By Melissa Swift, John Petzold, Kevin Cashman, and Leslie Gordon; originally posted on Korn Ferry Institute on December 6, 2017.

A recent headline in Barron’s announced it quite plainly: “Bitcoin Storms Wall Street.” And, no kidding, the cryptocurrency has jumped in value more than 10 times since the start of the year, making this year’s stock market gain look boring. Last week, it joined the financial world’s mainstream when US regulators approved the trading of bitcoin futures. Two of the world’s biggest exchanges, the CBOE Futures Exchange and the CME, will offer investors bitcoin-related products later this month, with other exchanges around the world likely following suit next year.

At this kind of pace, experts say, both the currency and blockchain, the technology behind it, represent a clear threat to the way many businesses may operate in the future. And yet many corporate leaders may be still be clueless about it all. “Things are moving so fast that decisions are being made with incomplete information,” says John Petzold, senior client partner, global leader, CXO Optimization at Korn Ferry.

To some degree, however, CEOs and others can rely on various formulas from the past to deal with disruptions, even on this level. Here’s a brief roadmap […]

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By Rick Lash and Peter Aceto; originally posted to The Globe and Mail on December 2, 2017. 

Having a strong purpose is a fundamental component to a happy, fulfilling life. People with a positive, engaging purpose tend to be more focused, optimistic and successful in what they do. They love going to work every day because they’re doing work that is most meaningful to them and they feel they’re working for an organization that is making a positive difference in society.

But many millennials report that they are experiencing a lack of purpose at work. Part of the reason is what Craig Ryan, director of social enterprise at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), calls pervasive short-termism. “Companies that drive too quickly to targets create an imbalanced view of what value is.” For many millennials, he says, there is a dismay with conventional businesses that only focus on driving profit to the exclusion of all else. Customer service reps are feeling pressured to sell financial products to customers who don’t have a need; people hoard work or sales opportunities to meet their own numbers instead of collaborating and supporting each other.

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By Laurent Chevreaux, Jose Lopez, and Xavier Mesnard.  Originally posted on HBR.org (Harvard Business Review) on November 2, 2014. 

Most companies have articulated their purpose — the reason they exist. But very few have made that purpose a reality for their organizations.

Consider Nokia. Before the iPhone was introduced, in 2007, Nokia was the dominant mobile phone maker with a clearly stated purpose — “Connecting people” — and an aggressive strategy for sustaining market dominance. Seeking to extend its technological edge (particularly in miniaturization), it acquired more than 100 startup companies while pursuing a vast portfolio of research and product development projects. In 2006 alone, Nokia introduced 39 new mobile-device models. Few imagined that this juggernaut, brandishing vast resources with such steely determination, could be quickly brought down.

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