A CEO Who Listens — Steve Jobs and the iPhone
I griped a bunch yesterday when Apple announced they were dropping the price of the iPhone by $200. I got my iPhone during the first land rush, and have had it for nine weeks. Too bad, so sad for me. No price protection coverage on my $599 purchase. But wait.
Steve Jobs listened to customers. And did what a real leader does — he made a business decision. Everyone who bought an iPhone and isn’t covered by a price protection plan is getting a $100 gift certificate to use at an Apple store. Apple fanboys call Steve Jobs “Uncle Steve” because he’s always turning up with cool presents. This one is more than a present — it shows that he listens to what customers say and makes hard business decisions. Fast.
Isn’t that what we all want from a leaders and managers? To listen. Make firm decisions. Have guts.
Do we have the guts to say these kinds of things to managers during their HR training? If so, Steve Jobs’ iPhone decision could be a great case study. WWSD?
Technorati Tags: Steve Jobs, Apple, iPhone, CEO, management
Google Maps Can Now Be Embedded
This doesn’t have much to do with HR, but it’s an interesting bit of technology: Google Maps can now be embedded. If you’re looking for employees it’s always good to let them know where you are and what’s near. Our business office is at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, which is a premium location in the City of Brotherly Love. Here’s a map of where we are. Check out the restaurants in the area. They’re among the best in the city.
Okay, maybe there is an HR angle: Wouldn’t potential and current employees like to know what’s around the office? You could make a mashup for them and embed it in your website. Best part? It’s free.
Workstream Adds Compensation Professional to Its Product Mix
Workstream continues its impressive development run with a new compensation planning module. Here’s the overview from their camp:
Workstream Inc. (NASDAQ - WSTM), a leading provider of on-demand compensation, performance and talent management solutions, today announced the availability of Workstream Compensation Professional, the only unified on-demand compensation planning solution for the mid-market. Mid-market companies that have wrestled with spreadsheets and other manual processes to manage compensation planning – arguably the most strategic part of talent management – can now leverage an on-demand solution that is functionally rich, easy to use, and integrated to work seamlessly with the entire Workstream mid-market suite.
They do what they say they are going to do. Earlier this summer Workstream rolled out its product expansion to service mid-market clients. At that time they said they’d be adding modules by the end of summer. And they did. In the words of Yoda: Think not, do.
HR Should Use Social Bookmarking: Here’s How
Here’s more brilliance from CommonCraft. This video is called Social Bookmarking in Plain English.
There’s a communication lesson embedded in this video as well. Look at how the CommonCraft people mix electronics, video, and paper cutouts in a compelling and fast-paced way. In addition, they show people how to sign up for del.icio.us and use social bookmarking.
I use a TON of social bookmarking for gathering HR-related news items for KnowHR Blog. You can look at the things I save on del.icio.us here. I’ve bookmarked 587 sites there. Please add me to your del.icio.us network if you’re on or if you sign up.
I also use Google Reader as a social bookmarking site. You can see what I save on that one here.
I’m also on Facebook. You can see my profile here. Again, please add me as a friend if you’d like. It’s all about being social!
The Job Was Mine, but MySpace Tripped Me Up
MySpace isn’t just your space, it’s in outer space. (Well, at least on the internet, if not intergalactic.) And this ad for Tubes does a pretty good job of showing the risks of living your life online. It’s a challenge for employers: Do you look? Or not? Is it your business to know what a candidate does at kegger parties, or is that their private life? It’s a conundrum.
(Found at Doug Haslam’s excellent Gischeleman’s Blog.)
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