All Briefs

Actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services predict that growth in health spending will begin to increase this year. And that is not a worst-case scenario. How will federal policymakers react to runaway health spending? Not well, if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is any indication.

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, started the year with a provocative challenge to the CEOs of the world’s biggest and most influential companies: What’s your purpose? As Fink framed it in his open letter, companies need to have a compelling long-term vision for how their business will sustainably benefit all of its stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the community.

Most of the people who end up in top jobs have never had any training for or experience in dealing with communicating in a crisis on the big stage. I thought it might be useful to put together a playbook that every leader should have ready for when it hits the fan.

When CVS/Caremark announced that it would forego some $2 billion in sales of tobacco and related products recently, CEO Larry J. Merlo stated that: “We came to the decision that providing health care and selling cigarettes just don’t go together in the same setting.”

A global telecoms company recently decided to do what many companies are doing: figure out how to turn big data into big profits. They put together a preliminary budget and an RFP that asked vendors to take the data the company had and identify opportunities.

Here’s a tip as you put together a leadership development plan – find a few people to sit on your own personal Board of Directors. What is this group going to do? They’re going to help you plan, execute, and assess your development as a leader. You’re going to brief them on your plans, and ask for their advice and suggestions.

If you’re a senior HR leader, you’re expected to have your finger on the pulse of the organization’s top talent. Yet, I still see competent HR leaders blindsided by talent questions from the CEO. Here are five questions you should anticipate.

Working across organizational boundaries was a new way of thinking 25 years ago — one that was largely championed by Jack Welch. Fast forward to today, and we live in a different world. Our communications technologies have dramatically improved, and we have instantaneous access to massive amounts of information. Welch’s “boundaryless organization” should seemingly be the de facto reality for most companies.

Despite not understanding how Silicon Valley works, hundreds of corporations have started Silicon Valley innovation labs because they know that digitization is rapidly changing everything, and their corporate cultures are too siloed, insular, slow to accept, slow to use, and slow to commercialize the innovation they desperately need to survive.

Managing culture, embracing metrics and pursuing evolving technologies are among the top priorities talent leaders should focus on in the New Year.