by beCause Global Associate Andrea Learned, Founder LearnedOn — The definition of business leadership has changed, a lot, since the 1950s. The fact that there are many more women in leadership positions these days is rightly getting plenty of coverage now. But, beyond celebrating that women are bringing “it” to the table, what “it” is has yet to be been given its full due. What I’m talking about are relational skills and traits. Things like practicing empathy and understanding communications nuances are the secret sauce for business leadership success. But, while these have long been typed as “women’s ways” or “soft” skills, women are not the only ones who can tap or learn to better use them. So, why does the traditional business... more
corporate citizenship
I am honored to have Tech-Geekista Nikki Longo write the following guest post on power of social media: “In an eye-opening experiment conducted earlier this year, Facebook encouraged its users to become organ donors. The response was nothing short of a miracle, as organ donor registration increased by 3,012 donors on the first day of the campaign. That uptick accounted for a 2000% increase in daily donor registrations. Today, charitable organizations often use crowdsourcing via social networks like Kickstarter to fund their initiatives. Crowdsourcing in its most basic sense is receiving services, ideas, financial donations, or content by seeking contributions from a large group of people. In recent years, social media has helped nonprofit organizations find that delicate balance of asking... more
by beCause CEO Nadine Hack – I am thrilled to live at a time of such rapid and profound changes. It’s like tectonic plates are shifting and we can scarcely envision how this metamorphosis will unfold even while we try to shape it for positive outcomes. I tingled listening to Richard Seymour who designs for the future and Anton Musgrave who guides people to prepare for it. And yet, plus ça change: Jennifer Sertl, thought leader on corporate consciousness and author of Strategy, Leadership and the Soul, reminded me the more things change the more they remain the same. After I extolled her impressive work, she said I “stand on your shoulders.” I told her that we were part of... more
by beCause CEO Nadine Hack – I love that quote from Rainer Maria Rilke. Every spring, as new life blooms, I think about how all cultures honor rebirth and regeneration. Christians celebrate Easter about resurrection and new hope; Jews celebrate Passover about liberation and renewal; Muslims celebrate Mawlid al-Nabi honoring the Prophet Muhammad’s birth; Buddhists celebrate Purnima, the birth of Budha; Hindus celebrate Baisakhi, the start of their new year. This spring what are you doing that is a new blossoming for you? I rejoice in the new experiences life continues to offer me. I gave a TEDx talk in Geneva “Adversaries to Allies” and you can click to watch it now. My guests on a Trust Across America program... more
As our consulting engagements always have been international, our clients – Fortune 500 companies, global NGOs, governments – agree it does not matter whether I base from Lausanne or New York. I am delighted that my fascinating work with them is boundary-less. While beCause Global Consulting continues to provide a spectrum of services – design strategic action plans; create multi-sector alliances; provide executive coaching; integrate corporate social responsibility; improve organizational and governance structures; etc. – our particularly unique specialty is to help clients develop and execute effective stakeholder engagement processes that directly impact achieving their goals. You can hear my most recent interview on Radio Frontier, Geneva, about our pioneering work on Strategic Relational Engagement (SRE). See what clients say about... more
The Saïd Business School at Oxford University hosted a dynamic Womensphere Summit, “Creating the Future .” 300 participants from around the world joined in dialogue during panel discussions headed by 30 distinguished speakers. I was particularly touched to receive the Inspiration Award recognizing what for me always has come natural: providing support and encouragement to other women and especially for younger women to step into their full authority as leaders. Through the day we discussed many dimensions of global opportunities for women’s leadership. Analisa Balares, CEO of Womensphere, said, “At Womensphere, we believe that by coming together, and by exchanging insight, success models and best practice cases, we can collectively create a much better future, advance women’s leadership in corporations... more
An airline company sues an online ticket provider. Fishermen from the Gulf pay a visit to an oil firm in London. An investment brokerage is accused of misleading government. Today’s headlines could be quite different if more companies embraced efforts to engage stakeholders. Why should you care about engagement? More enterprises understand that a broader spectrum of internal and external stakeholders has a direct impact on their core business. Those that have engendered deep levels of engagement – what I call strategic relational engagement (SRE) – are far more successful in shaping that impact to their advantage. Neuroscience research supports experience that profound relationships with stakeholders are vital to business success. Other studies show how employee and customer engagement are intimately... more
As Executive-in-Residence at IMD, I am building on my decades of experience facilitating for clients from all sectors globally my trademark process of stategic relational engagement (SRE™) of stakeholders. I am focusing on the strategic position of value creation and competitiveness through SRE. I am distilling and synthesizing key teachable lessons for leaders who participate in IMD executive education programs . I am developing essential guidelines for practical applications in various contexts. These include internal stakeholder applications for boards and senior management whether horizontal across function or vertically in direct reports; external stakeholders whether customers, suppliers or willing partners; and more complex potentially adversarial external stakeholders (i.e.: activist shareholders, government regulators, NGOs and other civic groups, etc). Companies know they... more
We started 2011 with a magnificent hike through Verbier in the Swiss Alps. We got there by the fantastic Swiss public transportation system with the second to last segment on the St Bernard Express and the final segment on a Gondola: at every stage, we were surrounded by beauty! Shortly after I was honored to learn I was chosen as one of the 100 Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior. Really nice personal and professional start to a new year. Wishing you the best in this year too!
I’m finding my niche, seven weeks into Executive-in-Residence at IMD: master bridge-builder; a role that has applicability in much of the executive education knowledge exchange being done here. I‘ve begun to focus on why businesses should engage with non-market, non-traditional stakeholders for current brand value as a basis for long term value creation with Paul Strebel who leads the High Performance Boards program. I’ll continue to develop this further with Didier Cossin who next year will take over this program. I’m writing about creating and sustaining mutually beneficial cross-sector partnerships to support an exciting body of research by Tom Malnight and Kees van der Graaf. And I’m finding my stride in my local village where the butcher, baker, winemaker and most... more
