In 32% of 500 companies surveyed in 2008, candidates for senior executive positions went through only 1 to 5 interviews, while 12% of firms subjected candidates to 21 or more. Shockingly, only half of those recruited for the top three tiers of management were interviewed by anyone in the C-suite. And fully half the companies relied primarily on the hiring manager's gut feel, selecting a candidate believed to have "what it took" to be successful in any job. Read More

Quotas or targets?  This question dominated last week’s Diversity on Boards conference as speakers and participants grappled with how to improve gender diversity in Australia’s boardrooms. As the 2-day event kicked off, it seemed that quotas were the odds on favorite: Arni Hole, the director-general of Norway’s Ministry for Children and Equality spoke about the success in Norway of introducing a 40% minority gender quota (meaning boards must have at least 40% representation of both women and men or risk being delisted from the Stock Exchange).  Since the legislation was introduced there has been an increase in female directors from only 6 per cent to 41 percent - in just five years!  Our own Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick suggested quotas might instigate the shift in thoughts and actions necessary for getting women into the top jobs. Read More

New to Australia, a complimentary group of child care, parenting, human resources, and career management specialists have joined forces to create the Working Parents Toolkit – a practical guide and tool for employers to support expectant parents, employees on parental leave, and working parents. The Working Parents Toolkit offers both mothers and fathers practical advice and tools to:  Read More

This is a first class article with some good practical tips you can follow.
Authors, Carolyn B. Aiken and Scott P. Keller identify four key functions that collectively define a successful role for the CEO in a transformation:

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The secret to long-term CEO success, according to David Nadler, is conceiving of a CEO's tenure as a performance with a series of distinct acts. "Each act requires the CEO to lead, think and behave in fundamentally different ways. The successful ones are those who are able to make the transitions," says Nadler, a consultant to boards and senior executives, who spoke during the recent 11th annual Wharton Leadership Conference. The theme of the conference, sponsored by the Center for Leadership and Change Management, the Center for Human Resources and Wharton Executive Education, was "Developing Leadership Talent."  Read More

It’s a bigger problem than you might think—jerks and bullies in the workplace. Research shows that they not only hinder recruiting and retention but also raise levels of client churn, damage reputations, and diminish the confidence of investors. Robert Sutton, the author of this article, a Stanford University professor, argues that companies can take specific and interrelated steps to root out jerks and bullies and build a more civilised workplace.  Read More

When you landed your current job, did you negotiate your salary or accept your employer's first offer? If you're a man, chances are you negotiated. If you're a woman, you probably didn't. This article helps managers address a deep-rooted workplace problem: when women don't negotiate, the entire organization suffers. Left unchecked, gender disparities in negotiation quickly lead to pay and promotion inequalities and costly employee turnover. Learn how you can show your female employees that negotiating for their own advancement is a winning strategy--both for them and for your organization. Read More

From Knowledge@Wharton: When Circuit City in 2007 that it was laying off 3,400 workers so it could rehire new ones at lower salaries, it raised the question of just what strategic benefits the company -- or any company -- expects to achieve through employee downsizing. Clearly these benefits depend on the underlying strength of the organization and the specific reasons behind the cost-cutting, but most experts agree that unless layoffs are part of a well-planned strategy, the move could cause as many problems as it was intended to cure.  Read More

From the CEO down—how many of your senior leaders will leave by 2010? If you answer more than half, you’re not alone. According to a recent study, 50 percent of all companies surveyed believed that more than half of their senior leaders would leave in the next 5 years. Who will assume these leaders’ roles? Read More

"The Director's Dilemma" is a monthly newsletter issued by Julie Garland McLellan, an expert governance adviser to boards and directors on the complex and challenging issues they face. Julie uses her experience and depth of knowledge in corporate governance to show boards with limited resources how to be more effective through practical governance innovation and know-how. Her ultimate objective is to empower directors to add value.
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