Business – Lanka Talents

Boss vs Leader: What’s the Difference Between a Boss and a Leader?

Buddhika Perera — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 04:23:48 +0000

Some people might use the terms “boss” and “leader” interchangeably, but that’s not entirely accurate.

The truth is, some bosses are simply that – a boss. They have attained a position in the management section of the corporate pyramid. They have a nice office and a designated parking space. They make decisions that affect the direction of the company and often control how money is spent. However, those characteristics alone don’t make them leaders.

Bosses can become leaders, and doing so should become a priority for those who want to effectively lead in the workplace. The first step towards becoming a better leader is understanding the characteristics that distinguish a leader from a boss.

7 Differences Between a Boss and a Leader

By learning the key differences of a boss vs a leader and applying them to the job, bosses can become the type of leaders who recruit and retain top talent while also cultivating employee growth and increasing a company’s bottom line.

So what’s the difference between a leader and a boss? The following characteristics represent some key distinctions of a leader vs a boss.

1. Leaders Lead, Bosses Push

Leaders motivate their employees, which then inspires them to follow their leader’s example. Bosses tend to push employees instead of directing them. This type of manager tends to never make decisions, which forces employees to work without guidance and expectations while their manager hides behind a wall of inaction.

True leaders frequently present ideas and work alongside their employees. They clearly communicate objectives to the team and their actions are aimed at achieving goals together. This is the difference between inspiring team members and losing their respect. When a team has confidence in a leader, it can help improve team culture and motivate employees to contribute.

2. Leaders Listen, Then Speak

Good leaders spend time listening to their employees rather than talking above them. They understand the value of seeking and incorporating the opinions of others into the decision-making process.

Bosses tend to dominate conversations. They expect employees to listen and carry out their commands, with little or no direction. This type of attitude is not a sound approach to building a team of engaged employees who want to be valued for their knowledge and skills.

3. Leaders Offer Equality

The business world is not elementary school – although the idea of a “teacher’s pet” is as unattractive in the office as it is in the classroom. Bosses can sometimes pick a favorite employee or two, which can result in unfair treatment, such as devoting more time to certain employees than others, giving them more benefits and creating an inner circle. This favoritism typically does not sit well with other employees and often will decrease team productivity and morale.

Good leaders treat everyone equally, giving one person’s ideas the same weight as everyone else on the team. Strong leaders don’t let personal preferences get in the way of creating a dynamic environment.

4. Leaders Roll Up Their Sleeves

When a company launches a major project, true leaders get “in the trenches” with their teams. Leaders take initiative, while bosses tend to stand aside and “supervise” others doing the work.

Seeing that a leader is as invested in a project as the team can inspire others to do their best work. Bosses like to sit on the sidelines and only interact to give orders. This management style hurts team motivation, collaboration and creativity.

5. Leaders Don’t Scold

A time and place exists for communicating wrongdoing and corrective action. However, the vast majority of matters involving an employee can be handled with a dose of constructive criticism, not harsh scolding, whether in private or in front of peers.

Leaders offer sound advice in a private setting, while bosses tend to scold and may even threaten their employees, which can leave them feeling concerned, embarrassed and defeated. Leaders can deliver discipline too, but their approach in doing so should be a learning experience for employees to redirect their efforts away from what is not working.

6. Leaders Don’t Need Fear

The old adage that says a person would rather be feared than respected is not going to work in the modern office (if it ever truly did). Leaders understand intimidation and attempting to control employees with fear will not work in any setting. Fear leads to doubt, poor morale and productivity loss. Smart leaders inspire with trust, enthusiasm and empathy, and display confidence in their employees to make decisions on their own.

7. Leaders Invest Time

Some bosses – especially those who have chosen favorites – tend to ignore a majority of their employees. This can give other workers the sense they are drifting with an uncertain future. Leaders don’t ignore. They invest time and effort into developing employees in their profession, teaching them new skills and helping them advance in their careers.

How to Become a Leader

These represent some of the differences between a boss and a leader. They seem simple enough, but simple does not always mean easy. True leaders make a commitment to assess their management styles, understand these key differences and then make a concerted effort to put these good leadership characteristics into action.

Villanova’s online Certificate in Organizational Leadership program teaches management and leadership tactics that can be applied in a corporate environment. By learning employee communication and motivation tactics and other interpersonal leadership skills, bosses and managers can develop the key characteristics that allow them to become better leaders.

Source : https://www.villanovau.com/resources/leadership/boss-vs-leader/

The post Boss vs Leader: What’s the Difference Between a Boss and a Leader? appeared first on Lanka Talents.

4 Ways to Modernize Your Business

Lanka Talents Creation — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 04:09:30 +0000

In the digital age, operating a successful business increasingly requires a touch of modernity. The traditional business tactics and operational standards of the 20th century are rapidly being overshadowed by new technology and new methods of communications. In order to keep your business on top of its game, and keep up with the times, here are some essential goals for upgrading your business in the modern age.

1. Cloud-Based Solutions

Everything business-related is transitioning to cloud computing. Whether you are operating multiple business locations or just working from home, keeping all of your business-related computing relegated to online servers gives you a leg up in both security and convenience. Working explicitly from local files makes your work far less portable, increasing the difficulty of long-distance collaboration and restricting your access to business-related data while on the road. Turning to cloud-based solutions provides you the ability to connect your business materials and all of your business associates at the push of a button. Plus, aside from the convenience of access, cloud services are increasingly incorporating built-in analytics services and machine learning capabilities to open the door to more capabilities for business owners to enhance and expand upon their current marketing strategies.

2. Software Automation

In line with the ever-evolving capabilities of most modern cloud-based services, you should take advantage of MLOps strategies for implementing AI-based software automation to improve your overall productivity. Invest in programs that streamline your day-to-day tasks like automated scheduling assistants, time management analytics tools, and data management programs to track expenses, organize accounts payable, and automate invoicing.

The human element is essential to creativity and ingenuity; however, automation allows you to delegate repetitive data-oriented tasks to programs that can manage them with far more efficiency. This boosts your business’s overall flexibility by giving you and your employees more freedom to tackle any tasks that require a direct, human touch, like customer relations and marketing content.

3. Messaging Apps and Social Media

Once upon a time, the postal service was the go-to means of communicating important information between multiple parties; then, email took its place as the king of communication. Now, social media and interoffice messaging systems give you the best advantage in establishing reliable lines of communication both within and without your business. Whether you need to notify your staff with important information, contact specific employees directly, or interact with the general public, social media sites like Twitter and Facebook as well as messaging apps like Slack and Discord simplify and streamline communication. Where letters and emails created downtime and posed the risk of “lost” messages, these modern communications platforms reduce clutter and ensure instantaneous, direct interaction, improving both interoffice and remote interactions.

4. Digital Marketing

Print marketing is rapidly becoming an outdated method of sharing product information with potential clients. In the digital age, your best option for marketing your goods and services is digital content. With online marketing tools, you are no longer limited to a specific quantity of marketing materials, so you can reach out to an unlimited number of existing and potential clients with the push of a button. Amidst digital graphics, video content, blogs, and direct contact via social media, the digital age offers a wide variety of marketing opportunities. More important, perhaps, than the specific digital “medium” used, is to take advantage of real-time marketing strategies. Marketers can now interact with customers immediately, rather than waiting for weeks or even months to compile useful feedback. Social media, for example, allows you to gather real-time data from customers to quickly make adjustments that will improve their experience on the go.

While the core principles of operating a successful business never change, the tools available do. Whenever you are modernizing your business, just keep in mind that as technology evolves so too should your business strategies to take full advantage of the tools currently available. Keep testing the waters with new techniques and technologies, and learn to incorporate the parts that are successful.

Source – CHANTAL BECHERVAISE

The post 4 Ways to Modernize Your Business appeared first on Lanka Talents.

New Ways to Set Yourself Apart From Other Businesses

Lanka Talents Creation — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 04:59:09 +0000

It’s no secret that half of all businesses fail within their first five years. One-fifth even fail to make it through their first year. There are a lot of reasons for a business to close its doors, but one of the most critical mistakes that entrepreneurs make is failing to stand out in a packed marketplace. Here are five strategies that you can use to set your business apart.

1. Rethink Customer Service

A 2015 poll by Microsoft revealed the sorry state of phone-based customer service. Only 28% of customers called customer service as a first option for solving a problem. A whopping 75% reported feeling frustrated even if their problem was eventually solved over the phone. Traditional customer service can be a stressful, alienating chore. The best modern customer service is text message and social media-focused. A majority of customers prefer to talk to a company via text or messenger. Why? Because it’s straightforward, personal and happens on their own schedule. A good social media management tool can be a tremendous help in juggling outreach to customers across multiple media platforms.

2. Streamline Your Focus

Common sense would seem to dictate that the broader your focus, the more customers you’ll attract. That’s actually not the case. In fact, more and more small businesses are seeing the wisdom of micro-niche marketing. Micro-niches are specialized subsets of an already specific market. For example, a niche is camping supplies. A micro-niche is high-end trail hiking gear. Successfully cornering the majority of the market in a very small market is a great way of guaranteeing visibility and customer loyalty. Note that this will mean refining your approach to specifically target that slender demographic. Make sure that you know your product and your audience well.

3. Make Your Brand Unforgettable (Literally)

There is a definite science to making your brand stick in the minds of consumers, so design your website using the cutting edge of brain science. The eye tends to follow certain patterns when reading a page, so place your logo where it will be seen first (typically in the top left corner). Color psychology can be used in marketing to convey different emotions. Cool colors such as blue signal calm and stability, which influences customers’ perception of your legitimacy. Black projects sophistication as white does neutrality. All of these seemingly minor iconography decisions make a major impact on what exactly customers think your brand is saying about itself.

4. Focus on Quality

How many times have you walked into a pizza shop and had a so-so piece of pizza? Now, how often have you recommended that lackluster place to a friend? Studies show that the quality of a product is a more important factor than price to the average consumer when they’re considering whether or not to make a purchase. It’s easy for business owners to cut the cost of their inventory by justifying the short-term savings that it garners. But in a competitive (and demanding) marketplace, you can’t count on customers showing loyalty to a middling brand. Whether your product stands out through aesthetics, reliability or sheer uniqueness, value matters.

5. Work to Improve Your Community

Research shows that customers overwhelmingly prefer to shop from a brand that has a vision of responsibility to the world above and beyond simply making money. A recent Nielsen poll showed, for example, that brands that claim sustainability as a core practice routinely outperform other comparable brands in sales. Whatever the word “responsibility” means to you, make sure that your business lives out its ideals in some visible and impactful way, whether that means community activism, an insistence on fair trade or just local pride. Make the world that your customers live in a better place, and you’ll have earned their loyalty.

Source – Chantal Bechervaise

The post New Ways to Set Yourself Apart From Other Businesses appeared first on Lanka Talents.

5 Best Strategies for Employee Retention

Lanka Talents Creation — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 04:45:03 +0000

Employee turnover is expensive on many levels to the employer. The average cost of replacing an employee is 21% of their annual salary. It is no wonder then that organizational psychology has turned this into one of their main research topics. The good news is that turnover can be significantly decreased through some simple scientifically-backed strategies.
There is a certain degree of overlay between recruitment and retention incentives. Positive work environment and opportunity for growth lie at the core of decreasing attrition rates. However, these are complemented by other factors like sustainable workload and periodic pay raises. It is essential to tackle employee retention from different angles simultaneously to achieve positive results.

1. Positive Work Culture

Work culture is one of the cornerstones of a successful and long-lasting relationship between employer and employee. There is a large body of research confirming an association between a supportive work environment and employee retention. A more in-depth look into the issue has revealed that organizational commitment and person-organization fit act as mediators of this relationship.
This implies that shared responsibility for each other and the common good between coworkers and supervisors shelters employees from overworking and stress. If people develop a positive attitude toward their work and company, they will be more likely to stay.

2. Team Building Activities

A positive work environment is to be nurtured by superiors and colleagues alike. That is why HR specialists should invest in boosting cooperation and communication between coworkers. One way to achieve this is through team-building activities.
When done right, these can not only increase retention but productivity as well. Having employees spend time together outside of work helps them discover their shared interests and sets the foundation for genuine friendships. While team-building activities help build trust and develop a sense of belonging to a group.

3. Sustainable Workload

Ensuring a sustainable workload for employees is a leading factor in diminishing attrition. Researchers have confirmed time and time again that turnover intentions are related to workload and other job stressors.
To achieve a sustainable workload for employees, start by assessing their daily routine. Try to identify tasks that disrupt the workflow and keep an eye out for any employee who might be overworked. There must be an equitable distribution of work between individuals and departments alike.
Meetings can take up a lot of unnecessary time, so only keep the ones that are absolutely necessary. Encourage emailing, direct phone calls, or in-person talks for discussing urgent matters.
Another activity that ends up devouring a lot of precious work time is the requirement of employees to prove that they are working. Filing reports or being closely monitored by supervisors can negatively impact their productivity and conveys mistrust on behalf of the employer.

4. Opportunities for Professional Development

Assurances of support for participation at Conferences and Networking Opportunities will attract recruits, but you must actually deliver on the promise for an employee to stay. Professional development is particularly important to physicians. They are highly driven by improving their knowledge and developing their skills.
The high number of family practice jobs in California creates a highly competitive market for employers and employees alike. That is why a solid physician retention plan is crucial in keeping star employees.

5. Pay Raises and Variable Pay Benefits

While an attractive salary might be very efficient for recruitment, it is not enough for retention. To affect turnover, the employer must go beyond the base salary. This aspect is especially important when promoting employees. A new job title can be flattering, but if it is unaccompanied by a considerable salary raise, it will not be enough.
Researchers have identified a statistically significant correlation between an increase in base salary and employee escalation. They have determined that a 10% base salary increase is associated with a 1.5% higher likelihood of employees staying after their next promotion.
There is also the option of variable pay benefits. Many employers want to keep fixed costs and prefer to maintain base salary. In this scenario, employees can benefit from variable payouts. Such a plan can be implemented on several considerations, like performance, holidays, and organizational achievements. The number of organizations that prefer this route keeps increasing over the years.

Final Thoughts

The importance of keeping skilled employees has been under the limelight of organizational psychology research. Thus, HR personnel have a treasure trove of scientific data upon which to build their employee retention plan. It is crucial to attack the problem from different angles. The relationship between company and employee must be nurtured over time to prevent turnover intent.

The post 5 Best Strategies for Employee Retention appeared first on Lanka Talents.

Google Will Invest $7 Billion In Offices Across America And Create 10,000 New Jobs

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 05:44:19 +0000

It feels that we’re coming to the countdown of what companies in the U.S. are going to do about their working arrangements. Many people look to leading progressive, cutting-edge companies to see what they’re planning.

One of those leaders is Google and its parent company, Alphabet. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of both entities, previously said he’d be “flexible” with its workers and offer a “hybrid” model that will include a blend of both remote and in-office methods of working.

Pichai said, “We firmly believe that in-person, being together, having a sense of community is super important when you have to solve hard problems and create something new so we don’t see that changing. But we do think we need to create more flexibility and more hybrid models.” He feels that this approach would serve to accommodate the desires of the Googlers.

In a company blog post published Thursday, the chief executive wrote, “I believe a lasting economic recovery will come from local communities, and the people and small businesses that give them life.” Pichai added, “Google wants to be a part of that recovery. That’s why we plan to invest over $7 billion in offices and data centers across the U.S. and create at least 10,000 new full-time Google jobs in the U.S. this year. This includes investing in communities that are new to Google and expanding in others across 19 states.”

This decision strays from what was previously believed—that remote work will be the future. Google’s large investment in office space reflects that while remote work will still be an option, it won’t be universally adopted as previously believed.

MORE FOR YOU

We’re Getting Close To The End Of The Pandemic: Here’s What You Need To Do Right Now To Be Ready For When The Job Market Heats-Up

The 20 Happiest Countries In The World In 2021 (Guess Where The U.S. Ranked?)

Inside ‘The Firm’: How The Royal Family’s $28 Billion Money Machine Really Works

“Coming together in person to collaborate and build community is core to Google’s culture, and it will be an important part of our future. So we continue to make significant investments in our offices around the country,” he said. “This will help bring more jobs and investment to diverse communities as part of our previously announced racial equity commitments. We’re already making progress: 2020 was our largest year ever for hiring Black and Latinx Googlers in the U.S., both overall and in tech roles.”

Google plans to open or enhance locations throughout the country. This includes a data center in South Carolina, a new Cloud engineering site in Durham, North Carolina and Operations Center in Southaven, Mississippi. The company will open their new Reston, Virginia office building and the first Houston office.

In the Midwest, there will be new or enhanced locations in Rochester, Minnesota, New Albany, Ohio and Papillion, Nebraska. The search giant will continue to add to its New York offices, planning to double their workforce by 2028. In other parts of the Northeast, they’ll invest in their Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania offices and add to the workforce in Washington, D.C.

The company plans for a new Portland, Oregon office and Google will continue to grow its footprint in California. It will also support affordable housing initiatives in the Bay Area as part of its $1 billion housing commitment.

The move by Google is a smart hedge, as the company acknowledges there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. There are some people who can’t wait to return to an office setting. Others love being at home, as it affords them a better work and life balance.

Although it looks like we may have the upperhand on Covid-19, there is no guarantee that there won’t be future resurgences and new strains. A large number of people may remain afraid of returning to work. They’ll be worried about contracting the virus during the round-trip bus and train commutes or while at work. Potential massive legal liabilities will force management to allow people who are either at risk or overly anxious to remain at home.

Corporate executives will also factor in the risks of having a significant percentage of their staff working remotely. They’ll be anxious about the adverse impact on the company and the productivity of employees. It could divide the workforce into two camps—the ones who are in the office and those who are at home. The people working remotely may start to feel left out, as they won’t have the daily interactions and serendipitous meetings with managers and colleagues that regularly occur at the office.

Human resources could feel that recruiting, onboarding and training new remote hires will be challenging. Projects that require collaboration from multiple people may take longer without everyone being at the same location. Executives may feel that there is the potential for a loss of corporate culture and lack of camaraderie with a large majority of people working outside of the office environment. Without spontaneous meetings, lunches taken together by co-workers and drinks after work, the attachment and connection with the company diminishes.

Smart, young, talented people may elect only to work at companies that require people to be at the office. For Generation-Z and younger Millennials, it is socially important to be around other people. They desire a social life with their co-workers, need mentors and to feel a part of something. It would be disheartening for them to get a new job with a great company, only to sit in front of a computer in a small apartment or their parents’ home everyday.

It has been reported that the divorce rate has rapidly increased during the pandemic. In a study, about “31% of couples admitted lockdown has caused irreparable damage to their relationships.” Being stuck at home has caused an increase in stress and tension. This is exacerbated when parents have to juggle careers and child care for young ones.

It’s reasonable to see why Google is seriously considering a blended hybrid approach toward work. Most likely, many other companies may follow the tech giant’s lead and offer a combination of alternative work arrangements.

Source – Jack Kelly

The post Google Will Invest $7 Billion In Offices Across America And Create 10,000 New Jobs appeared first on Lanka Talents.

Estate workers daily wage to be hiked to Rs 1000; basic wage at Rs 900

Buddhika Perera — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 05:09:32 +0000

The Wages Board has decided to increase the daily wage of plantation workers up to Rs 1000, the labour ministry said Monday.

“Trade union leaders had put forward a proposal to provide a daily basic wage of Rs 900 and a budgetary allowance of Rs 100,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that this proposal had been passed by 11 votes to 8 during a meeting between trade unions and estate company owners.

The increment would apply to workers attached to the tea and rubber industries.

According to the ministry, the matter had been brought before the Wages Board after 12 rounds of discussions involving employers had proved futile.

The ministry noted that the decision to provide the increment marks the end of a struggle that has lasted for nearly five years.

The post Estate workers daily wage to be hiked to Rs 1000; basic wage at Rs 900 appeared first on Lanka Talents.

In Photos: London’s thinnest house is up for sale

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 06:38:14 +0000

1 of 10

London: Blink and you could easily miss it. Wedged between a doctor’s surgery and a hairdressing salon, London’s thinnest house is only identified by a streak of dark blue paint. But the five-floor house in Shepherd’s Bush – which is just 5ft 6ins (1.6 metres) at its narrowest point – is currently on the market for £950,000 ($1.3 million, 1.1 million euros).Image Credit: AFP

2 of 10

The unusual property, originally a Victorian hat shop with storage for merchandise and living quarters on its upper floors, was built sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. In a nod to its past, the house still has an old-fashioned glass shopfront with a lamp in the shape of a bowler hat.Image Credit: AFP

3 of 10

David Myers, an assistant sales manager at Winkworth estate agents which is selling the property, said the house was worth its price tag because it’s “a unique part of London history”. “It’s a bit of London magic,” he told AFP.Image Credit: AFP

4 of 10

The dimensions of the house differ throughout. While the kitchen at the end of the lower ground floor is the house’s narrowest spot, it opens up into a dining area that’s nearly double the size. The ground floor, which now contains a reception where the old shop would have been, and the first floor are of similar sizes.Image Credit: AFP

5 of 10

Spiral stairs lead from the second floor – the location of a bathroom and shower room – up to the master bedroom on the third. It is accessed by a hatch which opens through the floor to save on space and the bed, which is built in, takes up an entire end of the room, fitted into the walls on either side.Image Credit: AFP

6 of 10

With what the London estate agent described as “unique” period features mixed with art deco and other eclectic interior designs, the house would appeal to buyers who were “arty” or “bohemian”.Image Credit: AFP

7 of 10

“There are no houses in London that are 5ft 6in. There are houses in London that are five storeys but don’t have such a unique space, such individuality,” Myers said. “From the owners that have owned it in the past, they’ve all put their own stamp on it,” he added.Image Credit: AFP

8 of 10

The price of the house is prohibitive for most in Britain, where the average house price is #256,000, but typical of London’s property market. “It’s more expensive because we have everything going on. From somewhere like Shepherd’s Bush we can be in the very heart of (London) in within 10 to 15 minutes,” the estate agent said.Image Credit: AFP

9 of 10

If it meets its asking price, the house will have doubled in value since 2006 when it was sold for £488,500, according to the UK’s land registry. By Myers’ estimations, the house is worth more because of its dimensions. “(In) a lot of parts of London people will use the pound per square footage mark and use it as a benchmark for what are properties going to be worth,” he said. “It doesn’t always work like that. When you’ve got something as individual as this, the price has to be reflected on that.”Image Credit: AFP

10 of 10

The impact of the Covid pandemic, which Myers said had been a impetus for families in particular to move out of London and take advantage of the space afforded by lower property prices outside the capital, meant the house was unlikely to sell right away. “(In) a situation such as Covid, where all the fish in the sea have thinned out quite considerably, there’s not so many buyers out there. “And there are less buyers for a unique, individual property such as this.” But ultimately the London estate agent was undeterred. “It’s chic, it’s beautiful, and that’s why this house will sell,” he said.Image Credit: AFP

The post In Photos: London’s thinnest house is up for sale appeared first on Lanka Talents.

Breaking The ‘Concrete’ Ceiling: Roz Brewer To Become The S&P 500’s Only Black Female CEO

Lanka Talents Creation — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 05:10:59 +0000

On Tuesday night, news broke that Brewer, who has served as Starbucks’ chief operating officer since 2017, will be taking the helm of Walgreens Boots Alliance in March. It’s a momentous announcement, making Brewer, who is 58, not just Walgreens’ first female CEO, but the only Black woman chief executive of a S&P 500 company.

“Congratulations to my corporate sister Roz Brewer on being named the new CEO of WBA,” Ariel Investments president and co-CEO Mellody Hobson said on Twitter. “Another glass ceiling shattered today!”

Brewer has not yet publicly commented on the remarkable nature of her appointment (and has not yet replied to a Forbes request for an interview), instead saying in a statement issued through Walgreens, “I am excited to work alongside the entire WBA team as we deliver further innovation and positively impact the lives of millions of people around the world every day. This is especially true today as the company plays a crucial role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.” (Of note: When Brewer, a scientist by training, officially assumes her position in March, it will mean that three women lead the nation’s three largest pharmacy chains, with Heyward Donigan serving as Rite Aid’s CEO and Karen Lynch running CVS.)

This won’t be Brewer’s first time being the “only” or “first” Black woman in a role: Before joining Starbucks in 2017, she served as the CEO of Sam’s Club and was the first Black woman to lead a Walmart division. In 2019, she became the only Black director on Amazon’s board (which she’ll depart ahead of officially becoming Walgreens’ chief executive). And the youngest of five children to two parents who worked the assembly line at General Motors in Detroit, Brewer is part of the first generation in her family to attend college.

If you’re talking about how women as a group face the glass ceiling, women of color face a concrete one.
Serena Fong, vice president of strategic engagement at Catalyst

Brewer has, in the past, been open about racial dynamics in the corporate world and the ways she’s been affected. “When you’re a Black woman, you get mistaken a lot. You get mistaken as someone who could actually not have that top job. Sometimes you’re mistaken for kitchen help,” she said in a 2018 graduation speech at Spelman College, her alma mater and HBCU on whose board she sits. “Sometimes people assume you’re in the wrong place, and all I can think in the back of my head is, ‘No, you’re in the wrong place.’”

And in a 2015 interview with CNN, when she was then the CEO of Sam’s Club, Brewer talked about her commitment to diversity across all aspects of business, including at the supplier level. “You have to speak up and speak out. And I try to use my platform for that,” she said at the time. The alt-right erupted in outrage, calling for Walmart boycotts and sending Brewer death threats.

“I said, ‘Diversity makes good business sense,’” she has said. “How dare I?”

Roz Brewer will soon be the only Black woman running a S&P 500 company, but she will not be the first. That honor goes to Ursula Burns, who became Xerox’s CEO in 2009. Aside from Mary Winston’s seven-month tenure as the interim Bed Bath and Beyond CEO in 2019, there have been no other Black women elected to run one of America’s largest publicly-traded companies since Burns stepped down from Xerox in 2016.

“Roz Brewer is outstanding, but she’s not unique. There are many talented, capable women—Black women, women of color—out there. Corporate America has to do a better job of identifying and developing talent,” says Shellye Archambeau, the former CEO of compliance software company MetricStream and current director on the boards of Verizon, Nordstrom, Roper Technologies and Okta. (She is also a contributor to Forbes.com.)

“If you’re talking about how women as a group face the glass ceiling, what we’ve always heard is women of color face a concrete one,” says Serena Fong, vice president for strategic engagement at research firm Catalyst. “And that is due to the systemic barriers that exist in terms of talent management and advancement.”

Catalyst’s data shines a light on those barriers: As of 2019, white women held 32.3% of all management positions, while Black women held just 4%. At the senior vice president level, 26% of positions were held by women, but only 5% were held by women of color. A 2020 Lean In report, meanwhile, found that for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 58 Black women are promoted, too—even though Black women ask for promotions at the same rate as men.

“I wish I could tell you it’s getting better,” Brewer said in a Goldman Sachs discussion in 2019. “I think we are showing up more in numbers, but I still get mistaken” for someone who does not have the top job. It’s an astounding statement from someone who was responsible for a more-than $100 billion profit and loss statement at Walmart and who, prior to that, culminated a 22-year career at Kimberly-Clark as a global president. When outgoing Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina praised Brewer as a “distinguished and experienced executive” who’s driven “significant and sustainable growth and value creation,” he wasn’t exaggerating.

“She’s eminently qualified,” Fong says. Brewer’s promotion “should be celebrated; this is a very positive step towards towards building more inclusive workplaces. But it’s just a step. This is not celebration of the end result, but a marker in terms of the continuation of the work that still needs to be done.”

Archambeau puts it this way: “It is historic. I can’t wait until we get to the point that it’s not.”

Brewer, who said in a December interview with broadcast journalist Shaun Robinson that she’s been surprised by the outpouring of attention she’s received for the barriers she’s broken, seems inclined to agree.

“I would have hoped that by now it’s boring,” she said in 2019. “It signals to me every time that my work, our work, is never done.”

The post Breaking The ‘Concrete’ Ceiling: Roz Brewer To Become The S&P 500’s Only Black Female CEO appeared first on Lanka Talents.

WKND Conversation: Meet Binod Chaudhary, Nepal’s first and only billionaire

Buddhika Perera — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 04:35:42 +0000

Dr Binod Chaudhary, 65, is Nepal’s biggest export to the world after Mount Everest. Chaudhary, whose net worth is estimated at $1.6 billion (Dh5.88b), is the picturesque yet impoverished Himalayan nation’s first and only billionaire and has accumulated his wealth over the past four decades.

The affable and dapper Chaudhary, the head of CG Corp Global, is a proud third-generation Nepalese national of Indian descent. His grandfather, who belonged to Churi-Ajitgarh village from Rajasthan, had shifted his base to Nepal around 140 years ago to set up a textile business. Chaudhary, who is ethnically a Marwari, has business in his gene. He reminisces about bootstrapping his fanciful business concepts into a money-spinning reality. Wealth creation, he recalls, is his unbridled passion, as he’s not born with “the proverbial silver spoon”. His initial business venture embodied the late 1970s’ Kathmandu that was basking in the glory of the Beatniks and the Flower Power generation. Chaudhary, then in his 20s and sporting long locks, had opened Copper Floor, a nightclub, which soon caught the zeitgeist of Kathmandu’s bohemian rhapsody, much to the delight of the Western backpackers and locals alike.

He struck out on his own outside the family business with Copper Floor, which was a sign of Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin in somnolent Kathmandu. Copper Floor opened royal doors for Chaudhary. The late Prince Dhirendra of Nepal became a close friend of the budding entrepreneur and led to his intimate relationship with the former late King Birendra. The bonhomie stood in good stead in a country like Nepal, where close personal relations are key to business success. Chaudhary was a starry-eyed youth, who was passionate about travel, music and Bollywood movies, in his formative years. But passion took a backseat, as his biggest idea came fortuitously during an idle chatter with a friend who worked for a travel agency in Kathmandu. The friend had seen large quantities of instant noodles that were brought home by Nepalese families arriving from Bangkok, Thailand, on the luggage conveyor belts at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu.

Soon, Chaudhary flew to Thailand and convinced Kitti Pongsri, the managing director of the Wai Wai noodle brand, to get into a collaboration with him that would take the brand beyond the Land of Smiles. Wai Wai, which was launched in Thailand in 1972, opened a new manufacturing plant in Kathmandu in 1984, as Chaudhary spawned the brand’s success in the Indian sub-continent with technical support from the Thai group.And lo and behold, a noodle king was born. Wai Wai has emerged as Nepal’s most famous export over the years. Now, instant noodles are sold in over 40 countries in the world. It has 30 per cent of the market share in India, and over 60 per cent in neighbouring Nepal. Wai Wai factories are spread all across the world — from India, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan to Serbia and Egypt. Chaudhary’s business empire spans over 30 countries from Moldova to Kenya. Over 15,000 employees work for Chaudhary Group (CG), the only multinational conglomerate headquartered in Nepal, and CG Corp Global is for its global operations. The instant noodle-to-consumer goods conglomerate comprises 160 companies and deals in 123 brands, capturing the spirit of a diversified transnational corporate entity. The noodle king has diversified over the years from CG Foods, the maker of Wai Wai, to Nabil Bank, the first private bank in Nepal, and 134 hotel assets, including 36 owned and 98 managed properties, including a string of luxury hotels with India’s Taj Hotel’s chain owned by the Tata Group. His business portfolio is like a mini republic: from cement, telecom to hydropower and renewables coupled with education, biotech and Ayurveda. Hospitality sector may have been roiled by the raging novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic and many people have become collateral damage because of the contagion. But Chaudhary, a large-hearted employer known for his generosity, didn’t let go of a single employee because of a Covid-19-induced downturn in his businesses.

“My employees and colleagues have been my strength, they have stood by me through thick and thin amid these unprecedented hard times,” he says. Chaudhary, a die-hard optimist, sees “a new business opportunity despite the pandemic”. He has come up with a three-step mantra for the beleaguered hospitality sector. “Survive, revive and thrive” is CG Hospitality’s three-year plan, which is on display at Taj JLT, a 200-room property that was opened on December 8, 2019, in Dubai barely a couple of months before the pandemic struck. Chaudhary, who believes in establishing a key asset in a new geography ahead of expanding his business footprints, is actively exploring more investments and partnership opportunities in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. CG Corp Global, which has been operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for the past 17 years, opened Taj JLT to tap into businesses, as Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has over 20,000 companies registered at Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT). “Taj JLT is an ideal property to cater to this market known for affluent business houses and discerning business travellers, who are getting back their mojo, thanks to the wise and visionary UAE government’s mass vaccination drive,” Chaudhary says. He’s pinning his hopes on Taj JLT in his expansion plans in the region, as Dubai holds the centrestage because of its unique geo-strategic location. “Wai Wai is primed for an expansion.

Besides, Taj JLT will play a pivotal role in growing our wellness brand, The Farm, in Dubai and the MENA region,” he adds. Chaudhary’s sprawling white house in Kathmandu is a happy home for him, his wife Sarika and three sons Nirvana, Rahul and Varun. Each of his sons are responsible for part of the conglomerate’s 16 business divisions. An excerpt from Chaudhary’s autobiography, Making It Big captures his joie de vivre. “You have to sacrifice something to gain something else, my father told me. That is one piece of fatherly advice I could never accept. I want everything from life, not one thing at the cost of another,” says a poignant quote from the book. Chaudhary, who has an incredible talent for connecting the dots to power a new business venture, counts several former and current prime ministers, such as Narendra Modi (India) and Mahathir Mohamed (Malaysia) to spiritual gurus like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Bollywood stars such as Salman Khan, among his friends and well-wishers. Chaudhary was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the Sri Sri University in Odisha, India, in 2015.

Today, he wears many hats — from being a philanthropist to a Member of Parliament (MP) in Nepal representing the Nepali Congress Party (NCP). Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has issued a grant to the Chaudhary Foundation, his non-profit organisation since 1995, to launch, develop and scale Baliyo Nepal that seeks to mitigate chronic malnutrition, stunted growth and hunger in the impoverished nation. Baliyo Nepal reveals the art-of-giving facet of Chaudhary’s persona that’s a happy blend of his keen interest in meditation and trekking. Chaudhary’s business trotternama bucks the stereotype of an exploited Nepalese and celebrates the success of a community, who are feted globally for their bravery, pride but seldom for their business acumen.

His material success couched in self-belief and making friends from all walks of life is a tale of road less travelled and where even angels fear to tread. Lessons learnt from life that no business school in the world teaches.

The post WKND Conversation: Meet Binod Chaudhary, Nepal’s first and only billionaire appeared first on Lanka Talents.

How to Write a Cover Letter Effectively!

Lanka Talents Creation — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 02:42:30 +0000

How to Write a Cover Letter

Cover letters, as much as they require more work, cover letters are a great opportunity to cover qualifications we can’t fully explain in our resumes. In addition, they help personalize job applicants to enable them to come across more as real people to potential employers. If you throw together a cover letter in the hopes that nobody will actually read it, you might be missing a chance to land the job. To take advantage of a cover letter’s full potential, follow these steps below. You’ll find advice on formatting, reviewing, and researching cover letters.

How to Write a Cover Letter | Tips

Grab the reader’s attention. Use a question or leading statement to entice further reading.
Fill in the blanks left on a resume. A cover letter is your chance to say anything about your skills that can’t be said on a resume.
Stick to one page. Employers don’t have time to read a short story.
Include evidence that you have done research on the company.
Tie your own skills to the job description.
Describe your abilities in terms of how your experiences will benefit the organisation.
Ask for an interview. Confidence can land a job.
Use caution with writing styles. If you are applying for marketing position with a company you know is quirky, feel free to be a little more casual. If you are applying for an accountant or a legal position, remember that formality is the norm for many of these organisations.

Learn more about job interview tips.

How to Write a Cover Letter | Infographic

Useful Phrases for Letters about Employment

The post How to Write a Cover Letter Effectively! appeared first on Lanka Talents.