Playing a bit of catch up here, but there was an interesting article in the July 11 Wall Street Journal about one of my favorite topics…the millennials! PwC’s CEO Switches Tactics to Keep Millennials is worth reading on a number of fronts, but especially in his comments about the millennials and their interests relative to working. Dennis Nally is the CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers and the author of the article is Javier Espinoza.
From the article:
Mr. Nally: This millennial generation is not just looking for a job, they're not just looking for salary and financial benefits, they're looking for skill development, they're looking for mobility, they're looking for opportunities to acquire different skills and to move quickly from one part of an organization to another. How you manage that sort of talent and how you deal with their expectations is very different from what's been done in the past.
Mr. Nally: The millennium generation is probably the most technological group of people ever joining the workforce. How they want to work, use social media and team within a company is very different than the prior generation. If your human policies aren't responsive to what they are looking for, they are going to go to a company that is. They want less-hierarchical structures, they want more flexibility, they want to work as hard but they want to define how they do their work. If you can't figure out a way to accommodate that kind of flexibility, you're not going to be able to retain that talent.
WSJ: What [is PwC] doing to attract and retain talent?
Mr. Nally: We have adapted both how we recruit and how we work with people once they join us to suit the millennial generation. For example, in the U.S. we have set up a LinkedIn application that allows students to track the career paths of existing graduate trainees already in the firm so a student can see how a career with PwC develops. In the U.K., we use a Facebook application to connect recruits together before they join so they can begin to build their own PwC community.
We also provide mentors for our people from day one both formally and informally and encourage people to actively use their mentors to build skills and experience. We understand that flexibility and the ability to gather useful experience are key, as a result we actively encourage our people to move both between different business areas and around the world to gain experience. We also provide career breaks, flexible working, cycles of experience outside PwC and we actively encourage volunteering.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Non Profits and the Mission Statement
Terry Teachout’s column in today’s WSJ, Why Does NY Need Two Opera Companies, should be required reading for non-profit executives. While the focus is on opera, anyone in the nonprofit space can read this and see their own particular organization and consider their own mission statement.. While I think he overstates the case of the very short mission statement, a clear notion of “what do you do” and “why do you do it” needs to be at the core of everything the nonprofit does. Good luck to the Opera company in coming to grips with those questions.
From the article:
Good mission statements grow naturally out of sound strategic thinking. Peter Drucker, the great management consultant, said that a mission statement should be "short and sharply focused. It should fit on a T-shirt. The mission says why you do what you do, not the means by which you do it…. A mission cannot be impersonal; it has to have deep meaning, be something you believe in—something you know is right." That's what made "The People's Opera" so effective: It summed up in three crystal-clear words a mission that made sense.
From the article:
Good mission statements grow naturally out of sound strategic thinking. Peter Drucker, the great management consultant, said that a mission statement should be "short and sharply focused. It should fit on a T-shirt. The mission says why you do what you do, not the means by which you do it…. A mission cannot be impersonal; it has to have deep meaning, be something you believe in—something you know is right." That's what made "The People's Opera" so effective: It summed up in three crystal-clear words a mission that made sense.
Quiet July
Here are a couple of the Meleagris gang at noontime today, browsing the weedy edges at West Campus, hopefully finding delicious ticks and beetles for lunch. (three male Wild Turkeys)
July really is a dead zone for birders. By which I mean it's more difficult to find birds, by which I mean you have to work a lot harder to find them...
Yeah, we've been pretty busy with projects at work, and just haven't made the time to get out and find the birds.
So here's the cumulative list for the past two weeks, June 27 through today, July 8th:
Wild Turkey
Killdeer
Great Egret
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cedar Waxwing
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
House Wren
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
Looks like thirty-one species for our quiet two weeks.
Canada Thistle flowers, and...
Canada Thistle gone to seed - time for the goldfinches to be nesting!
Hope you're enjoying summer - the wonderful warm days of summer - my bones still hold the memory of the long cold winter now many months distant, so I'm loving these hot humid days!
Friday, June 24, 2011
June birds
Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum - blooming along an unmowed slope - wonderful summer color, and very attractive to pollinating insects. photo by Lynn Jones
June birds are generally those that nest here - and this week there were lots of youngsters around. We see them either following parents, all the while begging to be fed, or we hear cheeping and peeping from within a nest box.
Mama Wild Turkey was sheltering a brood of chicks near our building, House Wren chicks make a very noticeable racket in or near their natal boxes, and young robins are abundant. A treat one noontime was watching a female Common Yellowthroat feed one of her youngsters.
Bumblebee, Bombus sp., on Crown Vetch, Coronilla varia, a species introduced for erosion control - and quite invasive. Photos by Lynn Jones
Bird list for the first week of SUMMER!!, June 20-24, 2011
Wild Turkey
Black-crowned Night-heron - another fly-over AND... Tom Parlapiano and a group of boy scouts surprised one feeding at the edge of the Oyster River in the nature preserve!!
Red-tailed Hawk
Herring Gull
5. Killdeer
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker
Chimney Swift
10. Willow Flycatcher
American Crow
Blue Jay
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
15. Warbling Vireo
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
20. Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
Barn Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Yellow Warbler
25. Common Yellowthroat
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
30. Indigo Bunting
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
Silhouette birds - any guesses?
Photo by Lynn Jones.
The upper is bird #10 on the week's list, the lower is bird #33.
Monday, June 20, 2011
David Robert POWELL | POWELL, David Robert | LifeNews.ca
David Robert POWELL POWELL, David Robert LifeNews.ca
A light burning brightly. Shine on, my son, shine on....
A light burning brightly. Shine on, my son, shine on....
Friday, June 17, 2011
Apple and Their Retail Stores
Just ran across the Wall Street Journal article, Secrets from Apple’s Genius Bar by Yukari Kane and Ian Sherr. While I’m not an Apple guy, I love their stores and loved this article. As entrepreneurs, there is much we can learn from this piece. Now, you might be saying to yourself that Apple is a huge company with lots of resources, how can you possibly compare us to them? However, as you read the article, think about their focus on customer service, details, and training…and then think about how you can do this better in your own organization.
From the article:
Apple lays its "steps of service" out in the acronym APPLE, according to a 2007 employee training manual reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that is still in use.
"Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome," "Probe politely to understand all the customer's needs," "Present a solution for the customer to take home today," "Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns," and "End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return."
Apple's control of the customer experience extends down to the minutest details. The store's confidential training manual tells in-store technicians exactly what to say to customers it describes as emotional: "Listen and limit your responses to simple reassurances that you are doing so. 'Uh-huh' 'I understand,' etc."
From the article:
Apple lays its "steps of service" out in the acronym APPLE, according to a 2007 employee training manual reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that is still in use.
"Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome," "Probe politely to understand all the customer's needs," "Present a solution for the customer to take home today," "Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns," and "End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return."
Apple's control of the customer experience extends down to the minutest details. The store's confidential training manual tells in-store technicians exactly what to say to customers it describes as emotional: "Listen and limit your responses to simple reassurances that you are doing so. 'Uh-huh' 'I understand,' etc."
April showers, May showers, June showers...
Another mostly rainy week for Connecticut - but a few windows of sunshine sprinkled throughout. Notice the fireflies on warm evenings?
Abandoned nest of Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata. Last week Lynn heard young birds begging and saw the adults fly, very quietly, into the pine. Today we found the nest.
This is the time of year when the Connecticut Ornithological Association sends us birders out to survey the population of breeding birds in our state. Similar to National Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count, it's a survey of what birds (and how many) are around during a specified time period and defined geographic area. Link to COA's summer bird count info here.
The summer count for the area that includes West Campus was last weekend, but Lynn and I were elsewhere, so WC birds were not added to the data. We plan to spend a morning next week thoroughly counting our resident birds in order to establish a baseline for next year's effort.
A pair of Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, on the roof of the warehouse today, taking advantage of... puddles? warmth? a strange sight indeed.
Birds around West Campus this week, June 13-17, 2011:
Wild Turkey (the two toms that have been hanging together all spring)
Mallard - the above-mentioned pair
Herring Gull
Killdeer
Black-crowned Night-heron, Nycticorax nycticorax - bird number 120! - Lynn was lucky to see two flying overhead one morning. The link takes you to Dendroica, at natureinstruct.com, a good site for both voice recordings and photos - take a look!
Red-tailed Hawk - a pair nesting on campus
Osprey - seen flying over, with a huge fish
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker
Willow Flycatcher
American Crow
Red-eyed Vireo
Cedar Waxwing
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Barn Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Indigo Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Yellow Warbler
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
A big thirty-three species for the week - woo hoo!
Two young bucks, White-tailed Deer, browsing in the early morning haze.
Yes - you finally noticed I was watching you - guess those words could go either way!
This weekend I'll be counting birds for the Storrs area Summer Bird Count - it's perfect that my count territory includes my yard.
have a good weekend
Sue
Abandoned nest of Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata. Last week Lynn heard young birds begging and saw the adults fly, very quietly, into the pine. Today we found the nest.
This is the time of year when the Connecticut Ornithological Association sends us birders out to survey the population of breeding birds in our state. Similar to National Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count, it's a survey of what birds (and how many) are around during a specified time period and defined geographic area. Link to COA's summer bird count info here.
The summer count for the area that includes West Campus was last weekend, but Lynn and I were elsewhere, so WC birds were not added to the data. We plan to spend a morning next week thoroughly counting our resident birds in order to establish a baseline for next year's effort.
A pair of Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, on the roof of the warehouse today, taking advantage of... puddles? warmth? a strange sight indeed.
Birds around West Campus this week, June 13-17, 2011:
Wild Turkey (the two toms that have been hanging together all spring)
Mallard - the above-mentioned pair
Herring Gull
Killdeer
Black-crowned Night-heron, Nycticorax nycticorax - bird number 120! - Lynn was lucky to see two flying overhead one morning. The link takes you to Dendroica, at natureinstruct.com, a good site for both voice recordings and photos - take a look!
Red-tailed Hawk - a pair nesting on campus
Osprey - seen flying over, with a huge fish
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker
Willow Flycatcher
American Crow
Red-eyed Vireo
Cedar Waxwing
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Barn Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Indigo Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Yellow Warbler
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
A big thirty-three species for the week - woo hoo!
Two young bucks, White-tailed Deer, browsing in the early morning haze.
Yes - you finally noticed I was watching you - guess those words could go either way!
This weekend I'll be counting birds for the Storrs area Summer Bird Count - it's perfect that my count territory includes my yard.
have a good weekend
Sue
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