News You Can Use: 2/10/2016

sn_Boston_Leeroy

  • Opportunities In The Risk Business Abound As Insurance Is Ready For Disruption
    sn_insurance_techcrunch

    Timing is everything and the industry is finally on the brink of transformative change, driven by strong secular trends. The world is online and connected — creating new distribution channels but also new risk (e.g., cybersecurity). Additionally, explosion of the shared economy and 1099 workers has created fractional ownership — and with it, uncertainty around who bears the risk.

    http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/02/opportunities-in-the-risk-business-abound-as-insurance-is-ready-for-disruption/

  • WHY USING YOUR POWER IN A NEGOTIATION ISN’T ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA

    For example, in 2007, Wal-Mart used its power as the largest retailer of consumer goods in the United States to require the makers of liquid detergents to compact their formulas. Making detergents more concentrated was valuable to Wal-Mart, because it would save shelf space, but it would also decrease shipping costs across the supply chain. Indeed, they announced this initiative for the first time at the Clinton Global Initiative. They achieved their goal of selling only concentrated detergents by 2008.

    Detergent manufacturers resisted this request at first, because there was a substantial research and development effort required by manufacturers to find a concentrated formula that would work effectively. They only undertook this development work because of the pressure from Wal-Mart, who would no longer carry detergents at their original concentration after a specified date.

    Moral of the story: Walmart got exactly what it wanted… they just made it seem like it was good for everyone
    http://www.fastcompany.com/3056079/hit-the-ground-running/why-using-your-power-in-a-negotiation-its-always-a-good-idea

  • Being a Go-Getter Is No Fun
    The counter-point to this is… go ahead an bury your head in the sand and be like everyone else, you will still be in the same position as them 10 years from now.

    “In the workplace, managers should be careful to give the highest quality work and best opportunities to the most capable employees, and give the lower quality but time consuming work to less capable employees,” says Koval. “If someone is doing more than his fair share, compensate him for it. If not, he may ultimately leave and seek recognition elsewhere. Similarly, in our personal relationships, we should recognize that just because our high-ability partners can do something for us, doesn’t mean that we should let them. And if they do help us, we should recognize it and thank them for it. Otherwise, they too may end up feeling burdened by us, and less satisfied—and that should be the last thing we want to do to a good employee or a good partner.”

    While I disagree somewhat with the premise of the article, the following quote hits home for me:

    A separate experiment found that participants not only assigned more tasks to the go-getters—but underestimated how much work it would take to get the job done. “What looks easy from the outside may not feel that easy on the inside,” says Gráinne Fitzsimons, one of the co-authors of the study.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/being-a-go-getter-is-no-fun/393863/?utm_source=SFFB

  • GE’s Relocation: Great for GE, Not as Great for Boston’s Taxpayers
    This was a savvy move by Boston, regardless of the incentives.

    Unfortunately, that future comes with a stiff price tag. Together, the city and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts offered up an estimated $145 million in business incentives ($120 million in grants and other programs from the state, and another $25 million in property-tax relief from the city) to secure the deal. By my calculations, that means that the city and state are doling out a whopping $181,250 in public subsidies per job, given GE’s own statement that its new headquarters will employ 800 people (200 corporate staff members and another 600 so-called digital industrial product managers, designers, and developers). And that doesn’t even include additional incentives such as grants for workforce training (another $1 million or so), a new “innovation center” designed to better tie GE to local universities and research institutes ($5 million more), assistance for employees to relocate to Boston, and transportation improvements in the Seaport District.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/ge-boston-taxpayers/424938/

  • Does PayStream Report on Coupa Really Matter . . . To Anyone?

    For far too long in this industry, procurement professionals have sought advice from sources who are the least qualified to answer questions. Or let me put it this way . . . the sources can answer them, but the information that is provided does not often reflect what is truly happening in the real world. The reason has nothing to do with IQ – I had to write this in case anyone protested that I was calling analysts and bloggers dumb – which I am not not.

    The reason has more to do with the disconnect between cause and effect. Cause being the advice, and effect being actual client outcomes.

    https://procureinsights.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/does-paystream-report-on-coupa-really-matter-to-anyone/

  • It’s Time to Quit the ‘Motivation Porn’ and Get Serious About Success
    Since this article almost exactly describes my work mentality and how I get thing done, I will share…

    1. Stop watching so much television. Seriously.
    Even if you’re only watching 90 minutes a day before/after work, that’s over 500 hours per year of energy spent on something with literally no return.

    Yes, there are some great shows. I love House of Cards, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. But if we’re being honest, 99 percent of TV sucks. We just watch it because we need to “relax” and we feel like there’s nothing else to do.

    This philosophy applies to movies, too. Most of the time, we just watch movies because we feel like there’s nothing better to do. I’ve watched hundreds of movies that, after two hours, simply made me go “meh.” What a waste.

    This is empty time when you should be working on your idea. This is the time you have to start plotting your escape.

    If there’s a particular show that you really love, block out time for that particular show every week and when it’s over, turn the TV off. When you want it, make it count. If it’s not a “hell yes!” then forget it.

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/269740

News You Can Use: 12/16/2015

sn_beachfire_Patrick Fore

  • 6 Ways to Salve Burnout Before It’s Career Terminal

    Do more of what you enjoy.
    Are you really spending your work time doing what you really enjoy? Or does that get pushed to the side while other, mundane, tasks take priority? Take an inventory of how you spend your day by keeping a journal. Divide a page into two columns, one for the things you don’t enjoy and one column for those you do. Each time you perform a task during the day, record it in one of the two columns along with how much time you spent doing it. Tally the number of tasks and hours spent at the end of the day, or week. If your “don’t like” column towers over the “like” this may be what’s causing your burnout.

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253618

  • Procurement Study Pays Attention to Younger Generation

    “In our experience,” says Rudzki,, CPOs can dramatically improve their internal credibility with the executive staff by relating their proposed agenda (including the need to transform supply management) to the metrics that the senior staff and the Board of Directors already monitor.

    “Rather than having Procurement introduce a new metric for itself (which may come across as self-serving), we have generally found it to be more productive — and quicker at achieving credibility — to relate the proposed CPO agenda directly to the particular metrics currently in use by the company’s senior management,” he says.

    http://www.scmr.com/article/procurement_study_pays_attention_to_younger_generation

  • HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR YEAR-END PERFORMANCE REVIEW

    Remember, the reason you’re having a review in the first place is to give you feedback that will hopefully help you improve at your job. Avoid going on the defensive or blaming others for your performance failures. In fact, don’t discuss your teammates at all and focus solely on your own performance.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3054456/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-year-end-performance-review

  • Why There Will Always Be Human Sourcers

    Will we, sourcers, become obsolete? I am not sure about that…..As a global sourcer, I pride myself in my creativity. Sometimes I use a gutsy approach and I approach candidates that would not be the first choice for this role – They could be either too senior, he may have just started a new role, he may be of another industry – Hell – when I start being creative? I have no idea on how to anticipate where my search is going to take me… In the mid of one search, I open another window (One? 20!) and perform another search there with another idea that came up to me on a spur of a moment.

    http://www.eremedia.com/sourcecon/why-there-will-always-be-human-sourcers/

  • Your Best Employee Is Your Weakest Link

    When I ask business owners and managers to identify their weakest link most of them will start a mental inventory of their team’s attitude and skills. But in almost every case the weakest link isn’t the slacker, or the prima donna or the dim bulb who is costing the business the most. Even without a tragic wake-up call, the weakest link is nearly always the person who knows how to do things no one else in the business can do. If that link breaks, even for a sick day or short vacation, it costs your business in small, but cumulative ways that you might not even notice. If they are able, or unwilling, to return to work those costs will accumulate fast.

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253827

  • Why I Give Everyone Hugs — Even Clients
    [This one is for you Tracy]

    As for work, as odd as this may sound, a hug de-personalizes work situations in a flash. I guess nothing can be more personal than body contact, but for me a hug says, “This isn’t about you or me individually; it’s about us as a team.”

    After a discussion in which you’ve been given feedback, especially tough feedback, a hug says that those comments weren’t personal. It says that those comments are just business and that it’s my job to give you that feedback.

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253619

Photo: Patrick Fore