What We’re Reading: July 15 Edition
This July 15 post is our latest installment of our weekly roundup of the must read articles and advice on business, consulting, recruiting and jobs that we at Raines International are reading. Read our last installment.
1. USA Today’s Jessica Guynn reported Facebook has long way to go with its diversity efforts. “Hispanics represent 4% and African Americans 2% of Facebook’s U.S. workers, percentages that have not budged since 2014 and that fall below other industries’ averages,” Guynn reported. “Facebook has made slightly more progress on gender diversity, yet nearly seven out of 10 employees around the globe are men.”
To broaden its hiring pool moving forward, Facebook plans to add unconscious bias training, expand its Facebook University training, and invest in online programs. Read “Facebook makes scant progress on diversity.”
2. Harvard Business Review’s Alison Beard pointed to a recent survey that found CEOs who diverge from their company’s culture had more successful companies. One of the researchers, Arizona State University’s Angelo Kinicki explained that the research “shows that a CEO’s style should complement the company’s culture, so he or she provides something the culture doesn’t.” What does that mean?
“If your company is already very relationship focused—emphasizing collaboration, shared decision making, and interpersonal support—a leader with the same orientation would be redundant,” Kinicki says. “What you really need is someone who will set expectations, clarify rules, and push people to get things done. And the reverse is also true: If your company is results oriented, it needs a CEO who is good at building relationships.” Read “CEOS shouldn’t try to embody their firms’ culture”
3. “Chief executives tap consultants, expert prognostications and polls about market and political conditions to help inform business decisions,” The Wall Street Journal’s Rachel Emma Silverman, Joann S. Lublin and Rachel Feintzeig reported. “But from the Brexit surprise to the rise of Donald Trump and the frequently revised U.S. job market numbers, expert analyses have been landing far off the mark—and executives are growing wary.”
The trio talked to a few CEOs about their reliance on such forecasting tools moving forward. Read “In Uncertain Times, CEOs lose Faith in Forecasts“
4. Jeff Boss listed a few tips to help leaders help their teams including. “Invest in others and invest in yourself.” “People drive culture, culture drives performance.” “Over communicate or under deliver.” Read “7 Leadership Truths that are Simple in Concept, but not so simple to live.”
5. And we published two articles on Raines Perspectives this week. Check out:
- Innovation, Technology, & Cyber Security: Key Findings from KPMG’s Annual CEO Outlook
- Why Board Diversity is More than a BuzzWord
Did we miss any must read articles? E-mail ssmith@rainesinternational.com or tweet @rainesintl