Extractive summaries of and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision making | Week 245|May 20-26, 2022
Download this week’s edition in PDF
Download this week’s edition in Audio
Shaping Section : Ideas and forces shaping economies and industries
The coming food catastrophe
The Economist | May 19, 2022
The war in Ukraine is battering a global food system weakened by covid-19, climate change and an energy shock. Ukraine’s exports of grain and oilseeds have mostly stopped and Russia’s are threatened. Together, the two countries supply 12% of traded calories. Wheat prices, up 53% since the start of the year, jumped a further 6% on May 16th, after India said it would suspend exports because of an alarming heatwave.
The widely accepted idea of a cost-of-living crisis does not begin to capture the gravity of what may lie ahead. António Guterres, the un secretary general, warned on May 18th that the coming months threaten “the spectre of a global food shortage” that could last for years. The high cost of staple foods has already raised the number of people who cannot be sure of getting enough to eat by 440m, to 1.6bn. Nearly 250m are on the brink of famine. If, as is likely, the war drags on and supplies from Russia and Ukraine are limited, hundreds of millions more people could fall into poverty. Political unrest will spread, children will be stunted and people will starve.
The crisis threatens to get worse. Russia and Ukrain both struggling to plant their next crop, becasue of sanctions (in case of Russia), shortage of labor and capital (in case of Ukraine). In spite of soaring grain prices, farmers elsewhere in the world may not make up the shortfall. One reason is that prices are volatile. The response by worried politicians could make a bad situation worse.
The scene is set for a blame game, in which the West condemns Mr Putin for his invasion and Russia decries Western sanctions. Instead states need to act together, starting by keeping markets open. Importing countries need support, too, so they do not end up being capsized by enormous bills. There is scope for substitution e.g., diverting staples from bio-fuels.
Immediate relief would come from breaking the Black Sea blockade. Roughly 25m tonnes of corn and wheat, equivalent to the annual consumption of all of the world’s least developed economies, is trapped in Ukraine. Three countries must be brought onside: Russia needs to allow Ukrainian shipping; Ukraine has to de-mine the approach to Odessa; and Turkey needs to let naval escorts through the Bosporus. That will not be easy.
3 key takeaways from the article
- The war in Ukraine is battering a global food system weakened by covid-19, climate change and an energy shock. Ukraine’s exports of grain and oilseeds have mostly stopped and Russia’s are threatened. Together, the two countries supply 12% of traded calories. Wheat prices, up 53% since the start of the year, jumped a further 6% on May 16th, after India said it would suspend exports because of an alarming heatwave. The crisis threatens to get worse.
- If, as is likely, the war drags on and supplies from Russia and Ukraine are limited, hundreds of millions more people could fall into poverty. Political unrest will spread, children will be stunted and people will starve.
- Shortages are not the inevitable outcome of war. World leaders should see hunger as a global problem urgently requiring a global solution.
(Copyright)
Topics: Global Grains Supply, War, Poverty
War in Ukraine: Twelve disruptions changing the world
By Olivia White | McKinsey & Company | May 9, 2022
The authors identified 12 short- and mid-term disruptions as a result of war in Ukraine that had the most potential to reshape industries and economies. Those disruptions are gathering force. The authors see two critical dimensions: the scale and duration of disruption, and the impact of government policy, consumer, and business responses.
- The invasion of Ukraine is causing a massive humanitarian crisis. The war has displaced the most refugees in Europe since World War II.
- The vulnerable will suffer the most as the war has sent prices soaring for the essentials.
- Energy policy is rotating toward secure access and source diversification.
- Food security is on the agenda.
- The race for critical materials, equipment, and commodities intensifies.
- A new age of supply chain management has arrived. Supply chain had begun to shift its focus from optimizing “just in time” delivery to preparing for “just in case” eventualities. Majority of the Managers have increased the inventories of critical products; a slightly smaller number had moved to dual sourcing of raw materials.
- Global technology standards are more likely to separate. There is no such thing as a global internet. Even before the war, several countries had cordoned off a wide range of content services, limiting what residents can see and do. They had also taken steps to promote the technology standards they favored. The invasion of Ukraine may have pried these divisions wider.
- Financial-system effects are unpredictable.
- Defense spending is rising.
- Cyber is a stage for conflict.
- Corporate actors are taking a stand. Of the 281 Fortune 500 companies that were present in Russia before the war, close to 70 percent have either scaled back or exited their Russian operations since the start of the war.
- The war has increased economic volatility.
These disruptions are already affecting people’s lives and livelihoods with potent force and should be part of every company’s scenario planning. And the longer the war lasts, the more powerful and unpredictable these disruptions may become.
2 key takeeaways from the article
- 12 short- and mid-term disruptions as a result of war in Ukraine that had the most potential to reshape industries and economies are: The invasion of Ukraine is causing a massive humanitarian crisis; the vulnerable will suffer the most as the war has sent prices soaring for the essentials; energy policy is rotating toward secure access and source diversification; food security is on the agenda; the race for critical materials, equipment, and commodities intensifies; a new age of supply chain management has arrived; global technology standards are more likely to separate; financial-system effects are unpredictable; defense spending is rising; cyber is a stage for conflict; corporate actors are taking a stand; and The war has increased economic volatility.
- And the longer the war lasts, the more powerful and unpredictable these disruptions may become.
(Copyright)
Topics: Global Economy, War in Ukraine, NATO
Leading & Managing
Think You Have a Great Idea? Ask These 6 Questions to Gain Perspective.
By Sabina Nawaz | Harvard Business Review | May 19, 2022
It doesn’t take much for us to be energized by new things or ideas. Elated by shiny new ideas and excited to move fast, we grab the opportunity to think big and go big. Our goal is to dazzle and persuade while blinding ourselves and others to possible downsides. If you want the best ideas to flourish, then instead of languishing in the confines of your own head, open your mind to different perspectives. Ask them open-ended questions to illuminate how they think. The following questions can help you expand your horizons.
- What stands out to you? When we present ideas or propose a path forward, most of our work precedes the conversation as we prepare our pitch. After we speak, the idea rests with the collective. Instead of guiding the conversation closely, discover what others have already absorbed by asking this question.
- What’s missing? We may think we’ve examined a problem from all angles and covered every eventuality. But people with different backgrounds or areas of expertise are likely to notice different gaps. By asking what’s missing, we signal openness to feedback and willingness to relinquish control. We catch errors well in advance of a final output.
- What would our critics say? Despite our best efforts, colleagues might be hesitant to honestly criticize our work. Removing the personal, first-person narrative frees everyone to speak more objectively and receive constructive criticism more openly.
- What would our premortem reveal? Research psychologist and decision-making expert Gary Klein recommends teams conduct premortems where they project themselves a year ahead and imagine their project failing. Teams write the story of how that project failed.
- What would someone on the frontlines who doesn’t have our context say? As experts in a field or as senior managers, we assume others understand what we do and have bought into why we chose a certain path. Consequently, we shortcut our communication. Checking our assumptions and ideas, especially with those who will be affected, doses us with the reality that the way forward isn’t just expertise-based, but also rooted in the experience it creates for others.
- How would our competitors celebrate if we were successful? We are often mired in internal politics, working hard to lobby for our positions with higher-ups and curry favor with favorites. Looking beyond our internal, organizational echo chambers to how our competitors think can expand our perspective. Don’t just ask how the competition would celebrate your failures, but how they might celebrate what you perceive as success.
3 key takeaways from the article
- It doesn’t take much for us to be energized by new things or ideas. Driven by this energy our goal is to dazzle and persuade while blinding ourselves and others to possible downsides.
- If you want the best ideas to flourish, then instead of languishing in the confines of your own head, open your mind to different perspectives. Ask them open-ended questions to illuminate how they think. Questions such as: what stands out to you? What would our critics say? What would our premortem reveal? What would someone on the frontlines who doesn’t have our context say? And how would our competitors celebrate if we were successful?
- Ideas abhor isolation. The process by which we bring our ideas to life requires hearing from many differing perspectives to give them shape, shine, and shelf life.
(Copyright)
Topics: Decision-making, Leadership, Problem-solving, Innovation
Set Up to Fail
By Kimberly A. Whitler, et al., | MIT Sloan Management Review | May 18, 2022
Why is the average tenure of a C-suite executive a brief 5.3 years? And why do chief marketing and chief information officers last barely more than four years in the job, on average? The answer may lie between the lines of the job specifications shopped around by executive recruiters.
In their research the authors found that across the CFO, CIO, and CMO functions, there is significant misalignment within individual C-level jobs. In a well-designed role, expectations for how a new C-level leader will impact the company should match the responsibilities given to the leader as well as the desired experience that the ideal candidate should possess. The authors found variance in the degree of misalignment across the three C-suite functions. For example, the CIO job specs had higher levels of misalignment on expectations-responsibilities (53%) and experience-responsibilities (49%) than those of CFOs or CMOs. CMO specs had the highest level of misalignment on expectations-experience (41%) compared with those of CFOs and CIOs.
The consequence of misaligned roles can be significant. Consider the following rather common example we observed. If a job spec for a CMO indicates that they are expected to “create and drive the growth agenda,” but the CMO does not have responsibility for corporate strategy, product, innovation, pricing, distribution, or sales, there is clear misalignment.
The authors suggested Job Alignment Map – provides a framework for a company or executive recruiter to design an aligned role from the start. The framework compared job expectations against responsibilities required, responsibilities assigned and the performance measure. Within this framework skills required and skills listed also copmared.
When using this tool to design or assess a job spec, keep the following in mind: specify role expectations with detail and clarity; identify the responsibilities required to achieve expectations; identify the skills required to achieve expectations; compare the responsibilities assigned on the job spec to the responsibilities required to achieve expectations; Resolve the gap between the responsibilities assigned and the responsibilities required; Compare the skills listed in the job spec with those needed to meet expectations; Identify the measures against which role success will be judged.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Why is the average tenure of a C-suite executive a brief 5.3 years? The answer may lie between the lines of the job specifications shopped around by executive recruiters.
- The article suggested a Job Alignment Map – a framework for a company or executive recruiter to design an aligned role from the start.
- When using this tool to design or assess a job spec, keep the following in mind: specify role expectations with detail and clarity; identify the responsibilities required to achieve expectations; identify the skills required to achieve expectations; compare the responsibilities assigned on the job spec to the responsibilities required to achieve expectations; Resolve the gap between the responsibilities assigned and the responsibilities required; Compare the skills listed in the job spec with those needed to meet expectations; Identify the measures against which role success will be judged.
(Copyright)
Topics: Job Design, Success, Chief Marketing Officer
Six Keys To Driving Sales Productivity In A Modern, Ever Changing Commercial Model
By Stephen Diorio | Forbes Magazine | May 24, 2022
Sales productivity remains a never ending and elusive goal for most organizations. The pressure to “sell more for less” is constant. The velocity of business is increasing. Revenue teams struggle to adapt to rapidly changing customers, competitors, and markets. To rise to this challenge, sales managers need to build new skills and acumen in change leadership, data-driven selling and sales planning to get the most out of their revenue teams, according to Bob Kelly, the Chairman and Founder of the Sales Management Association. As Founder of the Sales Management Association, Kelly has had a front row seat on the unique challenges of managing seller performance for over a decade. Rather than a discrete problem to fix, he views sales productivity as a never ending balancing act.
“Why does it look like we are not getting better and more productive? – Well first of all, it’s not easy to manage sales productivity,” says Kelly. “Second, most executives tend to look at sales productivity as a simple math problem, and it’s not,” he continues. “Doing it right involves constantly balancing some fundamental tradeoffs. For example, you can invest in skills and talent to get your team smarter or spend that energy simplifying the seller workflow so more of your existing sellers can adopt a new selling approach without investing in special skills. You can invest in change management and commercial transformation, or in incremental process improvements that reduce the amount of behavior change required to adopt.
Business leaders need to focus on six keys to drive sales productivity in a modern, ever changing, commercial model.
- Improve your ability to keep pace with the market;
- Make the focus of sales technology improving and simplifying the seller experience;
- Improve the timeliness and effectiveness of your sales planning;
- Focus on incremental process improvements;
- Develop management acumen in change leadership;
- Build a more professional sales management team.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Sales productivity remains a never ending and elusive goal for most organizations.
- The velocity of business is increasing. Revenue teams struggle to adapt to rapidly changing customers, competitors, and markets. To rise to this challenge, sales managers need to build new skills and acumen in change leadership, data-driven selling and sales planning to get the most out of their revenue teams.
- Business leaders need to focus on six keys to drive sales productivity in a modern, ever changing, commercial model: improve your ability to keep pace with the market; make the focus of sales technology improving and simplifying the seller experience; improve the timeliness and effectiveness of your sales planning; focus on incremental process improvements; develop management acumen in change leadership; and build a more professional sales management team.
(Copyright)
Topics: Sales, Productivity, Profitability
6 Telltale Signs of Bad Leadership
By John Kitchens | Entrepreneur | May 20, 2022
Leadership is essential to the growth and success of any business — but what happens when that leadership fails? What are the symptoms? How can you tell if your business is being led by a failing leader? Here are six signs of failed leadership that you should watch out for:
Selfish leadership style. Selfish leadership centers around the leader and not around the team. They make all the decisions without input from others, they take all the credit for successes, and worse, they blame their team for any failures. As a result, this kind of leadership creates a toxic work environment where creativity and innovation are stifled.
Resistant to change. When a business is under the leadership of a bad leader, growth and change are always met with resistance. New ideas are shot down, and any suggestions for change are always met with negativity. They see growth as something unachievable and are content with the status quo.
Incapable of leading themselves. A bad leader always seems to have the best image, but the majority of the time, they’re all talk and no action. They’re always quick to give orders and make decisions, but when it comes to doing the work, they’re nowhere to be found. They’re incapable of leading themselves, let alone a team. This is because they lack the discipline, focus and drive to see things through.
Unable to take criticism. One way to easily spot a bad leader is to give them honest feedback. A bad leader is incapable of handling criticism. They see any form of criticism as a personal attack and a challenge to their authority. In their process of chasing validation, they bury valuable feedback that could reveal the actual problems.
Not acting according to their core values. When a leader doesn’t act according to their company’s core values, it heavily affects the results that the company gets.
Cannot inspire growth. A leader should be someone who inspires growth in others. They should be able to cultivate others to become leaders in their own right. If a leader doesn’t understand this, they will not be able to create a plan and an environment suitable for growth.
2 key takeaways from the article
- Leadership is essential to the growth and success of any business — but what happens when that leadership fails? What are the symptoms? How can you tell if your business is being led by a failing leader?
- Six signs of failed leadership that you should watch out for are: selfish leadership style, resistant to change, incapable of leading themselves, unable to take criticism, not acting according to their core values, and cannot inspire growth.
(Copyright)
Topics: Leadership, Teams, Organizational Performance
Entrepreneurship Setcion
4 Ways to Find Business Opportunities During Challenging Times
By Austin Allison | Inc Magazine | May 23, 2022
We find ourselves in some of the most tumultuous economic times that we have hardly seen in our career. Even the largest and most successful companies will be tested by changing capital markets, interest rates, geopolitics, and inflation. However, these times also create some of the greatest opportunities for entrepreneurial teams. Four keys to identifying and unlocking big opportunities in this period are:
- Find clarity. Fluctuating market conditions force clarity around your priorities. During uncertain times when resources are scarce, you must prioritize the most important things and stay laser focused on the mission and long-term company goals. Do you really need that new hire right now, or could the existing team be organized differently to unlock efficiencies? Is the company invested in strategic bets that are too far from the core mission? Are you overspending on vendors providing services that could be brought in-house?
- Be resourceful. Embrace the challenge of doing more with less. When resources are abundant, it’s easy to throw money into people, problems, and opportunities. But when your resources are limited, you’re forced to find a way to deliver on your goals and exceed customers’ expectations.
- Embrace creativity. Challenges force creativity and thinking outside of the box. A common example is performance marketing. When you have a large budget as a startup, it’s easy to invest capital to acquire leads through performance marketing. But solely investing in performance marketing does not make for a diversified and sustainable recipe for success. It’s important that a great marketing strategy also has a blend of organic customer acquisition channels. Moments like this also force a lot of opportunities to unlock some of those channels in new and interesting ways.
- Reflect. In anxious times, it can be tempting to see only what’s in front of you and get lost in what seem like intractable problems. At the end of the day, life in business is just a compilation of highs and lows. It’s in the lows where the magic happens. Those are the moments where we build character and we experience great breakthroughs. When you look back years and decades from now, those are the moments that you will remember. Embrace the struggle and leverage this time of uncertainty and challenge to unlock new opportunities in your life and business.
3 key takeaways from the article
- We find ourselves in some of the most tumultuous economic times that we have hardly seen in our career. However, these times also create some of the greatest opportunities for entrepreneurial teams.
- Four keys to identifying and unlocking big opportunities in this period are:
- Find clarity because during uncertain times when resources are scarce, you must prioritize the most important things and stay laser focused on the mission and long-term company goals.
- Embrace the challenge of doing more with less.
- Challenges force creativity and thinking outside of the box.
- At the end of the day, life in business is just a compilation of highs and lows. It’s in the lows where the magic happens. Those are the moments where we build character and we experience great breakthroughs.
(Copyright)
Topics: Entrepreneurship, Startups
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.