Linkage, Inc.

Daniel Pink: What Really Motivates Workers (Video)

Kristin Schepici — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:40:31 +0000

In the video clip below author and Talent & Organization Development Institute™ keynote Daniel Pink talks with Eric Schurenberg, Editor-in-Chief of CBS Moneywatch.com about the scientific research used to identify what makes us truly happy at work.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=feDJ3zL23qw

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Free Webinar: Strategic Thinking: An Everyday Guide to Getting Results

Kristin Schepici — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:30:55 +0000

March 21, 2012
1pm EST

Have you recently been reminded to “think more strategically”? For today’s managers and leaders, strategy is no longer a once-a-year output from the annual business planning process. In fact, strategic thinking is an essential lens through which leaders at all levels evaluate and prioritize the daily work of the organization.

In this free session, you will learn how to:

Think more strategically about your work and its value to your organization
Assess your ability to think strategically in everyday work situations
Determine where to focus your strategy to gain maximum benefit for yourself and your organization

About the presenter:

Rich Rosier is Senior Vice President and Principal Consultant at Linkage. He works with organizations to help them define and implement a winning strategy and maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their leadership development, coaching, organization development, and growth and innovation investments. Rich has worked closely with renowned thought leaders including Peter Drucker, Warren Bennis, Tom Peters, Marcus Buckingham and hundreds of other content experts.

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The Immigrant Perspective on Business Leadership By Glenn Llopis

Kristin Schepici — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:00:26 +0000

The workplace and business landscape has changed, becoming rapidly more diverse and global, and American business leadership is not moving fast enough to catch up. In fact, leadership in America’s corporations is losing its impact and influence to perform in this changing terrain. As a result, U.S. businesses risk falling further behind in marketplaces around the world. Many of the dimensions of the changing competitive landscape are well known – the varying cost of labor, the shift of manufacturing overseas, the exploding economies of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries – but what is less well understood is the role that diversity plays in both the marketplace and in the competitive advantages BRIC companies and others enjoy.

It is not enough to meet the numbers in terms of workforce diversity and to pursue ethnic product differentiation, as many U. S. companies have done. Diversity – more broadly defined and better understood in the U. S. as the immigrant perspective – holds the keys to unlocking business growth and innovation in the next decade and beyond. Companies that develop an immigrant perspective will dominate their marketplaces in the years to come.

Download the white paper on The Immigrant Perspective on Business Leadership

White Paper Author:

Glenn Llopis is the Chairman of the Glenn Llopis Group and founder of the Center for Hispanic Leadership and the Center for Innovation and Humanity. He will also be a skill workshop faciliator on strategic relationship building at the Institute for Leading Diversity & Inclusion™ this April 30-May 2 in Atlanta.

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Don’t Miss This Week’s Free Webinar: Leveraging Differences for Business Success

Kristin Schepici — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:15:43 +0000

February 23, 2012
1pm EST

Many organizations boast that they have improved diversity and can illustrate diversity among their employees. But, the real power of diversity comes when organizations integrate diversity into an overall business strategy. In this free webinar, participants will learn how to use Leveraging Difference™ to turn persistent diversity problems into solutions that drive business results. Difference can become a powerful source of sustainable competitive advantage instead of a distracting mandate handed down from HR.

Participants will:

explore why existing diversity programs have failed to be sustainable and/or contribute to the mission-driven success of companies
outline an alternative that turns diversity from an uninspiring corporate social obligation into a source of energy, commitment, creativity, and productivity for the entire organization

About the presenter:

Martin Davidson, PhD, teaches Leadership and Organizational Behavior at Darden, and has served as the faculty leader for the Leadership and Diversity section. He served two years as the Associate Dean and Chief Diversity Officer for the Darden School, where he worked to create a more diverse and inclusive environment for faculty, administration, staff, and students. He is the author of The End of Diversity as We Know It as well as a collection of research and articles.

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Linkage Named to Training Industry’s 2012 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List

Kristin Schepici — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:00:48 +0000

We were recently named to Training Industry’s 2012 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies list. This list is intended to help organizations evaluate leadership-training service providers. “For over 25 years, Linkage has worked to train and develop leaders to produce better results. We are honored to receive this recognition for the third year in a row. This award validates and reaffirms the value that we work hard to create for our clients and partners,” said Adam Rothberg, Program Manager, Linkage.

TrainingIndustry.com spotlights the latest news, articles, case studies, and best practices within the training industry. Their focus is on helping dedicated business and training professionals get the information, insight, and tools needed to more effectively manage the business of learning.

“Linkage strives to exceed our client’s expectations through best-in-class leadership development solutions and transformational learning experiences offered globally. We are thrilled to receive this recognition for our efforts in this area,” said Christine Hizny, Director of Learning, Online, and Partner Solutions, Linkage.

Read the full story>>

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First Modern President: Theodore Roosevelt

Kristin Schepici — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:00:48 +0000

In honor of this year’s President’s Day, we are reflecting on one of the most memorable presidents, Theodore Roosevelt.

According to historians and the Miller Center, “Theodore Roosevelt is widely regarded as the first modern President of the United States. The stature and influence that the office has today began to develop with TR. Throughout the second half of the 1800s, Congress had been the most powerful branch of government. And although the presidency began to amass more power during the 1880s, Roosevelt completed the transition to a strong, effective executive. He made the President, rather than the political parties or Congress, the center of American politics.”

Who would you rank as the top five US presidents?

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Free Webinar: Finding the ‘Diamonds in the Rough’ in your Organization

Kristin Schepici — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:00:20 +0000

March 6, 2012
12:30pm EST

Last year, three out of four organizations lost high-performing employees that they did not want to lose; and the ability to sustain top talent is a challenge facing all organizations worldwide. Organization development and human resource professionals feel the pressure to recruit, retain and develop their talent, no matter how large or small their organization.

In this complimentary webinar we will discuss talent acquisition strategies that will help build a framework for finding those “diamonds in the rough.”

Participants will:
• Differentiate between talent management and talent acquisition
• Develop a blueprint for evaluating internal and external talent which will help them to uncover those diamonds in the rough

About the presenter:
Sarah Le Roy leads Linkage’s Talent Management practice area and oversees Linkage Executive Advisors. She is also responsible for the acquisition and development of human capital within the company. Sarah has worked with leaders at all levels across a number of industries focusing on driving business results through better talent management, action driven coaching, building and driving teams, and strategic thinking.

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What kind of difference has a bit of praise made to you?

Muriel Jones — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:00:31 +0000

On March 13, 2012, Douglas R. Conant, former President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company and co-author with Mette Norgaard, of Touchpoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments, will be presenting via satellite and the web as a part of Linkage’s Thought Leader Series.

Just a year ago, Doug’s article Secrets of Positive Feedback was posted on HBR.org:

Have you ever noticed how a pat on the back makes you feel great for days? If the praise comes in handwritten or email form, maybe you frame the note and put it on your wall so it can lift you up on a tough day or help you feel more engaged at work. To read the full article, click here.

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Free Webinar: Diversity 2.0: The D&I Social Media Revolution

Kristin Schepici — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:46:16 +0000

March 16, 2012
2pm EST

With the introduction of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media technologies, the global lexicon across cultures, generations, and professional industries has changed—permanently. Moreover, organizations are finding that their recruiting, retention, and training and development strategies are incomplete without incorporating a social media component.

In this complimentary webinar, we will:

Help you develop a social media strategy that can be used to enhance your diversity, inclusion, and engagement efforts
Discuss what is currently happening at the intersection of diversity, inclusion, and engagement with social media and share best practices
Investigate what questions need to be considered before embarking on a social media component to a diversity, inclusion, and engagement strategy
Complement our discussion, through interactive demonstration

About the presenters:

David Thompson is a social media strategist for Boehringer Ingelheim. David started his career making science, then made tools that made science. He currently focuses on social business.

Tanya M. Odom, Ed. M. is a FutureWork Institute, Inc.® consultant, facilitator, trainer, and speaker. She has conducted hundreds of workshops for adults and youth around the United States and Europe, including: Diversity 2016: What Does Your Future Hold?, Educational Equity, Human Rights Education, Intercultural Awareness, Hate Crime Prevention, and Conflict Management.

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Al Vivian on the evolution of diversity and inclusion

Kristin Schepici — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:00:04 +0000

Linkage’s Marketing Director Sarah Breigle sat down with BASIC Diversity’s CEO and President, Al Vivian at the 2011 Global Institute for Leadership Development (GILD) to discuss how the field of diversity and inclusion has evolved and what inspires his diversity and inclusion work. Here is their conversation:

Sarah: How has diversity evolved in the last decade to include both diversity and inclusion? What does it mean now versus what it meant 20 years ago?

Al: The big difference that you will see in the industry is that 10 years ago, maybe even 20 years ago, the topic of diversity was looked at only from the prospective of race and gender issues. And in particular, with regard to race, it was still from the mindset of black and white only, when in reality it was always much larger than that.

Practitioners are now looking at the whole spectrum of diversity, which includes race, gender, generational issues, educational background, geographic location, linguistic styles, and languages–it has become a tremendously large field. At my firm, BASIC Diversity, we describe diversity as “The combination of all the things that make us individuals”–to include culture. Cultural diversity cannot be avoided and must be included in the spectrum as well. Organizations must also create an inclusive environment. Diversity deals with representation or the demographic mix. Inclusion deals with creating an environment where every segment of that diverse demographic mix feels included and engaged.

What common leadership challenges do you see in your work?

I am glad you asked that question. At BASIC Diversity, we look at the entire field of diversity, not from a management perspective, but from a leadership perspective. Management is about policies and procedures; but leadership is about motivation and inspiration. What every organization must grow to realize is that diversity and inclusion are essentially leadership initiatives. Every organization must ask itself: “Have our leaders created an environment where every member of the team feels included, valued, and engaged?” Because in the end, it doesn’t matter how good your management skills and policies are if your people don’t feel valued. That’s leadership! Additionally it must cut across every culture and demographic group. We encourage questions like:

• How do you inspire and motivate across cultures?
• How do you show your people a vision, and then get them hooked on that vision?
• How do you inspire your people to want to do the right thing, so that they will create an inclusive work environment that will engage all of its people across every difference?

Can you describe an “ah-hah moment” that helped define who you are today?

That is a great question. I have a lot of “ah-hah moments” and I go out of my way to put myself in “ah-hah moment” situations. I am a true believer that if you are not constantly learning, then you are going backwards. So, my goal is always to become comfortable, being uncomfortable.

I think for me in the diversity arena, one of my biggest “ah-hah’s” was fully realizing that people are genuinely good. Unfortunately, when dealing with cross-cultural interactions so many people have this mindset of “our group is right/good; that group is wrong/bad,” when in reality, people are genuinely good.

There are a lot of really good people out there with a lot of bad information, and because we are afraid to have conversations about our differences, primarily due to the fear of offending somebody or ending up in a lawsuit, we do not have those conversations at all. Well, people do have those conversations, but only with other people who are just like them.

Often times, individuals will talk to people in their own cultural grouping about the “other”, but rarely do they sit down with the “other” and talk about our interactions and how we should work well together. I encourage having those conversations with people who are not like ourselves. So, my biggest “ah-hah” was learning that there are very few bad people out there. Most people are good people who are operating in a state of “unconscious incompetence.” In other words, they just don’t know what they don’t know. When you give good people knowledge, most good people will step up to the plate and do the right thing, especially, if you can show them the wisdom of how diversity and inclusion will improve their ability to do their jobs, and/or how it is going to help improve their lives, then you’ve got them. And when I do that, when I get people to see that it can improve their life, it makes it easy for me to do my job. And by the way, I am still shocked that I get paid to do my passion.

Tell me more about BASIC Diversity.

BASIC Diversity is one of the oldest diversity consulting firms in the country. We were founded in 1974 by my father Dr. C.T. Vivian, who was a member of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s executive staff. When the movement ended, he realized that there was still a lot of work to be done in the area of race relations, and began conducting a race relations seminar. To this day, our Race Awareness Workshop is an integral part of our business. Of course, we have consistently updated and revised it. As a result, it has been evaluated as the most effective race relations seminar in the country. When I joined the firm we only did training, and this seminar was all we had. But recognizing that diversity is more than just race, my goal was to expand our product offering, and the reach of our company as a whole. Now, we offer both training and consulting on gender relations, generational issues, and other areas encompassing the whole spectrum of diversity.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to talk with me today.

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