The role of senior HR leaders in national and global companies is changing as human resources and talent issues command a prominent role in today's headlines - workforce demographics and global talent trends, corporate scandals and intensifying regulatory challenges, the rising costs of health care and pensions, technology innovations that enable new ways of working, increasing globalization, and endless pressures to boost the profitability and performance of the workforce.

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The Leadership Challenge Leadership is a fluid concept.

At any moment in time, every organization will be in the throes of change to a greater or lesser degree.

RFID technology is having a tangible impact on a wide array of industries across the globe, according to a new briefing paper by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

I know that many readers will see this as Holy Grail stuff, but today all customer touch points – and this includes all aspects of marketing – increasingly need to be capable of providing a positively differentiating brand experience.

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Most professional services firms are aware of the marketing power of publications targeted at their clients, yet few are managing to take advantage of the opportunity in the most effective way.

I am somewhat puzzled by the sense that coaching has a value, yet we don't know what that value is and we don't know how to measure it. Is this is a bad thing or not? Style has no value and cannot be measured but it makes the owner more attractive. Are we trying to make our organisations more attractive by providing coaching or are we trying to make our organisations more effective.

When 400 consultants talk, I listen—even if the news isn’t good.

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It’s a fair bet that Brazil will beat off all challengers this summer to retain the Football World Cup in Germany.

But what is the price of neglecting our promises to ourselves? Delivery will always take priority over development.

Unlocking the performance of teams Teamwork remains shrouded in mystery All too rarely, moments of ‘team-magic’ occur when a group comes together to defy the odds and achieve an extraordinary outcome.

More and more people are aware of the increase in the use of collaboration tools such as instant messaging, telephony, video conferencing, wikis and blogs.

Naturally, we are all familiar with the theory of the experienced executive with the big company background and fabulous contacts joining a smaller firm to help it develop.

When one of my clients wins a big contract, we often marvel at the amazing simplicity of the steps that led to that success.

The next five years will see testing times for the water industry.

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According to a 2005 study on how clients buy professional services conducted by analysts at RainToday.com, 69% of prospective clients are at least somewhat influenced by your Web site when deciding whether or not to make contact with you.

In common with many people today I conduct an increasing percentage of my business remotely, coming into contact with different groups of people only when the event occurs that has been the subject of that entire email correspondence.

“What this book actually dealt with is: THE FUTURE OF SOCIETY.” This is the closing sentence in Peter Drucker’s book, Management Challenges for the 21st Century(2), which appeared in 1999.

Most of the readers would find it interesting to note that primary and secondary research indicates that the nation’s top employers talk a good story about diversity and gender equality, but just don’t deliver. The reasons are well documented and the rationale is clear.

Whether scanning and patching “vulnerable” systems, or urgently reacting to a vendor’s patch release, many organisations have become more and more reactive when it comes to dealing with electronic security.

The survey, "Look Before You Leap: Investment Experience in Emerging Markets," gauged the opinions of 303 executives responsible for foreign investment decisions at major private equity firms, investment houses and corporations.

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Ask many CEOs about their company's enterprise architecture and you'll be met with blank stares, skepticism or complaints about the IT department's ivory tower playground.

For decades, professional service providers, including consultants, accountants, lawyers, and others, were reluctant marketers.

The study, "Are You Transforming or Just Transacting? The Model For the 21st Century Retail Bank," is available at https://www.BearingPoint.com/21stCenturyRetailBank and outlines how retail banks and bankers have uncovered three key factors that are converging to form a new type of equation for success and a new vision for banks for the next decade: * A greater focus on "Return on Process," a term derived from BearingPoint's research, referring to the value banks can realize from investing in comprehensive end-to-end technology and processes. * A material change in the role of banks and bankers -- which are now more and more being seen as data brokers requiring the need to leverage data in creative ways across the enterprise. * Customer experience/compliance conundrum -- how to handle customers' data in a world where there are escalating security and compliance requirements and risks. "The very real opportunity exists for retail banks to improve on their return on process as they converge business process management and service- oriented architecture to create low-cost, repeatable ways to manage their business," said Christopher Formant, executive vice president, Global Financial Services, BearingPoint.

In addition, the study found that these 10 key practices characterize "Growth Champions," a subset of the sampled companies, which, on average, have grown more than three times as fast and maintained stronger profit margins than the rest of the companies in the sample from 2000-2004.(2) Some of the Growth Champions identified included CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc., Forest Laboratories, Inc., Oldcastle Products and Distribution, Procter & Gamble, and Texas Capital Bank.

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Procurement Challenge in Utilities Typical utilities have around 30% of the total spend on procuring services like temporary labour, marketing, travel, facilities management etc., which is outside the control of procurement function resulting in reduced policy compliances (or so-called “maverick buying”). The procurement landscape in utility companies is characterised by high process cycle times, high operations costs, a fragmented supplier base with high supplier management costs.

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Fixed line telecom companies and their wireless competitors, racing to roll out combined fixed-line and wireless services, may lose sight of what customers really want: pricing discounts, innovative features and improvements in basic services. Fixed-mobile convergence proponents promise that business and consumer customers will be able to use one handset, with one number, one address book and a single voicemail system, to leverage high-speed connectivity in the home or office and the cellular (mobile) phone network when they are on the go. Consumers clearly are not caught up in the hype.

Motivation is seen as something to be supplied to the workforce in discrete lumps by paid third party gurus. The "motivated" workforce is then sent back to work in exactly the same conditions that demotivated them in the first place. Why not spend that time and money figuring out what demotivated them in the first place, and just stop doing it. Stop Trying To Motivate Me! Some years ago while working with an NHS Primary Health care trust I was in conversation with one of the ward sisters. In the course of the conversation she revealed that she thought she should be doing more to motivate her staff, but with a roll of her eyes, she told me how difficult it was to find the time to get through the normal business of the ward without doing anything extra, like motivation. I did not feel there was any value in remonstrating with her at the time since her perception of what was required of her was deep rooted and supported by an entire industry that agreed with her idea that motivation was something that she was responsible for handing out in discrete packages. We have been brought up in an age where motivation is seen as a commodity that can be bought and distributed to the workforce in the same way as candy. The Ward Sister held the common view that motivation was something that came on prescription and it was her job to hand it out at frequent intervals, except that like aspirin, did it really matter too much if you missed a dose. In her case having missed one dose, missing the next one did not seem so serious until missing out on motivation became the norm. This view, that motivation can be applied in discrete lumps by management, is a common one that is supported by the industry from whom we purchase speakers, workshops and techniques to infuse our workforce with this mysterious management candy called motivation. What we seem to have missed in this rush to spray the latest brand of motivation on the workforce, is the follow up. We rush out of the motivational workshop ready to do battle with giants, then we all assemble underneath a large banner that says "Now What". The reason we feel that the workforce needs motivating is because the environment they work in has demotivated them. But as soon as we have applied a dose of motivation to the workforce we put them back into the same environment that demotivated them in the first place. A more effective use of the workforces time would be to find out what is going on in the workplace that demotivates them, then stop doing it. This would avoid putting the workforce back into the same environment that caused the problem in the first place and would in all probability avoid the need for an injection of motivation in the first place, because the workforce would not be demotivated.

As consumers, we expect ever more relevance from our brands before, during and after purchase - not only in terms of the tangible relationship process, but also in terms of the intangible relationship tone.

You don’t need to be around the consulting business long before you’ll hear a client refer to a consultant (or an entire firm) as difficult, arrogant, condescending, or just plain snooty.

Walk into your local Waterstone’s and you will discover that one of the most heavily promoted hardbacks chronicles the life and times of a ‘lady of the night’. The book incorporates the website musings of the mystery woman which attracted massive hits before catching the attention of an enterprising publishing house.

Some companies appear ambushed or taken by surprise by external events.

A new study by the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration has found that a family's eldest child does better academically and financially than his or her siblings, regardless of their sex.

I have dedicated a large portion of my career dealing with start-ups and young technology companies that have immense potential but fail to translate the potential into revenue.

Technology and communication advancement has opened the corridor to new markets, providing for a cost effective approach to expanding your customer base while building new relationships.

It was one of the hottest soccer transfer stories for years.

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Overcome your cultural insensitivity.