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MBA: THE IDEAL LEADERSHIP QUALIFICATION?

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The European Human Resources Summit on November 10 and 11, 2011 in Berlin, is the international forum for HR executives from across the continent. Human Resources Manager magazine and the Quadriga University of Applied Sciences welcome you to this year’s Summit and its multi-platform programme of twelve innovative Best Cases and six inspiring Keynotes. The Summit lives by the idea that each participant and speaker brings unique experiences and perspectives, so bringing them together to network and debate is key to the Summit programme. Europe is converging, and so is the HR industry. Now is the time to share, debate and network. Register here.

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02/2011 S U B J E C T: M B A 4

Building on Solid Foundations? A look at whether the recent criticism of business schools and their methods has affected the desirability of MBA graduates

A Stellar Year for Hiring An interview with Nunzio Quacquarelli about QS‘ Top MBA Rankings and the latest trends in MBA graduate recruitment levels

RECRUITING It would be foolish to assume that, just because an individual has an MBA, they will one day bring a large multinational to its knees. Page 4

Interview: Henry Mintzberg The author of ‘Managers not MBAs’ discusses the problems with business schools and more effective methods of management training

Location, Location, Location The Economist and The Financial Times‘ latest full-time MBA programme rankings

Return on Leadership The results of a new survey linking business performance to strong leadership provide some expected and unexpected results

The Top Five M&A Mistakes A list of some of the most common mistakes that HR can make during a merger or acquisition, and how to avoid them

A New Voice for HR An interview with Yves Barou, the co-chairman of the European HRD Circle, a thinktank of prominent HR directors

Attitude? What Attitude? Millenials are often seen as being very different to past generations, but a recent study proves that this is not completely true

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INTERVIEW “Leadership is not anointed by some holy water of a business school. Leadership is earned from the led, from people who choose to put their faith in you.“ Page 8

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Questions to... Roberto Pucci (senior vice president of HR, Sanoﬁ) and Jussi Itävuori (head of HR, EADS) share their thoughts on a range of issues 3

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BUILDING ON SOLID FOUNDATIONS?

he Master of Business Administration (MBA), which has existed for over a century, has come to be seen as an almost-essential qualiﬁcation for managers wanting to boost their qualiﬁcations (and, of course, their salaries). Business schools churn out a production line of MBA graduates year upon year, ready to enter, or rejoin, the workforce with their new skills. But what is the MBA exactly? The degree is awarded after one or two years of graduate-level university study, focusing on the theory and practice of business management. In short, it provides graduates with a 4

general level of competency in many of the major managerial areas required in modern companies. As Christian Greiser, partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group, which has traditionally hired a large number of MBA graduates, explained: “Our experience with MBAs has been very good, so we are happy to hire them and we support consultants who are interested in getting an MBA degree. MBAs have broad business know-how: in the course of their studies, they tackle real-life problems and learn to solve them efﬁciently as a team. But, in addition

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A look at whether the recent criticism of business schools has affected the desirability of MBA graduates.

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to imparting business knowledge, MBA programmes are also important platforms for networking and for personal and professional development.” Traditionally, the MBA talent pool has almost been a dream resource for recruiters, especially in the ﬁnance and consulting sectors. But there is a bubbling undercurrent of dissent regarding the MBA in today’s economy. This dissent is not yet widespread, but there is an increasing awareness that maybe there is a better way to do things.

year, 154 MBA students from a total of 43 different countries had enrolled at the school. MBA classes usually possess a great degree of diversity, with a wide range of cultures, personalities and skills in each, so it would be foolish to assume that, just because an individual has an MBA, they will one day bring a large multinational to its knees.

The evolution of business

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The current financial climate At a time when the global financial market is still fighting to recover from a sustained period of mismanagement, the MBA has lost some of its mystique. As is well-known, a huge number of MBA graduates have traditionally found jobs in the financial sector, and part, a large part, of the blame for what happened to the global economy recently has been laid at the door of these MBA-possessing managers. As Philip Delves Broughton wrote a few years ago in an article for The Times, entitled ‘Harvard’s Masters of the Apocalypse’, “Harvard Business School alumni include Stan O’Neal and John Thain, the last two heads of Merrill Lynch, plus Andy Hornby, former chief executive of HBOS, who graduated top of his class. And then of course, there’s George W. Bush, Hank Paulson, the former US Treasury secretary, and Christopher Cox, the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a remarkable trinity who more than fulfilled the mission of their alma mater: ‘To educate leaders who make a difference in the world’. It just wasn’t the difference the school had hoped for.” Delves Broughton, himself the possessor of an MBA from Harvard, made the same link that many have in recent years; between those that possess the MBA and the economic mismanagement which caused the financial crisis. But, just because those at the top who made the errors often held MBAs, this does not necessarily mean that the MBA is the reason they made the errors that they did. While the names mentioned above are prominent examples, they are by no means the only people to graduate with an MBA from Harvard. In fact, around 500,000 people per year graduate with MBAs across the globe. As Jochen Runde, MBA programme director at the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge, explained: “One of the things that is really striking is just how different the people in an MBA class are.” He explained that, for the upcoming academic

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»MBAs are very demanding for students, but they are very much about giving a grounding in a very wide range of subjects.« Jochen Runde, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

However, this enhanced scrutiny on the MBA has led to a perceived list of its flaws becoming increasingly well-known. It is often seen as a default qualification, one which has not adapted with the times and is irrelevant in the average business of today. As such, the managers and leaders who come from the traditional business schools are not the leaders that are needed. After all, leading in theory is different to leading in the board room. The MBA is broken down into academic modules covering the various areas of business, such as marketing, finance, human resources, etc. The course method was invented at a time of large, vertically-oriented corporate actors, when there were clear areas of demarcation between different departments. Traditionally, a manager would spend their entire career in one department, operating almost completely within that silo. The MBA would give the graduate a grounding in each of the important corporate disciplines, but they would rarely need to operate in any field other than the one they first entered when joining an organisation, so they would rarely get a great deal of practical use from the degree. However, over time, organisations have become more horizontally-oriented, and managers will often be expected to operate between two or more of these silos. To do this, managers have to possess more of an entrepreneurial nature and be able to lead people across disciplines to achieve results, and often MBA graduates have had no experience of such a management style, and they will rarely have something from their studies in the recesses of their brain to act as a guide for doing so. For Runde, however, that is overlooking the point of what an MBA actually is. He explained that “MBAs are very demanding for the students, but they are very much about giving a grounding in a very wide range of subjects. So, you will be doing a lot of finance, but you will not be getting to the cutting edge of finance in the programme.” Perhaps the MBA should no longer be seen as the default qualification needed for leaders (after all, people such as Steve Jobs and 5

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Bill Gates do not have one), but instead as a series of foundation blocks for potential managers to add workplace practice to in order to become the leaders their companies require. Blaming MBAs, and not the leadership culture or training schemes within a company, seems to be quite simplistic a solution.

MBAs for each year‘s group of hires to exactly the opposite since 2000. ‘Now we try to ﬁgure out how many analysts we can promote, and we ﬁll in with MBAs,’ says Aaron Marcus, head of campus recruiting. Concedes Chicago‘s [Edward] Snyder [dean of the University of Chicago‘s Graduate School of Business]: ‘This [shift] is fundamental, not cyclical – hiring non-MBAs is something companies have become more comfortable with.’“

The changing job market

The current state of things

»MBAs have broad business know-how: in the course of their studies, they tackle real-life problems and learn to solve them efﬁciently.« Christian Greiser, Boston Consulting Group

However, has this recruitment pattern, outlined in Merritt’s article, continued? When asked about that, Runde mentioned that recruiters still come onto campus searching for MBA talent. He added: “I’m not sure employers of MBAs have changed their opinions about MBAs that much.” As Matt Symonds wrote earlier in the year for Forbes, in an article titled ‘A Resurgent Job Market’, “What is significant about 2011 is that it appears to mark a shift in the balance of power between potential employer and potential employee. Since the demise of Lehman Brothers in 2008, MBAs have been able to find jobs, but only by pursuing every opportunity with real energy and commitment. Now, however, it seems that McKinsey’s famous description of a ‘war for talent’, which has been little more than a minor skirmish for several years, is breaking out once again. “‘We’re seeing companies wanting to come on campus earlier and earlier because they are concerned about missing out on the candidates they want,’ says Marie-José Baudin of the Desautels Faculty at McGill in Canada. ‘And they’re also investing in more internships to tie them in even before they hit the permanent jobs market.’” Symonds’ viewpoint echoes the findings Nunzio Quacquarelli shares from the latest Top MBA survey on page 7. The last few years have seen an increase in the criticism of MBA programmes, and no doubt some of the criticism has been warranted. Many business schools have listened, using this criticism as an opportunity to reflect on their offerings, updating and adapting their programmes as required in an effort to ensure that the MBA retains its relevance to both students and employers. And as long as recruiters are not expecting newly-graduated MBA holders to be ready to lead from the front of the company, and are investing in workplace training schemes to develop the additional skills they require in their managers, then MBA programmes will continue to attract students. And these students will continue to attract recruiters. Neil Cranswick

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Christian Greiser explained the Boston Consulting Group’s position on MBAs as follows: “An MBA has never been a prerequisite for being hired or promoted at BCG; it is an additional form of qualification. Only new hires with bachelor‘s degrees are asked to get an advanced degree after completing about two years at the company – but even in this case, other prestigious Master‘s programmes are possible. It doesn‘t have to be an MBA. However, advanced academic learning personally enriches our consultants and thus also our everyday project work. We therefore encourage consultants to do an MBA or a doctorate by granting them up to two years of leave and providing attractive financial support.” The focus at the Boston Consulting Group is on further learning, which is not necessarily the same as demanding that all recruits have an MBA. The implication is that they will also learn on the job, as opposed to just study an MBA and become a pre-packaged manager, ready to lead in a variety of sectors and roles. While Greiser did not go so far as to say that Boston Consulting Group had altered its hiring policies with regards to MBAs, a Businessweek article from several years ago, written by Jennifer Merritt (‘MBA Applicants are MIA’), noted that some companies had begun shifting their hiring policies as early as the start of the century, well before the financial crisis occurred later in the decade. Merritt wrote that “Goldman Sachs & Co. finds [MBA graduates] increasingly to be the norm rather than the exception. The investment bank is one of several companies to launch internal studies on whether MBA hires do better than undergraduates who get internal training and promotions without the MBA. The kind of training Goldman and others provide is part of the growing array of management education alternatives chipping away at the traditional MBA, from hybrid, on-and-off campus degrees to online and other executive courses.” She continued: “Over the past five years or so, many nameplate companies that had previously heavily recruited MBAs have altered their hiring mix. Goldman went from hiring about 25 percent undergrads and 75 percent

MBA

A STELLAR YEAR FOR HIRING A look at MBA hiring trends from the TOP MBA Survey.

There has been a lot of talk about how demand for MBA graduates in Europe has decreased. How would you describe the current job market? What we’re actually seeing is that 2011 is a stellar year in terms of MBA hiring. We’re seeing a 36 percent growth in demand for MBAs worldwide, which is well ahead of the long-term trend growth in MBA demand, which we’ve reported at about 15 percent per annum since 1990. Although a lot of that growth is concentrated in emerging markets, in particular in India, China and Latin America, we’re still seeing quite strong growth in some of the developed economies, and this is because there is a recovery in hiring following the credit crunch. In the period between 2009 and 2010, there was definitely a slowdown in MBA hiring, and what we’ve noticed in 2011 is a catch-up. And actually, among the western economies, we’re seeing that the UK is the highest growth economy for MBAs, with 34 percent growth reported this year, followed by Germany with 28 percent and the US with 24 percent. In the 2010 survey Europe seemed to be lagging behind. Based on what you mentioned, has the region recovered, or is it just a case of the powerhouses doing well? Exactly – it’s the powerhouses. What we saw in 2009 and 2010 was that MBA demand in Europe was really flat and there was a lot of caution. In 2011, companies are seeing that there is economic growth and they’re hiring MBAs in the powerhouse economies, almost in order to catch-up on the previous two years. So, in Europe, the UK and Germany are very active. However, in southern and central Europe, MBA demand remains slack. Traditionally, within Europe, a high number of MBA graduates went into the consulting and financial sectors. Did those sectors suffer in a similar way to the others? Financial services has traditionally been a major engine of MBA hiring in Europe. What we’ve seen

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i QS conducts an annual survey of MBA employers around the world, which forms the QS Top MBA Jobs & Salary Trends report (www. topmba.com). The 2011 survey had responses from over 12,000 employers, of which 2,140 conﬁrmed that they were employing MBAs, making it the largest global MBA employer survey ever conducted. The survey was conducted between March and July 2011, and the results will be published in September.

with the credit crunch was that banks carried on doing some MBA hiring, so they didn’t grind to a standstill. They learned a lesson from the dotcom crash, when they did stop hiring, which resulted in them being unable to meet demand when the economy recovered. So, all the big investment and commercial banks continued with some MBA hiring. We’ve seen a slow increase in MBA hiring in financial services in Europe, but not a significant one. The high growth figures I gave you earlier, in the UK and Germany, are driven much more by consulting, technology and industry than they are by banking. We’re seeing that consulting is definitely hiring aggressively in Europe, but technology, industrial and pharmaceutical companies are also actively hiring MBAs. Your survey has followed the employment market for MBAs over the last 20 years. How do you see the market changing over the next decade? There is clearly a shift to the emerging markets. I think that we’ll see the overall volume of MBA opportunities in Asia outstripping the US quite soon. Some employers in China and India are literally employing thousands of MBAs every year. There are also multinationals operating, or planning to grow, in emerging markets that are looking to take MBAs from the west and employ them in those economies. So, there is more and more mobility of MBAs – not necessarily candidates from emerging markets coming to the west, but actually candidates from the west going to the emerging markets. What is happening now is quite a fundamental change in the flow of talent, and I think, over the next decade, it will accelerate a lot. Would you expect MBA hiring levels in Europe to continue on their upward trend? Yes, particularly in the economies that have strong companies that trade with the emerging markets, as they need MBAs to have the sort of cultural sensitivity and language skills to provide the interface with these emerging market opportunities. We see in Germany that the surge in MBA hiring is for multi-lingual candidates who are dealing with these emerging opportunities. And, in fact, in Germany, we’re seeing a growth in opportunities for non-Germans, as well as Germans. Interview: Neil Cranswick

Nunzio Quacquarelli Nunzio Quacquarelli is the managing director of QS, a company he founded in 1990. For over 15 years, he has written regularly for The Times on management education and careers, and is also a contributor to other key media around the world such as The Guardian, Handelsblatt, South China Morning Post and Corriere della Sera. He has been regularly interviewed by Bloomberg Businessweek, The Financial Times and other leading business and general interest media. He holds an MBA from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. 7

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INTERVIEW

In 2004, you wrote a book called ‘Managers not MBAs’.Why do you think a ‘good’ manager doesn’t need a conventional MBA qualification? That’s sort of putting it in reverse, in a way – I think the onus should be on why they do need MBA programmes. The MBA has very little to do with the practice of managing. MBA programmes are largely functional; they are about learning the functions of business, which they do very well: they teach marketing, finance, accounting, human resource management and things like that. However, firstly, they don’t give a lot of attention to the practice of management or leadership. And secondly, what they do is dysfunctional because management is a practice, not a profession: it’s not like law or medicine where you start by learning by the book and then you apprentice. In management, you don’t know what managing is unless you’ve done it, so it puts the cart before the horse.

Henry Mintzberg, author of Managers not MBAs, discusses the problems he sees with the existing MBA system, the impact these problems have on management, and how these problems could be solved. 8

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AN ESTABLISHMENT DEGREE

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»The MBA is positively dysfunctional. It positively undermines the practice of management.«

So the students are not adequately prepared for managing in practice? They don’t learn, and they end up coming out being very arrogant, with the belief that somehow they have learned to manage, sort of immaculately conceived, and they haven’t. They don’t learn management, and in the case of leadership, it’s even worse, because leadership is not anointed by some holy water of a business school. Leadership is earned from the led, from people who choose to put their faith in you, not because you spent two years sitting quietly, or not so quietly, in a classroom. Firstly, it gives the wrong impression for people who have been through that programme, and secondly, it creates a kind of arrogance that people somehow know how to manage when they don’t, and there is nothing in their qualiﬁcations that indicates that they are prepared to manage or lead. The schools may select for those S E P T E M B E R

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characteristics, but then they do things that are not very functional. So how can they be better prepared for leading? What you really need to do, if you are really interested in helping to develop managers, is ﬁrstly start with managers – start with people who know what the practice is. Secondly, you keep them in the job – you don’t make them quit their jobs and leave their practice to learn it, because then you’ve killed the point. So they stay in their jobs, and come in on a temporary basis, which is what Executive MBA programmes do: they attend in the evenings or for two weeks at a time. Thirdly, you gear the learning toward them learning from their own experience, which almost no Executive MBA programmes do. Those programmes are largely replicas. If you go on the Wharton website, which is one of the most famous business schools in the United States, they boast that you get the same thing in their Executive MBA that you do in their MBA. So, what they’re saying is, if you’re 40 and have managed for 10 years, we do no more for you than we do for 25 year olds who have never managed a day in their lives. And that itself is indicative of their attitude towards management. There is a growing awareness that the MBA is not held in as high an esteem as it was previously… I want to go a step farther. It’s not that it’s not just held in high esteem; it’s that it’s positively dysfunctional. It positively undermines the practice of management. That’s not to say that everybody who has an MBA is a bad manager; it’s just to say that people who take that kind of training seriously are generally not very good managers. George W. Bush has an MBA. They’re not trained to manage; they’re trained to think that they sit there, as Bush used to announce himself, to make the big decisions. But they don’t know what’s happening on the ground. What in the world did Bush know about what was happening on the ground in Iraq? Despite this, the MBA has still remained quite popular in terms of attracting students. Why do you think that is the case? Inertia? I think there are a number of factors. One is that existing MBA graduates will hire new MBA graduates because they think that’s the secret. People who are trained in MBA programmes are more often exploiters than explorers. In other words, they are more often people who know how to exploit a given situation than they are people who can create a new situation. Steve Jobs doesn’t have an MBA. Warren Buffet was turned down by the Harvard Business School. Jack Welch has a PhD in Chemical Engineering. Explorers, like Steve Jobs, are people who come up with new ideas. That’s not to say that you can’t get an MBA, have imagination and build a creative company. Of course you can. But the training is largely about exploitation. One of the most popular books on MBA programmes ever was Michael Porter’s book ‘Competitive Strategy’. There’s a 9

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chapter in that book called ‘How you consolidate a fragmented industry’. There’s no chapter on how you fragment a consolidated industry, which is what explorers do. So it’s very much an establishment degree. And it’s very much an analytical degree. To me, managing is where art, craft and science meet. MBA programmes are largely science. In fact, science is too fancy a word. MBA programmes are largely analysis. But managing is not just about doing analysis. It’s not even primarily about doing analysis: it’s largely a craft that’s rooted in experience. Would you say hiring MBA graduates is a safe choice? It’s not a safe choice at all, but it looks like a safe choice. How could you be blamed for hiring someone from Harvard Business School? If it doesn’t work out, then it’s not your fault: you hired them out of Harvard. Having said that, do you think that, perhaps in ten or twenty years time, the MBA will still be seen as such a prestigious qualification? Or do you think that there is actually a movement whereby other courses will take some of the ground from under MBAs? I don’t know. It doesn’t show much sign of changing now.Wharton has increased its fees in the last few years for its Executive MBA to 175,000 dollars a year. It’s unbelievable. They wouldn’t be doing that if they weren’t getting significant numbers. So, as long as people think they can find jobs and so on, they do it. America is an ostrich society. When it comes to social problems, they put their heads in the ground. They’re not learning right now. The so-called financial crisis is, to me, a management crisis.They’ve been trashing the enterprises.What you have in the big enterprises, largely, are exploiters instead of explorers. The explorers are companies like Google and Amazon, but the country is loaded with exploiters. They’re making money because they’re doing it on the backs of their workers, who they’re keeping down, or carrying their work offshore to cheaper places. The Steve Jobs’, the Apples, are few and far between. Do you think that the only way that MBA learning will evolve is if someone, such as the dean of Harvard Business School, for example, actually forces change through? So, any change would have to come from inside… Probably. Or what will change it is if the companies wake up and start to look at what they’re really getting from those students. If they stop hiring them, it will change overnight. So changes would be demand-led… Sure. If Wharton can get 175,000 dollars from people, why should it change? Of course, Wharton could turn around and say who am I to be making these statements, they [potential students] are breaking down the doors. Then maybe we could check how many of their graduates are in jail, or indicted, or at least have been behind the destructive games played on Wall Street. 10

»The so-called ﬁnancial crisis is, to me, a management crisis. They’ve been trashing the enterprises.«

You took your feelings and studies about the MBA and helped to create the International Masters Program in Practicing Management (IMPM). Could you sum up how the programmes differ? Well, in some ways it is diametrically opposed to the conventional MBA. It’s designed to do the things I was talking about a minute ago. Take practicing managers, leave them on their job and build the learning around them sharing and learning from their own experience. We sit them at round tables instead of tiered classrooms. It doesn’t focus on the professor or case studies: it focuses on dropping in pearls of academic wisdom about various techniques and concepts, which we do in conventional ways. It’s all about them taking it to roundtables and applying it to their own experience. The latest thing we’ve done is have people in the classroom create impact teams... What are they? Each person in the classroom has a team of people they work with back on the job, and they carry their learning from the classroom back to these teams so they have people they can work, commiserate and discuss with to drive change in their own organisation. But you can’t do that in a regular MBA classroom, because they’re not in managerial jobs. They have no context. They’re learning management in general, and that’s one of the problems. They’re not learning how to manage a restaurant, or how to manage a high-tech laptop company – they’re learning how to manage everything, so they think they can manage everything, but they can’t manage anything because they don’t know any industry. You have to know the industry. You can’t just waltz in and decide “I’m here, I’ve been made chief of gynaecology. I’m not a physician, I’ve never been in an operating room, but I’m going to tell you gynaecologists how to do your work”. In that example, everyone would think it was ludicrous, but what makes it any more logical to do that in steel mills or newspapers or anything else? Interview: Neil Cranswick

Henry Mintzberg Henry Mintzberg is Cleghorn professor of management studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Montreal, where he has been since graduating with a doctorate from MIT in 1968. He has also had stints at other universities in Canada, the US, France and England. He is a founding partner of CoachingOurselves.com and a co-founder of the International Masters Program in Practicing Management (IMPM). He devotes a lot of his time to writing and research, especially on the subjects of managerial work, strategy formation, and forms of organising. His recent publications include ‘Managers not MBAs’ (2004), ‘Tracking Strategies’ (2007) and ‘Managing’ (2009). H U M A N

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LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION When deciding to study for an MBA, one of the hardest decisions is deciding where to study. Rankings often form an important part of the selection process.

1st place University of Chicago: Booth School of Business

THE ECONOMIST MBA RANKING 2010

Chicago Booth number one for The Economist

2nd place Dartmouth College: Tuck School of Business

Source: The Economist

The 2010 survey was the ninth year that The Economist had published a ranking of full-time MBA programmes. The Economist’s rankings are based on data collected from business schools and their alumni. The criteria used in compiling the list are grouped into the following four areas: the opening of new career opportunities for graduates; the development and education of students; the salary increase graduates see; and the networking value of the institution.

Institute

Country

University of Chicago: Booth School of Business

Dartmouth College: Tuck School of Business

University of California at Berkeley: Haas School of Business

Harvard Business School

IESE Business School: University of Navarra

IMD – International Institute for Management Development

Stanford Graduate School of Business

University of Pennsylvania: Wharton School of Business

HEC School of Management, Paris

France

York University: Schulich School of Business

Canada

University of Virginia: Darden Graduate School of Business

Columbia Business School

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT Sloan School of Management

New York University: Leonard N Stern School of Business

Cranﬁeld School of Management

Northwestern University: Kellogg School of Management

Henley Business School

University of Southern California: Marshall School of Business

London Business School

ESADE Business School

Spain

Carnegie Mellon University: The Tepper School of Business

IE Business School

INSEAD

Yale School of Management

University of Michigan: Stephen M Ross School of Business

Spain Switzerland US US

US Spain France

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Position

3rd place University of California at Berkeley: Haas School of Business

MBA

FINANCIAL TIMES GLOBAL MBA RANKINGS 2011

London Business School and Wharton top the FT‘s list Source: Financial Times

This 2011 survey is the twelfth year that The Financial Times has published a ranking of full-time MBA programmes. The FT’s rankings are also based on data collected from business schools and their alumni, and the criteria used in the rankings are grouped into three main areas: alumni salaries and career development; the diversity and international reach of the school and its programme; and the research capabilities of each school.

Photos: London Business School; Michael Weymouth; Alain Chatelain

Position

Institute

Country

London Business School

University of Pennsylvania: Wharton School of Business

Harvard Business School

INSEAD

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Hong Kong UST Business School

Columbia Business School

IE Business School

Spain

IESE Business School: University of Navarra

Spain

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT Sloan School of Management

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA)

University of Chicago: Booth School of Business

Indian School of Business

IMD – International Institute for Management Development

15=

New York University: Leonard N Stern School of Business

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Yale School of Management

Ceibs

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Dartmouth College: Tuck School of Business

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HEC School of Management, Paris

Duke University: Fuqua

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Esade Business School

Spain

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Northwestern University: Kellogg School of Management

National University of Singapore School of Business

University of Michigan: Stephen M Ross School of Business

University of California at Berkeley: Haas School of Business

Joint 1st place London Business School

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US France / Singapore US China US

US India US India Switzerland

China

3rd place Harvard Business School

US France

US Singapore

Rank 1 London Business School 4th place INSEAD

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RETURN ON LEADERSHIP

into the relationship between talent and growth. Below, we will discuss four of the key recommendations.

Critical mass of excellent leaders Most importantly, our research has, for the first time, proved a quantitative link between talent and growth: the managers of fast-growing companies received higher ratings across all competencies than those of companies with low revenue growth. We also looked at differences in the quality levels of the top-teams and found that companies with exceptional leadership teams have a 0.7 correlation of single competencies with overall revenue growth (the standard required for publication in academic literature). Those with very good but unexceptional leaders have only a 0.5 correlation, whereas those with average managers effectively have no correlation at all. So companies now have a statistical basis for what many have known all along: a company should develop a strategy for attracting and retaining a greater share of exceptional leaders than its competitors. In our experience, the best companies conduct detailed assessments of the talent required – across the organisation and by business unit and geography. They then create clear leadership-development targets for executives and managers, and incorporate these targets into all their talent management processes from recruiting to performance management. That way, a European engineering firm became much better at building a critical mass of leadership skills within its ranks. In 2004, the year it started its new development programme, only 30 percent of vacancies in its top 200 roles were filled by internal candidates; today, the figure is 85 percent.

New research has established a correlation between strong leadership and business performance – and yielded some further surprising insights that shake commonly cherished beliefs.

here is little doubt that the quality of a company’s leaders affects its growth, but the specifics on the types of competencies that contribute most are frustratingly elusive. Few studies have been able to provide analytically-rigorous answers, suffering variously from small sample sizes, a focus on middle- rather than top-management, or a limited attempt to arrive at hands-on, practical implications. As a result, companies struggle to focus their leadership development efforts and investments in ways that create value for the business. To solve this problem, McKinsey & Company and Egon Zehnder International worked to conduct thorough statistical analyses on the relationship between strengths in various managerial competencies and revenue growth. The knowledge joint-venture between the two firms matched Egon Zehnder’s in-depth appraisals of individual leaders with McKinsey’s extensive analysis of company growth. The study is based on a global sample of 5,560 leaders across 47 listed companies from all major industry sectors with headquarters in Europe, the US, Asia and Australia. We evaluated the sanitised appraisals of 880 top-team members (C- and C-minus-1 level) and 4,680 other senior managers (C-minus-2 and C-minus-3) in relation to their companies’ growth. For the study sample, each manager was appraised across eight scaled leadership competencies, covering the fields of thought leadership (strategic orientation, market insight), business leadership (results orientation, customer impact) and people and organisational leadership (collaboration and influencing, change leadership, team leadership and developing organisational capability). This research has revealed new insights, several of which debunk conventional wisdom, 14

Develop ‘spiky’ leaders Faster growing companies in the sample have a higher share of ‘spiky’ leaders than others. We define spiky leaders as those who excel in four or more management competencies and might be average, or even below average, in the rest. This runs counter to the common belief that the management ranks should be filled with ‘wellrounded’ executives, and could be a wake-up call for corporations tempted to ‘clone’ their leaders according to one rigid leadership model. The demand for spiky leaders has implications for corporate professional development programmes. Companies whose programmes focus heavily on correcting deficiencies should now give more weight to building on existing strengths. One European telecoms company was able to strike such a balance by creating a new mentoring programme. Aimed at developing the spikes of ‘high potentials’, members of the top-

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Talent matters – talent in top performing companies scored higher than talent in lower performing companies across all competencies Source: “Return on Leadership” – a joint study by Egon Zehnder International and McKinsey & Company Bottom quartile companies (revenue)

Top quartile companies (revenue) Competency scale

Competencies Thought leadership People and organisational leadership Business leadership

Strategic orientation Market insight

Collaboration and inﬂuencing Team leadership Change leadership Developing organisational capability Customer impact Results orientation Attracting and investing in talent pays off

team provided these future leaders with one-onone coaching. The top-team was instructed that these coaching sessions were to be different from past performance-related discussions, with more focus on listening, asking questions and – most importantly – encouraging mentees to pursue their areas of passion.

Focus on the customer When we matched executives’ managerial competency scores against their companies’ growth performance, the only competency that drove growth in all circumstances (i.e., whether organic or inorganic growth, top-team or other senior executives) was a customer-centric focus. This is contrary to the popular belief that people leadership is the most important skill for a manager. A dramatic example comes from a major AsiaPaciﬁc bank that was the worst-performing large bank in its country. Needing a change, the bank made customer-centricity the cornerstone of its turnaround strategy. In addition to operational changes, the bank trained its leadership and staff to anticipate and focus on customer needs. Today, the bank has the highest customer-satisfaction ratings in its country and is one of the fastestgrowing banks in the region.

needs to rely on its top-team’s competencies. In addition to having a customer-centric focus, topteams at companies in the top quartile of M&Adriven revenue growth have an especially strong spike in market insight, i.e., the ability to look beyond a company’s current business landscape to discern future growth opportunities. The topteams in these companies also excel in results orientation (crucial in post-merger integrations), strategic perspective, and the ability to collaborate with and influence colleagues. People leaders drive organic growth. In contrast, senior managers are most critical for driving organic growth through the momentum of the company’s existing portfolio. Companies in the top quartile of this growth category also have a customer-centric focus, but their remaining spikes relate to four competencies associated with dynamic people and organisational leadership (collaboration and influencing, team leadership, change leadership, and the ability to attract and develop great employees). The study findings show that great leaders make all the difference in powering corporate growth. However, companies must accurately target their efforts to develop and recruit leaders. Building true excellence in the most critical roles and competencies needs to be on top of the CEO agenda if leadership development is to translate into vigorous revenue growth.

Photos: private

Start with growth strategy We found that other competencies varied in their ability to aid a company’s growth; their efﬁcacy varied by the type of strategy the company was pursuing and by the management layer where these competencies are found. Two archetypes emerged. Results-focused market strategists drive M&A. To drive inorganic growth, a company

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Katharina Herrmann and Asmus Komm Senior expert and principal respectively at McKinsey & Company (www.mckinsey.com)

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THE TOP FIVE HR MISTAKES MADE IN MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS M

ergers and Acquisitions are ways for companies to grow, acquire talent and technologies or obtain synergies. Whatever the reason your organisation might have, chances are, as an HR Professional, you’ll encounter at least a few acquisitions throughout your career. HR can add a lot of value during the acquisition process and should certainly be involved. This article explores the top ﬁve mistakes to avoid (mistakes which are within HR’s control). Doing so adds value by creating a much better experience for all parties involved: the acquired company, the acquiring business unit and the HR team itself.

Not being involved early enough Human resources can, and should, play an early and important role in acquisitions. There are many key decisions that can influence the rest of the acquisition’s success which HR can guide and influence. To be able to create an overall integration plan, HR needs to understand the incoming employee population: where they are, what they do, their current compensation and benefits, and how all of these items fit into the current and future organisation. Additionally, HR needs to help identify key employees and develop an appropriate retention strategy to ensure they will remain engaged and part of the new organisation. Not having HR’s involvement in this planning and analysis risks creating problems and additional work down the road.

Not understanding the employees needs and concerns Imagine for a minute that you are in the employees’ shoes: your work-world has been turned upside down, and there is a lot of uncertainty. Acquired employees need to be regularly communicated to in an open and honest way, and they need to be treated with respect, whether they are being retained or not. They should understand timelines, next steps, beneﬁts and compensation – all the things that can and will have a huge impact on them and their families. A thoughtful and

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well-planned process can have an enormous inďŹ&#x201A;uence on the incoming employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; motivation, morale and respect for their new employer.

Not involving and empowering the incoming leadership team If you are retaining the acquired companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership team, you will want them to be motivated and excited about joining your organisation. To do so, you need to involve them in your integration process immediately and ensure they understand items such as your culture, your critical HR processes and how to level, pay and review people. If they are not involved in these decisions from the get-go, engagement and trust issues will become inevitable.

Not working with the receiving business unit You need to understand both the receiving business and the acquired company well in order to create a successful integration plan. For example, working with the receiving business unit ensures that there is a connection between the leadership teams. HR has a unique opportunity and responsibility to get to know the acquired company well. HR should ensure there are no internal equity issues being created or any precedents being set that the business will later have to live with.

Underestimating the time and amount of work that acquisitions and integration require

Photos: www.dreamstime.com; private

Acquisition work is a full-time job. To be effective and successful, you need fully-dedicated resources that can really understand all the dynamics and complexities of the deal, execute in extremely tight timeframes, be able to respond to sudden changes and unexpected situations, and solve problems effectively and quickly. Having built-out processes, templates and proven integration and communication plans is invaluable. Awareness and taking action on these common mistakes will make your acquisition integration much more successful and show the rest of your business just how much of an impact HR can have.

Stefanie Sugar Co-founder and managing partner at Tasman Consulting (www.tasmanconsulting.com)

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A NEW VOICE FOR HR An interview with Yves Barou, co-chairman of the European HRD Circle, a Europe-wide thinktank of HR directors. The European HRD Circle is composed of 50 HR directors… At the minute, yes, with human resources directors from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland… The objective is not to exceed 100, as after that we would lose the personal touch, and it becomes something else. When we reach the plateau of 100, we can be representative and listened to by others. What is really important for us is to have a good balance of different countries, to cover Europe. I have a vision of how the 100 people will be spread, and we are trying to achieve that. In terms of expanding to 100, how will you decide who to bring into the fold? Is it based on position? In fact, it’s a mix of the current job and the value they bring to the group, even if they’re from a smaller company. We look at the company, but we also 18

»I believe the HR voice can be quite different from the industry or union voice.«

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look at the person and their ability to contribute. We try to have people able to look at what they are doing and draw lessons from it. What is the idea behind the group, and how did it get to where it is now? The idea came to me in two ways. Firstly, I learned HR in the US, where I participated in a lot of HR networks which were, on paper, global. Back in Europe, I soon realised that nothing similar existed, which was a pity as there were a lot of active clubs within each country. We are in a period where many questions are about Europe, and I believe we need more Europe, not only from a standpoint of European government, but from a point of greater cross-fertilisation of solutions. This means getting to know and learning from each other. It only happens if you meet and discuss. What‘s the second way? We’re all in charge of people across the globe, especially in Europe – in our current jobs, we are international. Most HR policies are European, or sometimes worldwide, and aren’t designed for one country. People at the European Commission recently told me that there’s no HR voice – there was one 20 years ago, but it disappeared. The Commission can’t have the opinion of HR on a country by country basis – it would be too complex. It needs a body to provide ideas and challenge proposals. Can you give an example? Last May we were asked by the European Commission for our opinion on the topic of European company agreements. Those agreements didn’t exist ten years ago, so in ten years, 200 agreements were signed by large European companies. The question is to see where we are, how it can work and what kind of optional framework can be useful. In a way, it was easy, because among the members of the circle, we were the actors of most of these agreements. I believe the HR voice can be quite different from the industry or union voice because we are pragmatic: when we express an idea, it is an idea we want to implement. The European HRD Circle will focus on the European social model – do you think there is something fundamentally wrong with the model, or is it just a case of slight changes being needed? Firstly, let me say that we are different to other associations as we are European, but also because we want to tackle big societal issues, not just HR issues. Issues such as young people in employment, which is the cause of much drama in Europe. Everyone has seen what happened in Greece, Spain and the UK, all of which had something to do with young people being unemployed. It’s the sort of topic that, when you are in a company, you may say is not your problem – you run the company, politicians run the country. The European social model is, de facto, based on negotiation, on building partnerships with employees and unions. It is a modern method to ﬁnd solutions, especially in a crisis period; it cannot happen in the US or in China, where unions have a different nature.

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But should it be a company problem? If you think about this in terms of social responsibility, a large company has a responsibility in this global issue. It’s a fact that the European social model is very different from the two key models in the world: the US and the Chinese ones. There are differences, that is true, in some European countries, where consensus is more important. For example, when a work council in the Netherlands says no to something, the company will take this into account and rearrange the project. In the Latin system, this idea of consensus is not really there: employees may have their say, but in many cases the company will do what it wants anyway. What should companies do? What went wrong? If you look at what happened over the last 20 or 30 years, it’s clear that, maybe because of their size or globalisation, companies are sometimes becoming less human. We believe that companies should be socially responsible and human – it’s just a basic statement, but we tend to forget about it. And it’s in the interest of the company, because if you want to attract and retain people, it’s better to have a human approach. The European social model is facing difficult times and a period where everybody, in a way, has to challenge and improve it. We have a tradition, and there are a lot of good things in this tradition, but in a way we speak from where we are, our history and traditions, and now, with those roots, we have to address new challenges. What are those challenges? Firstly, there are those linked with the economic and financial crisis. Secondly, there are challenges linked with the fact that, with more education, the Y generation has greater expectations of companies that are difficult to fulfil. Thirdly, we will have to get ready for a war of talent in a time of increased unemployment, because, at the same time, there is a lack of engineers, for example. It is clear that if we take the best of what is in Europe and build on our traditions, having the guts, of course, to revisit and change some parts, maybe Europe will be in a good position to address those new challenges. But, it’s not a given. Over the last year or two, businesses have become less profit-oriented and more responsibility-focused. How important do you think the HR department is in such a shift in attitude? Well, you’re right, there is a shift. I believe many companies have been too focused on the shortterm and lost a bit of their longer-term vision. This shift cannot happen without the drive of a boss, however the HR person is very well-positioned to play a key role – not alone of course, as it’s a team effort, but it’s a key position for two reasons. Firstly, the HR person is paid to be humanly responsible, the voice of people in the management committee. Secondly, in a company, you have only two networks: the finance network and the HR network. So when you want to implement a policy in a large business, and you want to make sure that each small part will be implemented, you have to involve S E P T E M B E R

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i The European HRD Circle is a group of experienced international HR directors (or ex-HR directors) with the aim of improving corporate social dialogue and responsibility in Europe. It aims to encourage HR professionals to see the bigger picture, and start to think of the impact the profession can have externally, such as on the communities it operates in. It will do this by sharing best practices and innovations in order to lead to the development of a future European social standard, which should be achieved by negotiation in addition to regulation. The group will also act as a voice for the European HR community in public debate, with the aim of turning CSR ideas into concrete proposals.

either the ﬁnance or HR network. After that, it has to do with the personality of the HR person, because to change things you need a leader, someone with the guts to say things that may be different to what others think. It doesn’t happen automatically, but with its nature and network, the HR function could be well-positioned to endorse this role. There has been a lot of debate about this shift in the public sphere, but would you agree that the HR community has remained pretty silent on the issue? Fully. In a way, we want to provide a wake-up call because, for good and bad reasons, the HR community has been out of this movement for corporate social responsibility. Now, the HR community has, in a way, reacted as if to say “oh, it’s not my business”. The good reason is that CSR is sometimes just a marketing tool, and if we continue like that it will destroy the concept, as everybody will say it’s not a serious concept – it’s just something to look good. The second thing is that the HR function was maybe a little upset, because they have the feeling that they have been doing a lot of the things in CSR for years. Now, for the HR function, there is a new challenge, and maybe that’s the major added value for the CSR approach. Typically, in an HR approach, you will take care of your employees. You want to be in an attractive company, you want to be an employer of choice, so you focus your energy on your employees. With the CSR approach, you enlarge your approach and consider all stakeholders along the value chain, for instance. CSR has enlarged the vision of the company, so it’s why we call on the HR function to stop being outside of the process and play an active part. Has the opportunity for HR to get involved gone? It’s not too late – it’s never too late. If you look at our website, there is a text that has been signed collectively by a few of our circle after our meeting in Florence, calling on the HR community to wake up and participate. And we will work this year to better analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the European models. Interview: Neil Cranswick

Yves Barou Yves Barou is co-chairman of the European HRD Circle and social adviser to the French Sovereign Fund (FSI). He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (France), and holds a PhD in Economics. He started his career at the French Ministry of Finance, where he stayed for 14 years, before joining Rhone-Poulenc, where he went on to hold a variety of senior management positions, in 1984. In 1998, he became deputy cabinet director to the French Minister of Employment and Solidarity with responsibility for employment and training. He left that position in 2000, to join Thales as senior vice president, human resources and social affairs. Barou is an afﬁliate professor at HEC Paris, and has written and contributed to many books, on both social matters and the labour market.

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ATTITUDE? WHAT ATTITUDE? THE FACTS ABOUT MILLENNIALS IN THE WORKPLACE Are the attitudes of today’s young people a very speciﬁc generational trait or are they simply related to their age and career stage? A recent study reveals some surprising truths about millennials.

he standard rub against the millennials – or ‘Generation Y’, as they are also known – is that they lack street-savvy, they need to be coddled, they are naïve and they have a profound sense of entitlement. We worry that higher education has done almost nothing to prepare them for life in the real world. Born approximately between 1982 and 2003, there are more than 80 million millennials in the US alone. Many of them are already in the workforce, and the rest are on the verge of entering it. If this new tide of employees and their different ways of looking at the world were not enough to contend with, they are arriving just as the baby boomers are getting ready to retire. No wonder so many managers, HR professionals and executives are nervous. As CBS news correspondent Morley Safer warned in a ‘60 Minutes’ segment, millennials “were raised by doting parents who told them they are special... They are laden with trophies just for participating and they think your businessas-usual ethic is for the birds.” In his interview, Safer went on to say that millennials will change the way organisations are run. Companies will need to have ﬂexible schedules and management will only be able to ask millennials to do personally-fulﬁlling jobs. While the workplace of today will undeniably evolve to accommodate changing technology and demands, as it always does, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. His piece, and numerous other articles, make for juicy news copy, but are they really accurate? New research raises serious questions about the truth of generational differences and the attitudes of

millennials. In fact, Kenexa High Performance Institute (KHPI) research indicates that millennials often stand on common ground with their older counterparts, and in some key areas, the research suggests that millennials may even turn out to be better employees and, eventually, better employers than their predecessors. Solid scientiﬁc research in this area is scarce. So far, research into generational effects on things like work attitudes, work values and personality has largely been unable to say whether the differences were based on a particular generation’s complaints, or were more universal concerns reﬂected by all generations at the same stages in their lives and careers. In short, although research to date has shed some light, we are still unsure if millennials are any different than any other generation when they were young.

Separating fact from ﬁction Given the current lack of quality research, the Kenexa High Performance Institute (KHPI) decided to separate the fact from the ﬁction in the generational debate. KHPI is in a unique position to report on generational work attitudes through its WorkTrends data. WorkTrends is an annual international survey of people who work full-time in organisations with more than 100 employees. In 2011, the survey included more than 30,000 people across the working-age spectrum, in 28 of the world’s most powerful economies. For this particular study, we reached all the way back to 1984, using the data to check for true generational

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differences; the way generations felt at the same age, when in the same stage of their career. A generation’s unique perspective is formed when a group of people experience historical events in a similar way because of their age at the time. This shared experience creates an imprint that brands them as a certain generation; for the ‘silent’ generation, it was the experience of World War II and for millennials in the US, the World Trade Center attacks may have been a deﬁning event. In this research, we can tell whether the differences between millennials and older generations are the result of their shared mindset and perceptions of the world, or whether their attitudes are simply a function of their newness to their careers or their youth. Put another way, using this research, we can tell whether there were differences between millennials, ‘Generation X’ (born between 1961 and 1981), and baby boomers (born between 1943 and 1960) based on generational, not age-related, differences. This distinction is important: If differences are a new phenomenon, HR practitioners and managers will likely need new strategies for managing millennials, but if differences are based on youth, then tried-and-true HR practices can be employed.

Satisfaction, excitement and mobility Millennial workers are often depicted as a unique and hard-to-manage generation. However, the KHPI study found that this unﬂattering picture is inaccurate. Millennials are, in fact, much like their older counterparts

Millennials similar to Generation X

Millennial positivity

Source: Kenexa High Performance Institute Boomers Generation X Millennials

67 59 53

54 51

41 36

Paid fairly

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Excited about work

(see the graph on the left). When it comes to pay, 42 percent of millennials say they are paid fairly, compared to 41 percent for baby boomers and 38 percent for Generation X. That means that more than half of millennials are unhappy with their pay, and while that’s an area for improvement, it is not that different from their older peers. When we look at questions around excitement at work, the results are similar, with a little more than half of employees from all three generations being satisﬁed. What about a sense of accomplishment? In this area, the baby boomers outscore both the millennials and Generation X by eight percentage points. This difference is not due to a generational trait, but is more likely dependent on career stage. The reality is that millennials, generationally-speaking, are pretty much like their co-workers in these areas. One statistic that managers and human resource executives should take note of, however, is that a full third of millennials working today are considering leaving their current job in search of better opportunities. Generation X is almost as restless, with 27 percent considering a job move, while only 19 percent of baby boomers are considering leaving. While this is an area for managers to address, it is important to realise that this is likely to be an age issue and not a generational issue unique to millennials. Looking back at our survey results from 1990, we found that 31 percent of 27 year-old Generation X’ers were considering leaving their organisation. Almost two decades later, in 2009, we found that 31 percent of 27 year-old millennials were also considering leaving. Life is full of opportunities for young employees and they are not afraid to explore them.

Sense of accomplishment

The data refutes the ‘millennial malcontent’ stereotype, but there is one area where millennials stand apart from their older colleagues, and that is in terms of workplace positivity. Once again, contrary to media headlines, millennials’ attitudes are actually more positive than Gen Xers’ or boomers’ (see graph on the next page). In fact, 60 percent agree that they are extremely satisfied with their organisation as a place to work. Even more – 63 percent – report that they have an opportunity for growth and development at their company. We also examined how millennials and their colleagues feel about being recognised for a job well done. Despite the cliché about needing trophies just for participating, millennials are more positive about recognition than their co-workers. Half of millennials are satisfied with the recognition they personally receive, as opposed to 42 percent for boomers. Furthermore, millennials declare that they are more satisfied than their counterparts with the job security that their organisation provides for “employees like them.” That’s not to say that younger workers, whether the hippies of the sixties or millennials today, are devoid of characteristics typical of youth, such as periods of 21

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Simon Foster, client solutions director at Kenexa’s leadership division, recommends the following:

Millennials‘ Positivity Source: Kenexa High Performance Institute Boomers Generation X Millennials

68 63

60 54

• Just because young people have a different attitude towards technology does not mean that their attitudes in the workplace are that much different to their elders.

54 49

• Research your own employees to understand the true differences that may exist in your workplace, do not just rely on the newspaper headlines to drive an L&D strategy.

• Value the differences in young people in your organisation, but remember that they probably are not that much different from you when you were that age.

• As with all employees, treat them as individuals: rather than generalise about a whole tranche of employees, ensure that your managers take the time to understand what motivates each member of their teams, and what their career aspirations are.

Company satisfaction

Opportunity for growth

Satisﬁed with recognition

Satisﬁed with job security

angst or optimism. The good news is that organisations have seen many of these attitudes before and can, in most cases, use time-tested practices for managing younger workers.

• The impact of tuition fees will not be known for a few years, but may drive a steeper career drive in millennials as they try to repay these costs. Ensure that you give employees the opportunity to grow and develop as quickly as they want to. • As the population ages, and we have four generations working in the same ofﬁce, embrace this diversity by encouraging win-win relationships between digital natives and more experienced – but possibly less technologically ﬂuent – colleagues.

Lessons for managing millennials While the hype and headlines demand attention, the facts speak for themselves; when it comes to the workplace, the differences in attitude are shockingly slight. So should L&D professionals abandon all generation-based interventions? Not necessarily, but they should be reviewed carefully.

Rena Rasch Research manager at the Kenexa High Performance Institute and co-author of a free white paper: ‘Attitude? What attitude? The Evidence behind the Work Attitudes of the Millennials’ (www.khpi.com)

Imprint Editors Jan C. Weilbacher (Editor-in-Chief) (jan.weilbacher@humanresourcesmanager.de) Neil Cranswick (neil.cranswick@hrm-international.eu) Contributors Asmus Komm, Katharina Herrmann, Rena Rasch, Stefanie Sugar (info@hrm-international.eu)

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QUESTIONS TO...

is…communication – HR should be less technical and more approachable – language is important. If I think back to the first year of Roberto Pucci my career…I did not realise how Senior Vice President of much I did not know. Today, after 26 years, I am still learning on a HR, Sanofi daily basis. This last year has been…fascinating – very rich in terms of projects and initiatives, most of which were conducted very positively. To be a good HR Manager…it is important to develop a good sense of how people fit within a given organisation. If I was not the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Sanofi, I could imagine being…an architect, as I love creativity and new ideas. For me, work is…making a difference in what I do and making sure I leave a better environment behind me. Positive discrimination in the workplace is…occasionally helpful but not sustainable. In the future, HR professionals should…be more practical in speaking a language that people can relate to. What makes me angry…is looking at pictures of me from 20 years ago! What makes me laugh…is looking at pictures of me from 20 years ago! The role of HR at Sanofi is…to successfully help the company in the transformation journey. HR and business succeed when…they trust each other. My biggest professional challenge is…to solve tomorrow’s problems, which are unknown today. One of the most inspiring books I have read is…‘The Alchemist’ by Paolo Coelho. For me, being mobile means…avoiding making long term plans – everyday is a new day!

I could not do my job without…the full sponsorship and trust of people in my company. What fascinates me about my job is…having to deal with people, as they are by far the most complex ‘product’ that one can find. I am happy to be based in Paris because… it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Sanofi is a good employer because…it offers a wide range of professional activities to highly motivated and performing people. An HR field that is generally undervalued 24

»HR should be less technical and more approachable.«

H U M A N

Roberto Pucci is the senior vice president of human resources and a member of both the executive and management committees at Sanoﬁ. He has a Law degree from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and started his career at Coopers & Lybrand in Geneva. He then moved to Hewlett-Packard (HP), where he held various human resources management positions in Switzerland and Italy during his twelve years at the company. He joined Agilent Technologies, a spin-off from HP, in 1999, before joining Case New Holland (part of the Fiat Group) in 2005. He became executive vice president of the Fiat Group in 2007, based in Torino, before moving into his current role at Sanoﬁ in 2009.

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M A N A G E R

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Photo: private

Roberto Pucci

H U M A N R E S O U R C E S M A N A G E R I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Photo: EADS

QUESTIONS TO...

I could not do my job without…good people and a great deal of patience and persistence. What fascinates me about my job is…that it’s about people, not only about figures. I am happy to be based in Paris because…this is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and my family feels at home. EADS is a good employer because…we have fascinating products and we offer lot of opportunities for people who are ready to push innovation forward in an international environment. An HR field that is generally undervalued is…the development of employees who are not participating in dedicated programmes for high potentials, managers or specialists. We need to remember the development of everybody in the organisation. If I think back to the first year of my career…the world has changed a lot and become truly international This last year has been…very busy as are working more and more with different initiatives to S E P T E M B E R

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improve empowerment and engagement of our people on all levels of our organisation. Jussi Itävuori To be a good HR ManaHead of Human Resources, ger…you need experience, you need to know the peoEADS ple and you need to be neutral and professional in all situations. If I was not the Head of Human Resources at EADS, I could imagine being…a general manager, a politician or sometimes even a ﬁsherman… For me, work is…devotion and a major part of my life, but not all of it. Positive discrimination in the workplace is… sometimes the only way to ensure diversity. In the future, HR professionals should…be able to spend even more time with real people and not only work with policies, processes and tools. What makes me angry…are things which don’t move. What makes me laugh…is my dog. The role of HR in EADS is…to bring in the best talents at all levels, to make sure that they can develop and that they stay with the company when they have reached their potential. HR and business succeed when…employees are open to use their creativity, their skills and their knowledge to move the company forward. My biggest professional challenge is…the development of true diversity in the our business. For me, being mobile means…two different things: career-wise it means being willing to work and live in different places, and on a daily level, being able to work independently of the place where you physically are.

Jussi Itävuori

»We need to remember the development of everybody in the organisation.«

Jussi Itävuori is a member of the EADS Executive Committee and head of human resources for the company. Prior to assuming this position, he worked for the KONE Corporation, the elevator manufacturer, between 1982 and 2001. While there, he developed his expertise in international human resource management, ﬁrst as the personnel manager at corporate headquarters, and then as the personnel director. By 1995, he had advanced to the position of senior vice president of human resources and quality, before becoming senior vice president of human resources and communication two years later. Before joining KONE, he was responsible for employee recruitment at Kesko. Itävuori earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Vaasa School of Economics, in 1980 and 1982 respectively. During his studies he served as general secretary of the Student Union and participated in local and national political activities. He served as a pilot in the Finnish Air Force between 1974 and 1975, before beginning his studies. 25

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