Despite companies spending billions annually on technology to try to systematize operations, business-to-business sales remains remarkably ad hoc and opaque.

Sales leaders routinely are surprised when they lose renewals from key accounts, or a product launch falls short of goals, or sales representatives miss cross-selling opportunities. Most sales organizations struggle to see what is coming through the pipeline for next quarter, or what their army of salespeople is actually working on.

Vendors of customer relationship management (CRM) technology have built a $60 billion global industry around such problems. Every major B2B company invests millions each year in sales technologies, yet 62% of 167 companies surveyed recently by Bain & Company said the return on their investment fell short of expectations. What companies hoped would be an intelligent CRM system ends up being used as a simple accounting and workflow management system. They’ve bought a...

Any New Yorker will tell you: Times Square is a nightmare. I’d rather walk three blocks out of my way than face the panhandling Spider-Men and a nearly naked cowboy. No, I don’t want a Swatch or a five-pound, $60 candy bar from the Hershey’s store. Stand in freezing temps for hours to see a ball drop? I’d rather be dropped.

Many organizations are confronting the question of how to integrate fragmented and often makeshift digitalization efforts in a way that’s sustainable. Are there ways to speed up digitalization and make outcomes more predictable? Based on their research, the authors recommend three levers for accelerating digitalization projects that will help organizations of any size reap the benefits of true transformations. These levers are rooted in the idea of complexity-in-use, a concept the authors developed to help understand the difficulties users face when trying to cope with the impacts of new digital tools on their work. Once managers master this form of complexity, they’ll be able to plan and focus their digitalization efforts and deliver more effective transformations.

The last major global shock—the 2008 recession—led to what economists call a “jobless recovery” as companies found they could get by with fewer employees. But post-pandemic, the author writes, managers should focus on changing employees’ roles instead. He has five key pieces of advice: Enable employees to meaningfully connect with customers in the moments that count; help them make more such connections by shifting the boundaries of their work; find ways to allow customers to lend a hand; ensure that employees can see the impact of their work on the lives of their customers; and invest some of the new value created in increased compensation and improved scheduling—which will in turn create more value.

As the pandemic era goes on, more than ever we need ways to refresh our energies, calm our anxieties, and nurse our well-being. The cultivation of experiences of awe can bring these benefits and has been attracting increased attention due to more rigorous research. At its core, awe has an element of vastness that makes us feel small; this tends to decrease our mental chatter and worries and helps us think about ideas, issues, and people outside of ourselves, improving creativity and collaboration as well as energy. The authors, a physician and a psychologist, have facilitated hundreds of resilience and well-being workshops; they suggest a number of awe interventions for individual professionals as well as groups.

Do you have a hard time voicing your thoughts at work even when you want to? You’re not alone. The important thing to remember is that your lack of confidence is not an inherent flaw, and these limitations don’t have to define you. Confidence can be learned and practiced.

First, know the difference between stock options and RSUs.  Stock options allow you to purchase shares in your company’s stocks at a predetermined price, also known as a strike price, for a limited number of years. If your company is performing well, the strike price of your stock will be lower than its fair market value by the time your options vest. This means you can buy your company stocks for a lower price and sell them at the higher fair market value. Restricted stock units (RSUs) the most common type of equity compensation and are typically offered after a private company goes public. Like stock options, RSUs vest over time, but unlike stock options, you don’t have to buy them. As soon as they vest, they are treated exactly the same as if you had bought your company’s shares in the open market. You can sell them and make money. Just like your cash salary, you should negotiate your equity compensation. Companies typically issue a grant of options or RSUs when you...

The last major global shock—the 2008 recession—led to what economists call a “jobless recovery” as companies found they could get by with fewer employees. But post-pandemic, the author writes, managers should focus on changing employees’ roles instead. He has five key pieces of advice: Enable employees to meaningfully connect with customers in the moments that count; help them make more such connections by shifting the boundaries of their work; find ways to allow customers to lend a hand; ensure that employees can see the impact of their work on the lives of their customers; and invest some of the new value created in increased compensation and improved scheduling—which will in turn create more value.

Sending an email follow up can feel awkward — especially if you have to do it multiple times. But just because someone hasn’t responded to your initial request, it doesn’t mean their answer is “no.” Here are six tips to help you get the response you need.

It’s normal to underperform on occasion. After all, everyone has a bad quarter — or even a bad year — from time to time. But don’t just sit back and wait for that painful performance review. Be proactive in talking with your manager about missing your goals. In situations like these, the two best ways to preserve your professional reputation is to first, come clean about your underperformance before your boss has a chance to discover it another way, and second, to focus on solutions, not excuses. So, schedule a conversation with your manager in which you take full responsibility for your mistakes. Express contrition and remorse. A sincere “I’m sorry,” goes a long way. Then, explain how you plan to do better. Focus on correction, not blaming, shaming, or faultfinding. As you offer your ideas and suggestions, ask your boss for advice and guidance.

To become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, many companies have turned to unconscious bias (UB) training. By raising awareness of the mental shortcuts that lead to snap judgments—often based on race and gender—about people’s talents or character, it strives to make hiring and promotion fairer and improve interactions with customers and among colleagues. But most UB training is ineffective, research shows. The problem is, increasing awareness is not enough—and can even backfire—because sending the message that bias is involuntary and widespread may make it seem unavoidable.

UB training that gets results, in contrast, teaches attendees to manage their biases, practice new behaviors, and track their progress. It gives them information that contradicts stereotypes and allows them to connect with colleagues whose experiences are different from theirs. And it’s not a onetime session; it entails a longer journey and structural organizational changes.

...

Millions of American women left the workforce during the pandemic, mostly to provide care for families when schools and other support systems closed. As the economy rebounds, companies will need to lure this talent back—and return-to-work programs provide a vehicle for doing so. These programs—aimed at mid-career professionals who’ve taken time off from employment—have been around for 20 years, and the author has been writing about (and consulting with companies on) them for nearly that long. In this article she gives an overview of the evolution of these programs, describes the various types, and suggests best practices to make them most effective.

When the author agreed to accept the top job at UPS, the global shipping service, in late winter of 2019, she expected to steer the company toward a brighter future. She had no idea that she would have to do it during a global pandemic that made her organization an essential service but kept most people at home and pushed demand for shipped goods to holiday levels year-round.

When she officially took over, in June 2020, she gathered her top team to decide on the principles to which they would hold fast during this crisis—including integrity, efficiency, constant learning and improvement, and a strong focus on both customers and employees. Among their top priorities were maintaining their brand relevance, keeping their balance sheet and credit rating solid, protecting their dual-class ownership structure, and continuing to pay a dividend. The organization divested from some businesses and invested in others, which has led over the past year to impressive growth, a...

Eight years ago, Malnight, Buche, and Dhanaraj launched a study of high growth in companies, looking at three strategies known to drive it: creating new markets, serving broader stakeholder needs, and rewriting the rules of the game. To their surprise, they discovered a fourth driver they hadn’t considered at all: purpose.

Companies have long been building purpose into what they do, but usually it’s seen as an add-on—as a way to, say, give back to the community. The high-growth companies in the study, in contrast, had made purpose central to their strategies, using it to redefine playing fields and reshape value propositions. The purpose of Mars Petcare, for instance—a better world for pets—guided its expansion from pet food into the larger ecosystem of pet health. The purpose of Securitas—contributing to a safer society—led the firm to redesign its offering to include not just physical guards but electronic services and predictive solutions.

This...

August 24, 2021

Eva Ascarza, professor at Harvard Business School, studies customer analytics and finds that many companies investing in artificial intelligence fail to improve their marketing decisions. Why is AI falling flat when it comes to this key lever for profit? She says the main reasons are that organizations neglect to ask the right questions, weigh the value of being right with the cost of being wrong, and leverage the improving abilities of AI to change how companies make decisions overall. With London Business School’s Bruce G.S. Hardie and Michael Ross, Ascarza wrote the HBR article “Why You Aren’t Getting More from Your Marketing AI.”

Despite companies spending billions annually on technology to try to systematize operations, business-to-business sales remains remarkably ad hoc and opaque.

Sales leaders routinely are surprised when they lose renewals from key accounts, or a product launch falls short of goals, or sales representatives miss cross-selling opportunities. Most sales organizations struggle to see what is coming through the pipeline for next quarter, or what their army of salespeople is actually working on.

Vendors of customer relationship management (CRM) technology have built a $60 billion global industry around such problems. Every major B2B company invests millions each year in sales technologies, yet 62% of 167 companies surveyed recently by Bain & Company said the return on their investment fell short of expectations. What companies hoped would be an intelligent CRM system ends up being used as a simple accounting and workflow management system. They’ve bought a...

Many organizations are confronting the question of how to integrate fragmented and often makeshift digitalization efforts in a way that’s sustainable. Are there ways to speed up digitalization and make outcomes more predictable? Based on their research, the authors recommend three levers for accelerating digitalization projects that will help organizations of any size reap the benefits of true transformations. These levers are rooted in the idea of complexity-in-use, a concept the authors developed to help understand the difficulties users face when trying to cope with the impacts of new digital tools on their work. Once managers master this form of complexity, they’ll be able to plan and focus their digitalization efforts and deliver more effective transformations.

As the pandemic era goes on, more than ever we need ways to refresh our energies, calm our anxieties, and nurse our well-being. The cultivation of experiences of awe can bring these benefits and has been attracting increased attention due to more rigorous research. At its core, awe has an element of vastness that makes us feel small; this tends to decrease our mental chatter and worries and helps us think about ideas, issues, and people outside of ourselves, improving creativity and collaboration as well as energy. The authors, a physician and a psychologist, have facilitated hundreds of resilience and well-being workshops; they suggest a number of awe interventions for individual professionals as well as groups.

Do you have a hard time voicing your thoughts at work even when you want to? You’re not alone. The important thing to remember is that your lack of confidence is not an inherent flaw, and these limitations don’t have to define you. Confidence can be learned and practiced.

First, know the difference between stock options and RSUs.  Stock options allow you to purchase shares in your company’s stocks at a predetermined price, also known as a strike price, for a limited number of years. If your company is performing well, the strike price of your stock will be lower than its fair market value by the time your options vest. This means you can buy your company stocks for a lower price and sell them at the higher fair market value. Restricted stock units (RSUs) the most common type of equity compensation and are typically offered after a private company goes public. Like stock options, RSUs vest over time, but unlike stock options, you don’t have to buy them. As soon as they vest, they are treated exactly the same as if you had bought your company’s shares in the open market. You can sell them and make money. Just like your cash salary, you should negotiate your equity compensation. Companies typically issue a grant of options or RSUs when you...

First, write a thank you note to the hiring manager no later than a day after. Keep it short and sweet, but mention one specific thing that you learned about their organization. If you don’t hear back by the date they said they’d have a decision by, don’t panic. Wait a week, and if it’s still radio silence, follow up with a short note expressing your excitement about the role. Finally, if you don’t get the job, you can send one last note asking for feedback. Who knows, it may teach you something and lead to better opportunities down the line.

Recently updated research shows that women in leadership positions are perceived as being every bit as effective as men. In an analysis of thousands of 360-degree assessments, women were rated as excelling in taking initiative, acting with resilience, practicing self-development, driving for results, and displaying high integrity and honesty. In fact, they were thought to be more effective in 84% of the competencies that we most frequently measure. Men were rated as being better on two capabilities: “develops strategic perspective” and “technical or professional expertise.” However, a different analysis of the same data showed that when women are asked to assess themselves, they are not as generous in their ratings. In fact, they have lower scores than men on confidence ratings, especially when they’re under 25. At age 40, the confidence ratings merge. Men gain just 8.5 percentile points in confidence from age 25 to their 60+ years. Women, on the other hand, gain 29...

Social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have given many organizations a new hiring tool. According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers check out applicants’ profiles as part of their screening process, and 54% have rejected applicants because of what they found. Social media sites offer a free, easily accessed portrait of what a candidate is really like, yielding a clearer idea of whether that person will succeed on the job—or so the theory goes.