January
2007
Senior executives and management experts argue that innovation is today's most important driver of business success, not to mention global economics. That's why a group of company leaders gathered recently to discuss innovation, leadership, and the new economy of creativity, knowledge, and invention. They also explored how to translate these amorphous concepts into real business dollars. Their insights, distilled to the four drivers of innovation, are relevant to executives from businesses large and small, global and local.
Leading management thinker Fred Luthans says that while management science and economics have explored business with excruciating thoroughness, they've overlooked something big -- the human mind. In this interview, Luthans tells how businesses can benefit from developing "psychological capital," how managers can turn common sense into a systematic tool, and why psychological capital is a business advantage most organizations don't even know they have.
In their desire to conquer new markets, companies often alter or expand their brand promises and change their product offerings. But when doing so, marketers must address a vitally important matter: What should companies do about their current customers? After all, their loyalty and passion built the brand to the point where it could afford to reach into new territories in the first place.
To decrease wait times at a prestigious Toronto hospital, a manager needed a clear picture of how friction between two teams was decreasing employee engagement. Ensuring that employees knew that their opinions matter was the key to improving performance.
With Nancy Pelosi & Co. taking over this month, Gallup's chief economist, Dennis Jacobe, predicts how changes in Washington will affect the business and investment climate, federal spending and the budget deficit, and trade policy and globalization. Jacobe also warns that executives should worry about what Congress will do about the "stealth issue" it will face in 2007.