Bad Business Decisions and Famous Quotes

Here are a few bad decisions from the world of business that have become famous -- and are downright humorous in hindsight. Some people learned from their mistakes and moved on (Bill Gates.) Some, sadly, faded into history (Decca).

 

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try to find oil? You're crazy." -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859

"But what ... is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s. I hope he fired all of them.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.[FedEx])

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre. Wasn't France bombed in World War Two?

"I'm just glad it will be Clark Gable falling on his face and not Gary Cooper" -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind"

And my three favorites:

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western-Union internal memo, 1876.  Alexander Bell offered the patent for the Telephone to Western-Union in 1876 for $100,000. They declined. The telephone patent has been estimated as the most valuable patent of all time. Bell's Company, AT&T, later aquired Western-Union. Special Note -- In 1971 AT&T turned down an offer to own the Internet. Oh well.


"So we went to Atari and said, "Hey we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you." And they said, "No". So then we went to Hewlett Packard and they said, "Hey, we don't need you; you haven't even got through college yet." -- Apple Computer Co-Founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in he and Steve Wozniak's personal computer. HP recovered nicely (though not quite as nicely, I suspect as they would have if they'd chanced it) but where is Atari today.

Special Mention -- Couldn't find a quote for these two, but...

In 1933 Coca-Cola declined an opportunity to buy it's then-bankrupt and insignificant rival Pepsi - Cola

In 1999, Excite declined the opportunity to buy Google for $1 million. It's possible that ANY quote on this from Excite would be -- a-hum -- unprintable. ;)

About the author:  http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/mark-hester/30502

Never Too OLd To Be Inspired

The Former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather on Personal Branding

 

Shelly Lazarus has been building brands at Ogilvy & Mather for more than 40 years.  When she joined the agency in 1971, she was one of few women in the advertising field.

 

Twenty-six years later, having steered successful branding efforts for clients such as IBM, Ford, American Express and Unilever, she was named its Chairman and CEO. What does this business trailblazer, Advertising Hall-of-Famer and current Board member of Merck, G.E. and Blackstone recommend to people who want to build their own brand?  I recently sat down with Lazarus and an audience of senior professional women, to discuss personal, rather than corporate, marketing advice.  In this condensed and edited interview, Lazarus shares her thoughts on what “brand” really means in a career context, and why simply being yourself may be the best strategy of all—for women or for men.

 

What can a personal brand do for your career, and what’s the best way to start building one?
Here’s the thing: I hate it when people talk about personal brand.  Those words imply that people need to adopt identities that are artificial and plastic and packaged, when what actually works is authenticity.  One of the fabulous things I’ve enjoyed about my career is collaborating with so many leaders across different industries and countries, and without exception the successful ones have been comfortable in their own skin.  Resilience —the ability to hang in there when things are difficult—is critical in a career, and if you’re spending every hour of the day pretending to be someone you’re not, you’ll be exhausted and won’t have the energy needed to face your real work. On the flip side, if you’re genuinely excited about what you’re doing, and have that light in your eyes, it will attract other people to you, and motivate them.

How does the recommendation to “be yourself” hold true if you’re not certain you’ll be effective? 
Expressing a point of view is always legitimate, and if you’re doing it because you’re genuinely passionate about a topic, I don’t think anyone will have a problem with that. If you’re valuable to the organization and advocate strongly for an idea, what’s the worst that can happen?  Even if the project doesn’t move forward, you’re not going to get fired.

What you do need to pay attention to, however, is style —not just what you say, but how you say it.  People tell me I smile a lot —but I’m strong.  I express very clear and forceful opinions, but I try to do it nicely.  You don’t have to be mean to be powerful, and you can do anything with charm.

How would you advise people who are nervous about putting themselves out there and making mistakes?
Early on in my career I was in my boss’s office and the media planner came in to his office and she starts literally running in circles.  That’s not just a metaphor. She was going around like that because we were supposed present the media plan to a big client and the computer was down.  My boss gets in front of her, grabs her by her shoulders and shakes her and says, “Karen, what do you think they’re going to do to you?  Take away your children?”  Regardless of the situation, if you’re really valuable and you do a great job, you’re not going to get fired.  Somebody’s not going to think your idea is smart?  So what?  You won’t forget it for weeks, but they’ll forget it five minutes later.  Take a chance.  Just speak your mind.  There’s no bad outcome.

Does a personal brand have to change as you become more senior in your company?
There’s a common misperception that you have to take on a new persona when you enter the leadership ranks: to become more restrained, intellectual, cerebral.  But that doesn’t do anything for you.  Brands exist in the hearts and minds of the people who use them, and if you suddenly try to switch them—which I’ve seen many corporations try to do —you alienate the customer.  Whatever humility or generosity or warmth made me successful early in my career when talking to a brand-manager level client, I tried to keep when we were both promoted and sitting in corner offices.

When you think about people with strong personal brands, who comes to mind?
David Ogilvy, the founder of our agency, was one of the world’s great salesmen, and completely outrageous.  He wore kilts to work.  Once we were at a client dinner and he ordered five of those little jam jars you get with hotel breakfasts, plus a spoon.  If you can’t be brilliant, he said, at least be memorable.  Trust me: If you met David, you remembered.

What advice do you have for today’s aspiring leaders about being memorable within their own organizations?
Pick your words carefully— and say what you really mean.  David had principles by which he led Ogilvy, and unlike with so many corporate mission statements, his are impossible to forget.  Whereas other companies might say, “Politicians don’t do well here,” David said, “We abhor toadies.”  Other leaders might tell their employees to respect the product’s end user; according to him, “the consumer isn’t a moron; she’s your wife.”  Every so often during my tenure leading Ogilvy these hot stuff young copywriters would want to overhaul the principles, and inevitably they came back with a version that together we’d rip right up, because it had lost all of its passion and uniqueness and fervor.  When you’re leading people towards something important, losing your authentic voice is the last thing you want to do.

Joan Solotar

Joan Solotar is a Senior Managing Director, Head of the External Relations & Strategy Group, and a member of both the Executive and Management Committees at Blackstone, the global private equity and alternative asset management firm.

It’s Time for a New Discussion on “Women in Leadership”

The time has come to reframe the gender issue. The chancellor of Germany, the head of the IMF, and the chair of the US Federal Reserve are women. General Motors, IBM and Lockheed Martin are run by women. Sixty percent of the world’s university graduates are women, and women control the majority of consumer goods buying decisions. In the US, women under 30 out-earn their male peers and 40% of American households have women as the main breadwinner. In many companies and countries where I work, from Iran or Brazil to Russia, managers tell me that they recruit a majority of young women as they clearly outperform their male peers.

And yet women continue to be underrepresented in most businesses, especially at the senior levels. Given this split – women’s potential on the one hand, and their relative absence from the highest levels of business on the other – it is tempting to keep banging on about “fairness” and “equality” on the one hand, or to assume that surely the women who don’t make it to the top must be doing something wrong on the other.

In fact, it is time to shift the discussion away from a lingering women’s problem or an issue of equality and instead focus on this as a massive business opportunity. Instead of continuing to discuss the problem, we ought to present solutions: roadmaps to businesses that are better balanced, arguments that help companies and managers understand and benefit from shifting global gender balances. The shift is away from wondering what is wrong with women who don’t make it to the top, and towards analysing what is right with companies and leaders that do build gender balanced leadership teams – and tap into the resulting competitive edge.

Smart leaders have understood for a while now that gender balance delivers better and more sustainable performance. That companies with more gender-balanced leadership teams out-perform those with less. While the skeptics will spend another decade resisting this fact with demands to prove causality, the best leaders prefer leading the charge to following it. So it would now make sense to focus on the leadership competencies that enable certain leaders to build gender-balanced organizations. And to note those that don’t, and start calling them to account.

Building a gender-balanced organization takes skill, determination, and courage. It can be taught, encouraged, and rewarded. That’s what the best companies do. They put the focus and the accountability where change happens: on the front lines. As with other change management initiatives, the responsibility ultimately falls to leaders.

And yet today, many managers (both male and female) are totally uneducated in all things gender. Many business leaders around the world have no idea that women are now the majority of university graduates – from Sweden to Saudi Arabia. They aren’t aware of — or comfortable with — the differences between how men and women work. Executives have been raised to ignore gender differences (such as different communications styles or career cycles) rather than become skilled in managing them. For the same reason (“only competence counts” is the usual refrain), they aren’t used to thinking that balance itself may contribute to better performance, innovation and customer connections. So we must educate them. Stop creating internal, women-only networks — replace them with mixed-gender networks aimed at balancing management, rather than promoting women. Almost no one is against balancing, while many men and women alike are uncomfortable with targeted quotas for women. Men feel that they are deeply unfair, while women are insulted at the idea of being perceived as getting promotions only because of their gender.

I do think there is a role for advocates in this shift. External watchdog groups, focused on corporate performance and governance, can be powerful amplifiers of the kind of leadership that we are aiming for. They should be focused on measuring and celebrating what the best companies and CEOs do, and publicizing and shaming those that don’t deliver. They should be fun, relentless, and professional. They should also, I would argue, focus more on “balance” than on “women.” Include men who get it – and celebrate that fact. It’s time. Reframe, rebrand, and make leaders accountable for adapting to 21st century realities. That is the work that now lies ahead.

The world is living through one of its most historic and peaceful revolutions: the gradual rebalancing of the genders’ social, educational and economic power. We have never seen anything like it before – no wonder it has been a bit confusing. This rise, and its consequences, need to be better understood and managed by most businesses and managers. It has altered the life of every man, woman and child on the planet. It yields opportunities and competitive advantage to smart companies. Who would want to miss out on that?

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is CEO of 20-first, one of the world's leading gender consulting firms, and author of Seven Steps to Leading a Gender-Balanced Business.

CEOs share unexpected insights regarding "Ways to connect with customers"

Robert Reiss,

As corporations seek new ways to connect with customers, I set out to uncover insights from some of the top CEOs. Interestingly what emerged are some unexpected answers, like the value of simplicity and the power of the handwritten letter – both of which have elevated in importance in a complex fast-moving digital world.

Specifically, on June 7, 2012 I held a discussion with three CEOs who are leaders in connecting with customers: Bob Evans, CEO, Churchill Downs which hosts the seminal customer event with over 165,000 people — The Kentucky Derby; Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint Nextel who The American Customer Satisfaction cited as the #1 most improved service company in America over the past 4 years in their evaluation of 47 industries; Tom Fricke, CEO, HMSHost, a 115 year old brand with 34,000 employees who serve over 1 million customers a day through the ownership and operation of most major retail and food & beverage at roadsides and in airports. My co-moderator was Ron Frank, who heads up internal strategy at IBM.

How have you changed your business around customers?
Bob Evans, Churchill Downs: “Five years ago or so our business was 100% horse racing from six thoroughbred racetracks, and we had little information about our customers because it was mostly cash-based, live wagering. Now we’ve diversified. We’ve built a regional casino, bricks-and-mortar gaming business and we’ve built an online gaming business. Because of our online growth now virtually every click provides information and we know a lot more about our customers than we ever did. This has helped us do more things directly with our customers and has helped drive our financial success.”

Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel: “In the past four years, we’ve intentionally eliminated 85% of our rate plan combinations or choices. Customers like simplicity and they’ll pay a premium for simplicity. Steve Jobs focused on taking features out of devices and products. We’ve found that strategy works.” 

Tom Fricke, HMSHost: “Virtually everybody in America has gone through an airport and has been a customer of ours even though they may not realize it. We have learned that many people like being at their gate in advance.  So we’ve just created a new app which we’re testing at a few airports called, ‘B4 You Board’, which allows people to pre-order food from restaurants in that particular terminal and have the meal delivered to them at their gate or schedule to pick it up. Our mobile app is just one example of HMSHost’s, and our parent company, Autogrill Group’s, innovative approach to enhancing the travel experience for people on the move.”.”

What’s on your customer dashboard?
Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel: “I have three: churn, meaning customers who leave, the number of calls to customer care, and customer satisfaction surveys.”

Tom Fricke, HMSHost: “I have two: Our monthly mystery shop scores, and capture rate which for us is measuring the percentage of the people walking through a terminal who are actually stopping and engaging with us.

Bob Evans, Churchill Downs:  “Just one: market share. It’s the relevant market for each one of the businesses, so for our casino in Greenville, Mississippi, I care about how we’re doing in that market.”

Anything special you do to connect with customers?
Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel: “Handwritten letters. I know it’s kind of old fashioned, but I think in today’s digital world customers notice and appreciate that we take time to write letters to them. One employee and his team started a letter-writing campaign, thanking customers based upon their longevity. They would do it every Thursday, and it’s now mushroomed, and it’s become “thank you Thursdays” company-wide. Our employees sit down with a list of customers, which includes something about the customers, like how long they have been with Sprint, and they handwrite letters thanking the customers for doing business with Sprint.”

Tom Fricke, HMSHost: “We have a secret shopper program where  we will visit every unit in every airport at least once a month with a secret shopper and we get feedback on such simple things as the person behind the counter looks me in the eye, smiled and said good morning or good afternoon.  All of our efforts are focused on making the traveler’s day better, a goal to which all HMSHost associates aspire with every customer interaction.  Our Five Star Customer Service standard reinforces and measures this commitment to making the traveler’s day better.  We set a target score for the year to track our performance and progress.  As CEO, I review all comment cards, positive or not, and recognize associates whose exceptional performance merits special distinction.  Beyond just the scores, Five Star is designed to focus our associates on friendliness with the guest.”

Bob Evans, Churchill Downs: “What’s important is the broader concept of everyone going above and beyond for our customers. So personally, I try to find seemingly trivial things to do for customers because if the organization sees me doing that, there’s nothing too small for them not to worry about as well. Here’s one example that comes up all the time at Churchill Downs. People don’t know how to get from where they are to where they want to go at our huge property. It’s very large and confusing so I can tell them, or I can take them and I look for opportunities to take them because that reverberates through the whole organization. If I’m willing to take them for the next 15 minutes from here to there, then anybody can do that.”

What characteristics lead to exceptional customer service?

Bob Evans, Churchill Downs: “I love people who are just unwilling to stop until it’s right, whatever that is, they don’t stop until it’s right.”What are some additional insights about service? 

 
Tom Fricke, HMSHost: “A traveler’s most important impression or experience often comes from customer service—that personal contact with our sales and wait personnel.  We strive to make our guests feel not just important but genuinely welcome. With all the move toward and the discussion around social media and the ability for customers to comment immediately on Twitter and Facebook and all the other elements, the most impactful thing that I do is go visit our operations to personally engage with associates, and the second most impactful thing are handwritten notes to highlight and praise excellent customer service in action.”

Bob Evans, Churchill Downs: “I think increasingly products and services are being customized to what the customer wants. Simpler is better than complex but in the end the customer wants what they want. At the Kentucky Derby this year as example, we had 165,000 people over 147 acres. We have a very diversified crowd from the private jets and limos in designer clothes to half dressed in the infield swilling beer and sliding in mudslides. So we design customer experience by location and what specific customers are looking for.”
Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel:“Three thoughts. First, Great customer service actually costs less because you can save expenses if you don’t have to fix problems or correct wrongs. 

Second, the key to great service is employees. We’re focused on empowering all employees to serve customers. I give out a quarterly award we call the “elevator speech” award, which is for non-front line employees, because there’s a 20% chance that anyone our employees meet is a Sprint customer. Third, compensation.  Every person, from me to someone in the mailroom, has their compensation linked to customer satisfaction and simplifying the customer experience.”

So, as I consider the comments from three CEOs who are leaders in the customer experience, it becomes clear that the more complex our world gets, the more value there is in authentic, clear, customer connections. Ron Frank of IBM summarizes, “As organizations become more intelligent, top CEOs are focused on drawing deep insights from customer data making it possible to understand customers and engage with them as individuals.  In parallel, some have leveraged more traditional ways to connect with their customers and the teams that serve them.”

Bad Business Decisions and Famous Quotes

Here are a few bad decisions from the world of business that have become famous -- and are downright humorous in hindsight. Some people learned from their mistakes and moved on (Bill Gates.) Some, sadly, faded into history (Decca).

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try to find oil? You're crazy." -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859

"But what ... is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s. I hope he fired all of them.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.[FedEx])

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre. Wasn't France bombed in World War Two?

"I'm just glad it will be Clark Gable falling on his face and not Gary Cooper" -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind"

And my three favorites:

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western-Union internal memo, 1876.  Alexander Bell offered the patent for the Telephone to Western-Union in 1876 for $100,000. They declined. The telephone patent has been estimated as the most valuable patent of all time. Bell's Company, AT&T, later aquired Western-Union. Special Note -- In 1971 AT&T turned down an offer to own the Internet. Oh well.


"So we went to Atari and said, "Hey we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you." And they said, "No". So then we went to Hewlett Packard and they said, "Hey, we don't need you; you haven't even got through college yet." -- Apple Computer Co-Founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in he and Steve Wozniak's personal computer. HP recovered nicely (though not quite as nicely, I suspect as they would have if they'd chanced it) but where is Atari today.

Special Mention -- Couldn't find a quote for these two, but...

In 1933 Coca-Cola declined an opportunity to buy it's then-bankrupt and insignificant rival Pepsi - Cola

In 1999, Excite declined the opportunity to buy Google for $1 million. It's possible that ANY quote on this from Excite would be -- a-hum -- unprintable. ;)

About the author:  http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/mark-hester/30502

Bad Business Decisions and Famous Quotes

Here are a few bad decisions from the world of business that have become famous -- and are downright humorous in hindsight. Some people learned from their mistakes and moved on (Bill Gates.) Some, sadly, faded into history (Decca).

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try to find oil? You're crazy." -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859

"But what ... is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s. I hope he fired all of them.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.[FedEx])

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre. Wasn't France bombed in World War Two?

"I'm just glad it will be Clark Gable falling on his face and not Gary Cooper" -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind"

And my three favorites:

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western-Union internal memo, 1876.  Alexander Bell offered the patent for the Telephone to Western-Union in 1876 for $100,000. They declined. The telephone patent has been estimated as the most valuable patent of all time. Bell's Company, AT&T, later aquired Western-Union. Special Note -- In 1971 AT&T turned down an offer to own the Internet. Oh well.


"So we went to Atari and said, "Hey we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you." And they said, "No". So then we went to Hewlett Packard and they said, "Hey, we don't need you; you haven't even got through college yet." -- Apple Computer Co-Founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in he and Steve Wozniak's personal computer. HP recovered nicely (though not quite as nicely, I suspect as they would have if they'd chanced it) but where is Atari today.

Special Mention -- Couldn't find a quote for these two, but...

In 1933 Coca-Cola declined an opportunity to buy it's then-bankrupt and insignificant rival Pepsi - Cola

In 1999, Excite declined the opportunity to buy Google for $1 million. It's possible that ANY quote on this from Excite would be -- a-hum -- unprintable. ;)

Mark Hester

The Top 10 Workplace Trends Of 2013

Top 10 Workplace Trends of 2013

This year, through primary research through my company and secondary research by a variety of trusted sources, I’ve tracked ten major workplace trends affecting the world of work. They focus on the generational shift, the rise of freelancing, the skills gap and more. From a professional perspective, understanding these trends will give you the leg up as you make career choices. From the corporate perspective, these trends will help you make more informed business decisions. Here are my top ten:

1. Millennials will rise up. Despite all the reports of the poor economy and the high unemployment rate for Gen Y, they will start to get jobs again. They will become nearly 30% of the American workforce next year and that number will increase substantially in the next five to ten years. As millennials enter and boomers retire, new life will be breathed into corporations and policies will change rapidly.

2. Working from home becomes mainstream. We’ve heard some companies trusting their employees enough to let them work from home. In 2013, companies will realize the cost savings and the productivity increase and give their employees more flexibility. While in years past flexibility programs were viewed as a perk, they will become more standardized and expected. One of the best examples is Aetna. 47% of their 35,000 employees work from home and they have saved an estimated 15% to 25% on real estate costs at an annual savings of about $80 million.

3. Emphasis on employee engagement. Employers are still having major retention problems and it’s costing them a fortune. In 2013, they will focus more on employee engagement to increase their retention rates. An October survey by MSW Research and Dale Carnegie Training found only a mere 29% of employees are fully engaged. One example is when MGM  Resorts put on an entire show for their employees this month.

4. More boomers retire. The shift in workplace demographics is finally upon us. Boomers will start to leave the workplace and retire next year and it’s about time. This will free up positions for Gen X and Gen Y to take leadership roles. The question is which generation will seize their roles? My research next year may give you an answer to that question.

5. Intrapreneurship is embraced. Companies are starting to understand how entrepreneurial Gen Y is and in order to compete with startups, intrapreneurship programs will take off. Aside from EY, PwC, DreamWorks, Microsoft, Google and Facebook, LinkedIn has now created their own program called “[in]cubator.” Employees with an idea can organize a team and pitch their project to executive staff once a quarter.

6. Freelance nation booms. We keep hearing about the surplus of freelancers out there and it’s just the beginning. Next year, there will be millions more freelancers, replacing full-time workers. Companies will hire experts to solve problems instead of full-time employees and save on benefit packages. This is due to the economy and how corporations operate now. One third of American workers are freelancers, reports NBC News.

7. The skills gap shrinks. As of this year, there are over 12 million people who are unemployed and 3.6 million open positions, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. American Manufacturers have 600,000 unfilled positions and 34% of companies say they are having trouble filling open positions. I see this skills gap shrinking as new talent enters the workforce, companies work with schools to train the next generation workforce and people realize that they need new skills in order to get jobs.

8. Internal hiring takes off. It costs companies 1.7x as much to hire an external candidate. The top reason why millennials leave companies is lack of career opportunities. My research shows that companies are starting to give opportunities to their employees over anyone else. This also means that job seekers will suffer. Internal hiring is good for employee morale, saves them money and is quicker (weeks versus months).

9. Employees become social advocates. Companies will start to leverage their talent in order to recruit and market. They will finally realize that they can just use their employees to get the word out instead of wasting money on advertising. Companies will become publishers and in some capacity compete with the likes of magazines and newspapers. IBM, for instance, has 32,000 employee blogs that touch on every area of their business.

10. Women start to outpace men at work. One billion women will enter the workplace in the next decade. Research shows that they are more educated than men and many are saying that they will start taking leadership positions away from them. Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer are just the beginning. Look for more females to break into top roles next year and beyond.

Dan Schawbel is a workplace expert, keynote speaker and the New York Times bestselling author of Promote Yourself.

Bad Business Decisions and Famous Quotes

Here are a few bad decisions from the world of business that have become famous -- and are downright humorous in hindsight. Some people learned from their mistakes and moved on (Bill Gates.) Some, sadly, faded into history (Decca).


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"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try to find oil? You're crazy." -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859

"But what ... is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s. I hope he fired all of them.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.[FedEx])

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre. Wasn't France bombed in World War Two?

"I'm just glad it will be Clark Gable falling on his face and not Gary Cooper" -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind"

And my three favorites:

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western-Union internal memo, 1876.  Alexander Bell offered the patent for the Telephone to Western-Union in 1876 for $100,000. They declined. The telephone patent has been estimated as the most valuable patent of all time. Bell's Company, AT&T, later aquired Western-Union. Special Note -- In 1971 AT&T turned down an offer to own the Internet. Oh well.

"So we went to Atari and said, "Hey we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you." And they said, "No". So then we went to Hewlett Packard and they said, "Hey, we don't need you; you haven't even got through college yet." -- Apple Computer Co-Founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in he and Steve Wozniak's personal computer. HP recovered nicely (though not quite as nicely, I suspect as they would have if they'd chanced it) but where is Atari today.

Special Mention -- Couldn't find a quote for these two, but...

In 1933 Coca-Cola declined an opportunity to buy it's then-bankrupt and insignificant rival Pepsi - Cola

In 1999, Excite declined the opportunity to buy Google for $1 million. It's possible that ANY quote on this from Excite would be -- a-hum -- unprintable. ;)

About the author:  http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/mark-hester/30502