Editorial
It's one thing to know we need to behave more responsibly. But, as managers, we also need to create better workplaces that actually foster the changes we seek.
A crisis can be a golden opportunity to shift course or capitalize on the confluence of dramatic circumstances. Granted, business people normally only ever say this after surviving a crisis. A real sign of leadership, though, is being able to have such an upbeat attitude before and during a crisis.
If managers want to be innovative – or indeed, simply stay afloat in today’s choppy business waters – they need to get out more, in order to know their customers, their competitors, their employees and themselves.
Managing people in organizations is a bit like herding cats: You can set a route, but along the way you have to expect the unexpected. Such is human nature. So why do we attempt to manage people as if they were inanimate objects?
In situations of emergency or extreme uncertainty, managers may be tempted to take desperate measures: “Every man for himself.” But that need not be the case, as our latest issue of IESE Insight reveals. One message shines through: Protecting yourself against future risks requires collaboration with others, not isolation from them.
Regardless of the twists and turns that today’s career paths take, we can confidently navigate the terrain – so long as we stop and ask for directions. Be sure to heed the articles in this issue, and point your fellow travelers in the right direction.
When it comes to internationalization, innovation, profitability and economic might, there is much to celebrate and emulate in what used to be called “emerging” countries, but would be better termed “high-growth” nations. Our cover dossier provides timely insight and analysis of the factors and features, trends and tactics, that companies and managers everywhere should be concentrating their energies on, as they seek to exploit new business opportunities and innovate in light of these shifting realities.
When it comes to social media, the ink is hardly dry on any piece of research when the issues evolve just as rapidly as the technologies themselves. But we would be remiss to wait until all is said and done. Your customers and competitors are already talking: Are you in the conversation? Here we highlight what you need to be discussing.
Sustainable business? Integrating social and environmental measures in company balance sheets is a hot topic that is gaining momentum. Amid this discussion, the central issue is not just what more companies should be doing in relation to society and the environment, but how our very conception of business is changing in the process.
When the IESE Insight Editorial Board met to decide the theme of this edition, the debate surrounding “fat cat” pay and its possible contribution to the crisis was a hot media topic. How can we reward desired behaviors, instead of doing what Prof. Steven Kerr identified 35 years ago in his classic paper, “On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B”?