers, but not everybody does, and it doesn’t happen very often. Many of the most successful owner-managers live in the second wind, and they have a third, fourth, and fifth wind too. Which leads us to the final advice from Worrell for those who want to reach the $50M+ level... Smart Entrepreneurs Know When To... Like many entrepreneur owner-managers, I built my business for two reasons. First, I wanted to fix a major problem in my industry and felt I could do that. Second, I wanted to be in control. The second reason is what has made me avoid seeking partners - until now. In fact, I intentionally bootstrapped my business and poured hours of sweat equity and personal resources into it just so I didn't have to be beholden to investors. But, without investors, I am also lacking the valuable asset of having people who can see my business with a fresh set of eyes. I also don't have their experience, connections, and insight to draw from. Ironically, I sought out Worrell's book because I was struggling to figure out how I was going to push forward in the life arc of my own business. His book made me recognize it's time to find the right people to team up with. Do you have $50M+ entrepreneur owner-manager potential? I'd love to hear from other small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs about how they are making sure they don't hold their businesses back via their limiting mindsets. What are you doing to ensure you can get your business successfully through its life arc? |