Leadership Transition Book Series

One quarter of managers transition to a new role or job each year. In a large organization, it takes a new leader an average of 6.4 months to become a positive contributor in the new role. Too few managers--and organizations--approach these transitions with a strategic plan.

According to leadership expert Michael Watkins, a new leader's success or failure is determined within 90 days on the job. In this specially-priced collection authors Dan Ciampa and Michael D. Watkins supplement tactical advice in "Right From the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role" (hardcover) with profiles of CEOs, COOs, and EVPs who candidly discuss their experiences with transitioning to a new role.

Also, "The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels" (hardcover), walks managers through every aspect of the transition, from forging the right alliances to securing early wins. (This is one I highly recommend. I read it and it is great!)

In the third component of the collection, the 90-minute audio presentation, "Managing Your Leadership Transitions (audioconference), Michael D. Watkins discusses a transition acceleratin framework that helps leaders diagnose their own situations and take charge quickly. Save over 15% off individual prices.

Learn more here.

Workplace Design

When you want to reinvent the way your organization operates, take a look at the way you work -- and your workspace. That is the message in a recent Fast Company article. I agree.

When was the last time you looked at your office? I have been in many ED offices across the country and think there is some room for reinvention.

Here are a few observations, one for each of the seven days of the week:

1. Too much clutter, especially paper in many offices. It's a turn-off to business prospects who sense you aren't very organized.

2. Too little conference space and open space for people to meet and interact both formally and informally.

3. Poor lighting in many offices, which could impair your organization's ability to become "visionary."

4. Inconsistent decor and furnishing styles. Many ED organizations represent a hodge podge of furniture and equipment. A lot of the stuff doesn't even work any more.

5. Not enough privacy, especially with everyone talking on the phone at the same time. Just plain too much noise pollution.

6. Misinformed and unreceptive receptionists, who really are not set-up to help callers and visitors.

7. No space for "teamwork" and collaboration to take place. It's one thing to talk about working in teams, and its another to create an integrated environment for people to function as teams.

Thinking of a Career in Consulting? Read This!

Fast Company recently ran an article on just how far the idea of "consulting" has gone. Joy consultants? Compost consultants? Gee, how about economic development consultant? Read this and chuckle.

Next Billion Net

Check out NextBillion.net. Its goal is to identify and discuss sustainable business models that address the needs of the world's poorest citizens.

Just-In-Time Hiring?

Since the Internet bust, more employers are ignoring the traditional hiring season to scout talent year-round. Any surprise to you? Shouldn't be.

According to Business Week: "Having hiring decisions match budget cycles appeals to many companies that want to make more informed and economical hiring decisions. When the dot-com bubble burst at the start of the decade, companies that had hired lots of MBAs in early winter found themselves forced to renege on offers. To avoid over-hiring while the economy has remained tight, many companies have continued waiting until later in the academic year to determine which MBAs would get a job. Year-round hiring of MBAs could continue indefinitely. More than 50% of respondents to the MBA Career Services Council spring 2005 employment survey say companies are still hiring only on an as-needed basis, even though the economy is getting better. General MBA job placement, in fact, is expected to be up about 25% this year, according to the National Association of Colleges & Employers."

The Only Sustainable Edge

Author John Hagel says many Western execs see only cost savings when they can learn so much more from Chinese and Indian companies. I think he's right.

Offshoring has been a hot topic in recent months, as Western companies have cut tech labor costs drastically by shipping such jobs to countries like China and India. But the trend means more than just job loss at home or short-term wage arbitrage for the West. This is something I have been saying for the past two years. I feel like a broken record at times.

In their book The Only Sustainable Edge ($25, Harvard Business School Press), John Hagel and John Seely Brown argue that the rise of the tech industry in China and India will lead to the creation of formidable overseas competitors. The advantage has less to do with sheer population figures, they say, and more with the differences in how these new economic powers conduct business.

High-Tech Location and ED Strategies

High-Tech Industrial Location and Economic Development
Darrene Hackler
Public and International Affairs
George Mason University

Abstract

Popular literature and sentiment speculates that information technology enables “footloose” location decisions. Business location determinants should have a greater effect on the location
decision of a firm that relies on information technology in production than a firm that uses little or no information technology in production. If so, such firms would be more likely to locate in areas that offer lower costs of production, like suburbs and second-tier metropolitan areas. Using a large-scale dataset of five metropolitan areas, the location choices of both high-tech and low-tech manufacturing firms are econometrically analyzed to study the importance of location determinants on location decisions.

Results indicate that information technology's influence on high-tech location decisions does not contribute to footlooseness. Changes in business location determinants do not stimulate much high-tech growth nor are significant determinants necessarily maneuverable by policy. Of state, metropolitan and local level determinants, only state level policy seems to generate greater high-tech than low-tech growth. Additionally, high-tech location patterns are not characteristic of decentralization. In fact, high-tech growth is not occurring outside of central cities, indicating that cities in inner and outer suburbs have little ability to attract high-tech. Second-tier metropolitan areas, however, are benefiting from high-tech growth, but it is also concentrated in central cities. These findings are useful since it shows local policymakers “where” it is not salient to offer incentives or spend money, depending on the maneuverability of business location determinants, a city’s location within a metro area and whether it is a first- or second-tier metro city.

Local governments should not seek a “one-size-fits-all” development policy; instead differences between jurisdictions should be understood. Additionally, the sheer lack of maneuverable determinants at the local level presents challenges to a local government’s traditional perception of economic development. The costs of coordinating high-tech development policy far outweigh the benefit of minimal high-tech growth, and local economic development dollars would be better spent elsewhere.

Download the paper here.

Academic Paper on State Incentives

Selecting the Right Site: Where do States Locate Place-based Economic Development Programs?
By Robert T. Greenbaum, The Ohio State University

Abstract

During the early 1980s, U.S. states started targeting their scarce economic development resources to their most distressed areas with enterprise zone programs. This paper examines where incentives were targeted in ten states that implemented a limited number of programs. By examining the relative distress of zone areas prior to designation, the paper finds that factors such as population density, the local housing market, and demographic factors help distinguish
between distressed areas that received zones and those that did not. In addition, the paper finds that some of the characteristics of neighboring areas can help to predict zone location.

Download paper here.

Polls on Stem Cell Research

Many places are chasing cell stem research centers as ED target. Have you looked at what the leatest polls have to say on the subject of stem cell research? Go here to see the results. According to the CBS poll from last week: 58% approve of it; 31% diasapprove; and 11% are undecided.

The "Experimental" Economy: A New Idea for Economic Development

Here is a clip from a very interesting working paper by John Zysman, University of California, Berkeley on creating value in the "experimental economy." His thinking has major implications for industry clusters and many other things we work on in economic development.

"The twin drivers, the global and the digital, constantly shift the sources of market advantage, forcing companies and countries to adapt. New competitors, new competitive strategies and tools, are continuously appearing, constantly buffeting companies and countries.

Company internal functions suddenly become products to be bought in the market, products that have generated premium prices suddenly become commodities, and the sources of differentiation for products and process are evolving. It is not just that there is an increased pace of change, but that the market environment is inherently less predictable. This chapter first situates the present digital era in historical perspective. It then considers how the Global and the Digital change the problem of value creation in the marketplace.

In a sense, this chapter asks the question of how wealthy nations stay wealthy amidst radical changes in competitive markets. In the conclusion I argue that traditional tools of strategy and policy analysis will not suffice. We have to consider the place of conscious experimentation in corporate and national adaptation. Companies will have to look at their initiatives as “experiments,” attempts to find their way through a maze of quite fundamental uncertainty. Each company effort, and each effort of a competitor, must be culled and systematically assessed for lessons. Governments must consider what an Experimental Economy will require, and how an environment can be created for individual firms and networks or clusters of firms to experiment effectively."

Research Paper on "Trust"

Trust is an essential element of economic development, but we rarely talk about it in any sustained fashion. I discovered a very thought-provoking paper on the subject of trust that you might find interesting. Trust me! Here is the abstract and the source.

Trust: A Concept Too Many (Abstract)
Timothy W. Guinnane
Yale University Economic Growth Center

"Research on “trust” now forms a prominent part of the research agenda in history and the social sciences. Although this research has generated useful insights, the idea of trust has been used so widely and loosely that it risks creating more confusion than clarity.

This essay argues that to the extent that scholars have a clear idea of what trust actually means, the concept is, at least for economic questions, superfluous: the useful parts of the idea of trust are implicit in older notions of information and the ability to impose sanctions. I trust you in a transaction because of what I know about you, and because of what I can have done to you should you cheat me. This observation does not obviate what many scholars intend, which is to embed economic action within a framework that recognizes informal institutions and social ties. I illustrate the argument using three examples drawn from an area where trust has been seen as critical: credit for poor people."

Exports of California's Information Technology Products

Recent Trends in Exports of California's Information Technology Products
By Jon D. Haveman and Howard J. Shatz

A recent Public Policy Institute of California report documents changing patterns in California’s manufactured information technology exports during the recent boom and bust period (1997-2003).

The report finds that much of the decline in the total value of exports (which dropped by $25 billion or 42% between 2000 and 2003) stemmed from lower purchases of California commodities worldwide.

Finally, it concludes that the vast majority of the drop-off in California’s share of U.S exports stems from redirection of purchases away from California to other states. Explores possible reasons why this has occurred.

Download the report in PDF form here.

What Archetypes Are Calling You?

Click on this link and it will take you to an online survey that will help you figure which archetypes seem to play a role in your life. This is really quite insightful!

In case you are interested, Don Iannone is moved most by the "Explorer", "Sage," and "Magician" archetypes.

Archetype = A symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as an element of one's literary experience as a whole. Carl Jung used the term "archetype" to refer to the generalized patterns of images that form the world of human representations in recurrent motifs, passing through the history of all culture. Since archetypes are rooted in the collective unconscious, they may be conceived through the psychic activity of any individual, be it in the form of dreams, art works, the ancient monuments of religious activity, or the contemporary images of commercial advertising.

Northeast and Midwest States Try to Make a "Base Case"

According to an updated report by the Northeast-Midwest Institute in DC, the 18 northeastern and midwestern states, which hold about 40 percent of the nation’s population, account for only just more than 10 percent of the active duty military personnel located in the country.

The report finds that the NE-MW region contains densely populated metropolitan areas, critical transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, key border crossings and ports for international trade, and the resources that produce more than 40 percent of the nation’s annual economic output – yet together the 18 states of the Northeast-Midwest contain fewer active duty military personnel than Texas alone, or the state of California.

Will it make a difference in the region's case to keep its bases over those in the South and West? Looking at the decisions being made, it appears the South and West are poised to win out. In the world of politics, nothings is "really" impossible though.

Israel Entrepreneurial Finance Initiative

Here is a very interesting initiative put together by the Milken Institite. The Israel Entrepreneurial Finance Initiative is designed to develop and pilot a sustainable model for microenterprise and small-business development and financial growth. The initiative is comprehensive effort to engage the public, private and philanthropic sectors to address the challenges facing these firms. It leverages existing resources and introduces innovative financial technologies.

The initiative’s primary objective is to strategically deploy philanthropic contributions to develop a specific set of credit facilities and vehicles. The increased capital facilitated by the initiative will help Israeli microenterprises and small businesses achieve economic independence, create private sector employment and contribute to the national economy.

As some of you know, because of prolonged conflict and uncertainties in the Middle East, Israel's economy has taken a nosedive. Its technology business sector has been forced to migrate to locations outside the country and the region. Of course, many areas across America have been working to reel in the new tech starts.

Read more here.

Aspen Institute's Young Executive Program

Know a young economic development executive with the potential to move forward? Here is a resource that might help that person. The Aspen Institute has a leadership development program for mid-level professionals with potential to assume top management positions.

The Young Executive Program enables mid-career professionals to focus on critical leadership issues through an examination of core values that have shaped the course of history. Through classical readings from the Executive Seminar curriculum and advisory sessions with senior leaders, participants are challenged to develop their own frameworks for solving leadership dilemmas. This seminar is designed for mid-level professionals with the leadership potential to assume top management positions.

Learn more here.

TIME Magazine Was Once Published in Cleveland

A Letter From The Publisher
Jan. 13, 1947

Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 9

Twenty years ago the dateline above was also TIME'S dateline, for TIME was then being published in Cleveland. Today, tomorrow, and Saturday, TIME returns to this nation's sixth city—as co-sponsor of the 21st annual Institute of the Cleveland Council on World Affairs.

As you know, from our special section on the Institute in last week's issue, the Council represents a long-established program for keeping Clevelanders informed on world affairs. As such, it is an extraordinary civic achievement. Its activity in helping the citizens of Cleveland make sense of world news parallels so closely TIME'S own effort to bring world news to its readers that TIME gladly accepted an invitation to participate in this year's forum.

TIME and the Council have other common associations. Each of us, for instance, owes a debt to Cleveland's late Newton D. Baker, World War I Secretary of War and famed Wilsonian. Mr. Baker was the Council's mentor and prime mover, and nobody gave more encouragement to TIME'S fledgling editors 20 years ago. Having him for an enthusiastic weekly reader bolstered the editors' belief that their new venture was a worth while one.

Clevelanders themselves were no less helpful when two-year-old TIME moved here (for business reasons) in 1925. It was a good move for TIME. During the interval of our stay here and our return to New York City in 1927, TIME "caught on" nationally, gained the initial momentum which now permits us to help build Cleveland's international forum.

TIME is confident that the Cleveland Council's 21st Institute will be a rewarding experience. Twenty-three U.S. and foreign leaders are on hand to discuss the forum's two questions: What does the rest of the world expect of the U.S.? and What is the U.S. going to do-about it? Their discourse will be available to TIME'S 188,000 readers in Ohio over their local radio, and to all of TIME'S readers in next week's issue. The National Broadcasting Co. has built eight special programs* around the forum, will broadcast them on a national hookup; the U.S. State Department is broadcasting pertinent portions of the forum overseas. For these three days, certainly, Cleveland promises to be the rostrum of the world's international affairs.

Retrospective: Silicon Valley's Beginnings

Down Silicon Valley
Feb. 20, 1978
TIME Magazine

Some people still call it Santa Clara County, Calif., but more and more it is referred to as Silicon Valley, the place the miracle-chip industry calls home. Packed into a 10-mile by 25-mile wedge along the southwestern shore of San Francisco Bay are hundreds of the nation's high-technology firms, many of them involved in manufacturing silicon chips, related semiconductor devices and microcomputer-controlled products. At rush hour, cars inch along Highway 101, the valley's main drag, and peel off into the parking lots of well-manicured, one-and two-story buildings with names like Siliconix Inc., Synertek, Advanced Micro Devices, Signetica, and Intel Corp. Enveloped in their mystifying jargon of RAMS and ROMS and bits and bytes, the technicians who work in these factories would seem an alien breed to most Americans. Reports TIME Correspondent John Quirt: "Advances in chip making have come so fast that recent engineering graduates are almost the only ones around who fully understand the technology. In one facility I visited, technicians looked as if they had come straight from a college classroom — and many of them had."

For all the fierce com petition, business in the Valley of the Chips re mains something of a family affair. The corporate Abraham of the industry was Shockley Transistor Corp., founded in Palo Alto in 1956 by William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor and a Nobel laureate.

A year later, eight of Shockley's ablest collaborators quit, and with backing from Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp. founded Fairchild Semiconductor. The new firm prospered and eventually began to spawn its own host of upstart competitors as its technicians, one after another, decided to go into business for themselves.

As a result, the valley is speckled with more than 40 firms that have roots tracing to Fairchild. The Wunderkind of them all is Intel Corp., founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, both from Fairchild Semiconductor. Starting with twelve workers, Intel has become the world's largest manufacturer of miracle chips, accounting for 26% of the market and employing 8,000 people in ten plants from California to Malaysia.

To stay competitive, companies in the valley are scrambling to snatch away their competitors' best engineers and designers. Says President Jerry Sanders of Advanced Micro Devices: "All a guy has to do here if he wants to change jobs is drive down the same street in the morning and turn in a different driveway." As billion-dollar chip makers like Texas Instruments and Motorola, which are based elsewhere, throw more of their weight into the fray, the smaller companies of the valley may ultimately be forced either to merge or sell out to larger firms. That could endanger the vitality of the valley. Explains Sanders: "This industry has amoeba-like qualities. It doesn't combine very well. It splits." That characteristic is the essence of competition, and no industry has better shown its benefits than the denizens of Silicon Valley.

Intuition's Role in Good Decision-Making

"The most effective way to improve your decision making is to improve your intuition. It is very rare that you can derive a decision from data and calculations alone. In most situations, you have to have some intuition that is based on the knowledge of analogies. These analogies concern very simple situations in which you can clearly see the best course of action. Such simple situations, sometimes presented in game theory, can then be transferred to more complex situations with similar features. When people have in mind great stores of such simple business or game situations and their analyses, they have better intuition. They will not easily forget the important aspects of a decision problem." Source: Reinhard Selten, Nobel Prize, Economics

Read the complete interview here. (Free registration required.)

GMAC Global Relocation Report

GMAC conducts an annual Global Relocation Trends Survey, which is the benchmark used by many clients over the past 10 years in developing their international assignment and relocation policies.

This hallmark survey has been conducted in conjunction with the SHRM Global Forum and the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), this survey has uncovered trends in global mobility since 1992 and has become one of the international industry's premier benchmarking tools.

Download ten-year trend report here. (You may be required to register first.)

Best Knowledge Worker Locations

Every site selector wants to know where the knowledge workers are located. Expansion Management's new Knowledge Worker Quotient provides some useful insights in this regard.

Who has the best technically educated workforce? The top five are:

1. Ithaca, NY
2. Boulder, CO
3. Ameas, IA
4. Washington DC
5. Silicon Valley, CA

Read the whole story here.