A peek into the mind of the CEO:

What CEOs Are Afraid Of

https://hbr.org/2015/02/what-ceos-are-afraid-of

• “The biggest fear is being found to be incompetent, also known as the “imposter syndrome.” This fear diminishes their confidence and undermines relationships with other executives.
• Their other most common fears, in descending order, are underachieving, which can sometimes make them take bad risks to overcompensate; appearing too vulnerable; being politically attacked by colleagues, which causes them to be mistrustful and overcautious; and appearing foolish, which limits their ability to speak up or have honest conversations.
• About 60% said those first three fears affected behaviors on their executive team, although 95% said that executive team members had a very limited view of their own fears. About two-thirds believed they had “some” self-awareness.
• The five top fears resulted in these dysfunctional behaviors: a lack of honest conversations, too much political game playing, silo thinking, lack of ownership and follow-through, and tolerating bad behaviors.
• Asked to think about the fallout from those dysfunctional behaviors, the executives mentioned more than 500 consequences. Those mentioned most frequently were poor decision-making, focusing on survival rather than growth, inducing bad behavior at the next level down, and failing to act unless there’s a crisis.”

Stephen

The Ultimate Guide to #Hashtags [INFOGRAPHIC]

http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/ultimate-guide-hashtags/615678

Stephen

8 Ways to Stay Safe When Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-media-safety-tips/615797

(Source: The Website Marketing Group.)

Stephen

IBM Study: The Real Story Behind Millennials in the Workplace

Source: IBM

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/45904.wss

IBM today announced that pretty much everything you thought you knew about Millennials could well be wrong. A new IBM study reveals much of the hype about Millennial employees simply isn’t true. They aren’t the “lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow” workers that many believe them to be.

The results of the global, multigenerational study “Myths, Exaggerations and Uncomfortable Truths” found that the fundamental distinction between Millennials and older employees is their digital proficiency, which comes from growing up immersed in a digital world. But, for things like career goals, employee engagement, preferred leadership styles and recognition, the study shows that Millennials share many of the same attitudes as Gen X and Baby Boomer employees.

By 2020, Millennials will be approximately 50 percent of the U.S. workforce (1). So within the next five years, Millennials will wield increasing influence over organizations’ decisions, move in to leadership roles and basically take over the workforce.

Today’s business leaders need to begin planning for this shift by creating a workplace environment that will maximize the Millennial generation’s unique strengths. To do so, they first need to separate fact from fiction on what Millennial employees are really all about.

Myth 1: Millennials’ career goals and expectations are different from their elders (i.e. unrealistic).

Myth 2: Millennials need endless praise and think everyone should get a trophy.

Myth 3: Millennials are digital addicts with no boundaries between work and play

Myth 4: Millennials can’t make a decision without crowdsourcing.

Myth 5: Millennials are more likely to jump ship if a job doesn’t fulfill their passions.

Stephen