McKinsey has been talking for almost two decades about the War for Talent.  More recently, they have been focusing on the growth in knowledge work, noting that 85% of all new jobs created in the last decade require knowledge worker skills. Yet most companies and countries are still managing their workforce with industrial age practices [...]

A little less than a month ago, we ran a webinar with Human Capital Institute titled the “Business Impact of Talent Intelligence.”  We presented findings from our joint research effort showcasing the connection between financial performance and talent awareness, and we noted key differences between data deficient organizations and data proficient organizations, not only in [...]

After 20 plus years in the talent management industry with a decade plus of that time exclusively dedicated to learning, development, and performance, it’s rare for me to gain any new insights from analysts or even well-known thought leaders in our space.  In most cases, the topic du jour is typically something I’ve evangelized myself [...]

As with most recent jobs reports, this one does little to shed light on the job situation, particularly given conflicting data from alternate reputable sources.  Let’s start with some data shared by sources outside the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Gallup Data Earlier this month, Gallup released a report showing that unemployment (not seasonally adjusted) is [...]

A Rose By Any Other Name… Won’t Smell Very Sweet How do you describe the people that power your organization?  Do you call them “human resources” or “talent”?  Many companies are still stuck in the nomenclature of human “resources,” a term that is both anachronistic and fundamentally flawed.  Miriam Webster traces the first known use [...]

For years now, I’ve been talking about social learning and the role that learning professionals need to play in driving successful adoption of social practices within their organization. The basic gist of the argument across multiple presentations can be summed up in a few bullet points: Learning professionals, as professionals, need to understand and drive [...]

It’s that time again – another month, another jobs number.  As with other recent reports, it’s a mixed bag.  On the plus side, we see a solid increase in the number of net new jobs and more positive gains in the manufacturing sector, notably more jobs related to durable goods, but a decent increase to [...]

The latest BLS numbers have just come out and, as expected, they show more hiring growth.  And as is typically the case, the major news outlets are doing a pretty poor job in explaining what the numbers really mean.  I’ll provide a bit more color in this post and also talk about the year overall [...]

Salesforce, Rypple, social this, social that, social the other thing.  Did I say social enough times?  Yeah, it’s déjà vu all over again.  Last week, we were fed a diet of empty cloud rhetoric; this week, the waiter has delivered “Social Performance Management,” the first in a five course meal described as “Social HCM.” Unfortunately, [...]

SAP, SuccessFactors, mergers, acquisitions, valuations, SaaS, cloud, cloud and more cloud.  Did I mention cloud?  With the announced acquisition of SuccessFactors by SAP, there has been a flurry of communications from both companies and a deluge of analysis from every major financial and industry analyst who even remotely cover this space.  We’ve read about cloud [...]

US unemployment numbers were released today, and the news isn’t great. The 100,000-ish workers added in October are barely enough to keep the unemployment level stable, due to increases in the overall labor pool.  Fully-loaded unemployment, accounting for the full spectrum of unemployed and underemployed, is still tracking around 16%.  Perhaps more telling is that [...]

For years now, I’ve been talking about social learning and the role that learning professionals need to play in driving successful adoption of social practices within their organization. The basic gist of the argument across multiple presentations can be summed up in a few bullet points: Learning professionals, as professionals, need to understand and drive [...]

A Rose By Any Other Name… Won’t Smell Very Sweet How do you describe the people that power your organization?  Do you call them “human resources” or “talent”?  Many companies are still stuck in the nomenclature of human “resources,” a term that is both anachronistic and fundamentally flawed.  Miriam Webster traces the first known use [...]

Salesforce, Rypple, social this, social that, social the other thing.  Did I say social enough times?  Yeah, it’s déjà vu all over again.  Last week, we were fed a diet of empty cloud rhetoric; this week, the waiter has delivered “Social Performance Management,” the first in a five course meal described as “Social HCM.” Unfortunately, [...]

Over the last few years, there has been a growing chorus of voices proclaiming the "Death of the LMS."  In most cases, these voices suggest social learning or social media solutions can replace LMS offerings, yet they provide very little in the way of proof points and even less recognition of the vital role that [...]

A little less than a month ago, we ran a webinar with Human Capital Institute titled the “Business Impact of Talent Intelligence.”  We presented findings from our joint research effort showcasing the connection between financial performance and talent awareness, and we noted key differences between data deficient organizations and data proficient organizations, not only in [...]

The ADP employment report was released today.  On the surface, the numbers appear to be trending in the right direction, but it’s important to put them in context.  In order for the US to maintain a break-even unemployment rate given current labor participation rates, the economy needs to add roughly 90,000 jobs per month.  The [...]

It’s that time again – another month, another jobs number.  As with other recent reports, it’s a mixed bag.  On the plus side, we see a solid increase in the number of net new jobs and more positive gains in the manufacturing sector, notably more jobs related to durable goods, but a decent increase to [...]

A few days ago I posted about the ADP jobs numbers and noted while the numbers looked good, there were two details that need to be closely considered before we get ahead of ourselves about recovery prospects. The first of these was the issue of Labor Participation Rate and the second was the seasonality of [...]

SAP, SuccessFactors, mergers, acquisitions, valuations, SaaS, cloud, cloud and more cloud.  Did I mention cloud?  With the announced acquisition of SuccessFactors by SAP, there has been a flurry of communications from both companies and a deluge of analysis from every major financial and industry analyst who even remotely cover this space.  We’ve read about cloud [...]

McKinsey has been talking for almost two decades about the War for Talent.  More recently, they have been focusing on the growth in knowledge work, noting that 85% of all new jobs created in the last decade require knowledge worker skills. Yet most companies and countries are still managing their workforce with industrial age practices [...]

A little less than a month ago, we ran a webinar with Human Capital Institute titled the “Business Impact of Talent Intelligence.”  We presented findings from our joint research effort showcasing the connection between financial performance and talent awareness, and we noted key differences between data deficient organizations and data proficient organizations, not only in [...]

After 20 plus years in the talent management industry with a decade plus of that time exclusively dedicated to learning, development, and performance, it’s rare for me to gain any new insights from analysts or even well-known thought leaders in our space.  In most cases, the topic du jour is typically something I’ve evangelized myself [...]

As with most recent jobs reports, this one does little to shed light on the job situation, particularly given conflicting data from alternate reputable sources.  Let’s start with some data shared by sources outside the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Gallup Data Earlier this month, Gallup released a report showing that unemployment (not seasonally adjusted) is [...]

A Rose By Any Other Name… Won’t Smell Very Sweet How do you describe the people that power your organization?  Do you call them “human resources” or “talent”?  Many companies are still stuck in the nomenclature of human “resources,” a term that is both anachronistic and fundamentally flawed.  Miriam Webster traces the first known use [...]

For years now, I’ve been talking about social learning and the role that learning professionals need to play in driving successful adoption of social practices within their organization. The basic gist of the argument across multiple presentations can be summed up in a few bullet points: Learning professionals, as professionals, need to understand and drive [...]

It’s that time again – another month, another jobs number.  As with other recent reports, it’s a mixed bag.  On the plus side, we see a solid increase in the number of net new jobs and more positive gains in the manufacturing sector, notably more jobs related to durable goods, but a decent increase to [...]

The latest BLS numbers have just come out and, as expected, they show more hiring growth.  And as is typically the case, the major news outlets are doing a pretty poor job in explaining what the numbers really mean.  I’ll provide a bit more color in this post and also talk about the year overall [...]

Salesforce, Rypple, social this, social that, social the other thing.  Did I say social enough times?  Yeah, it’s déjà vu all over again.  Last week, we were fed a diet of empty cloud rhetoric; this week, the waiter has delivered “Social Performance Management,” the first in a five course meal described as “Social HCM.” Unfortunately, [...]

SAP, SuccessFactors, mergers, acquisitions, valuations, SaaS, cloud, cloud and more cloud.  Did I mention cloud?  With the announced acquisition of SuccessFactors by SAP, there has been a flurry of communications from both companies and a deluge of analysis from every major financial and industry analyst who even remotely cover this space.  We’ve read about cloud [...]