Read Online Winning: The Answers: Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today by Jack Welch, Suzy Welch - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jack Welch, Suzy Welch
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takes.
The answer is easily years, and it can be decades or more. That’s just the way it is with corporate reputations—they’re built annual report by annual report, career story by career story, crisis by crisis (because every company has one or two of them), and recovery by recovery. It probably took IBM about thirty years to earn its gold-standard reputation in the ’70s, less than a decade to lose it when the company stumbled, and then about a decade more to rebuild it to where it is today.
In today’s media-saturated world, however, there is a major exception to the generally slow pace of reputation building. Companies can become preferred employers virtually overnight thanks to a “buzz factor,” which is as potent as it is fast acting. In a technology-based company, buzz usually comes with an exciting breakthrough or otherwise paradigm-altering new product or service. Google, eBay, and Apple are perfect examples. Buzz, however, can also come from having a glamorous or prestigious brand, like Chanel or Ferrari.
But the buzz factor is as rare as it is precarious. Apple had it with the Mac, lost it when other PC manufacturers leapfrogged them, then recaptured it (plus some) with the iPod. This entirely common story explains why most companies have to become a preferred employer the old-fashioned way, grinding it out over time.
Here’s a checklist to assess your company’s progress.
First, preferred employers demonstrate a real commitment to continuous learning. No lip service. These companies invest in the development of their people with classes, training programs, and off-site experiences, all sending the message that the organization is eager to facilitate a steady path to personal growth.
Second, preferred employers are meritocracies. Pay and promotions are tightly linked to performance, and rigorous appraisal systems consistently let people know where they stand. As at every company, whom you know and where you went to school might help get you in the door at a meritocracy. But after that, it’s all about results. Now, why does all this make a company a preferred employer? Very simply, because people with brains, self-confidence, and competitive spirit are always attracted to such environments.
Third, preferred employers not only allow people to take risks, they celebrate those who do, and don’t shoot those who fail trying. As with meritocracies, a culture of risk taking attracts exactly the kind of creative and bold individuals that companies want and need in a global marketplace where innovation is the single best defense against unrelenting cost competition.
Next, preferred employers understand that what is good for society is also good for business. Gender, race, and nationality are never limitations; everyone’s ideas matter. Preferred employers are diverse and global in their outlook and environmentally sensitive in their practices. They offer flexibility in work schedules to those who earn it with performance. In a word, preferred companies are enlightened.
Fifth, preferred employers keep their hiring standards tight. They make candidates work hard, requiring an arduous interview process and strict criteria around intelligence and previous experience. Admittedly, this factor is somewhat of a catch-22, as it is difficult to be picky before you become an employer of choice! But it’s worth the effort, as talent has an uncanny way of attracting, well, talent.
Sixth and finally, preferred companies are profitable and growing. A rising stock price is a real hiring magnet. Beyond that, though, only thriving companies can promise you a future, with career mobility and the potential of increased financial reward. Indeed, one of the most intoxicating things a company can say to a potential employee is, “Join us for the ride of your life.”
As we said at the outset, the best thing about being a preferred employer is that it gets you good people—and that launches a virtuous cycle. The best
The answer is easily years, and it can be decades or more. That’s just the way it is with corporate reputations—they’re built annual report by annual report, career story by career story, crisis by crisis (because every company has one or two of them), and recovery by recovery. It probably took IBM about thirty years to earn its gold-standard reputation in the ’70s, less than a decade to lose it when the company stumbled, and then about a decade more to rebuild it to where it is today.
In today’s media-saturated world, however, there is a major exception to the generally slow pace of reputation building. Companies can become preferred employers virtually overnight thanks to a “buzz factor,” which is as potent as it is fast acting. In a technology-based company, buzz usually comes with an exciting breakthrough or otherwise paradigm-altering new product or service. Google, eBay, and Apple are perfect examples. Buzz, however, can also come from having a glamorous or prestigious brand, like Chanel or Ferrari.
But the buzz factor is as rare as it is precarious. Apple had it with the Mac, lost it when other PC manufacturers leapfrogged them, then recaptured it (plus some) with the iPod. This entirely common story explains why most companies have to become a preferred employer the old-fashioned way, grinding it out over time.
Here’s a checklist to assess your company’s progress.
First, preferred employers demonstrate a real commitment to continuous learning. No lip service. These companies invest in the development of their people with classes, training programs, and off-site experiences, all sending the message that the organization is eager to facilitate a steady path to personal growth.
Second, preferred employers are meritocracies. Pay and promotions are tightly linked to performance, and rigorous appraisal systems consistently let people know where they stand. As at every company, whom you know and where you went to school might help get you in the door at a meritocracy. But after that, it’s all about results. Now, why does all this make a company a preferred employer? Very simply, because people with brains, self-confidence, and competitive spirit are always attracted to such environments.
Third, preferred employers not only allow people to take risks, they celebrate those who do, and don’t shoot those who fail trying. As with meritocracies, a culture of risk taking attracts exactly the kind of creative and bold individuals that companies want and need in a global marketplace where innovation is the single best defense against unrelenting cost competition.
Next, preferred employers understand that what is good for society is also good for business. Gender, race, and nationality are never limitations; everyone’s ideas matter. Preferred employers are diverse and global in their outlook and environmentally sensitive in their practices. They offer flexibility in work schedules to those who earn it with performance. In a word, preferred companies are enlightened.
Fifth, preferred employers keep their hiring standards tight. They make candidates work hard, requiring an arduous interview process and strict criteria around intelligence and previous experience. Admittedly, this factor is somewhat of a catch-22, as it is difficult to be picky before you become an employer of choice! But it’s worth the effort, as talent has an uncanny way of attracting, well, talent.
Sixth and finally, preferred companies are profitable and growing. A rising stock price is a real hiring magnet. Beyond that, though, only thriving companies can promise you a future, with career mobility and the potential of increased financial reward. Indeed, one of the most intoxicating things a company can say to a potential employee is, “Join us for the ride of your life.”
As we said at the outset, the best thing about being a preferred employer is that it gets you good people—and that launches a virtuous cycle. The best
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