AROUND THE WORLD VIA BOSTON
websitebuilder • March 27, 2015
Fortune has published its annual “The 100 Best Companies To Work For” (Milton Moskowitz and Robert Levering, March 15, 2015, pp. 97–154). After Google earned the top spot on the list for the sixth time in eight years, the second position went to Boston Consulting Group. In assessing the company’s ranking, Fortune drew special attention to the social-impact factor:
“One of the allures of working for BCG is the ability to take a [paid] social-impact leave of absence for three to 12 months.” (p. 143)
Boston Consulting Group obviously takes social causes very seriously. Last year various employees were on paid leaves to help these organizations:
- Techno Serve.
- The World Food Programme.
- The Clinton Health Access Initiative.
- Education Pioneers.
- Green Dot.
- The Gates Foundation.
- The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency.
- Yunus Social Business.
Many reasons exist for Boston Consulting Group coming in at second place out of the 100 best places to work. Nevertheless, when an employee has a passion for social causes and the employer is able to facilitate the same, that company-worker bond only strengthens. Boston Consulting Group is not the first company to learn that lesson, nor should it be the last.
Is a college degree still worth the investment? It depends of the path you craft.
You need to give serious thought to taming the tiger before you are in its cage.
My transparent reflection about my five-year post-layoff experience, how I navigated it, learned through it, and identified some wisdom that might inspire others.
The earliest days of this series present fundamentally significant leadership content.
We explore the overuse or inappropriate use of the words "honest," "honesty," and "honestly." Much of the overuse or inappropriate use of these words is in contexts that intrinsically message the audience that the speaker is not trustworthy. I call the overuse or inappropriate use of these words in this context HONESTY VALIDATORS because the speaker believes they validate the truth being spoken. We need a solution to this problem. My solution is to replace these honesty validators with CLARITY VALIDATORS. Instead of trying to be honest, try to be clear. Replacing "honest," "honesty," and "honestly," with "clear," "clarity," and "clearly," produces significantly more benefit to the speaker and to the audience.
What the Boeing 737 Max crashes teach us about training, corporate culture, and communication.
Although anyone can and will criticize higher education, millennials are evidently smart enough to know its value. In spite of the horror stories about student loan debt, academic disasters, and wrong career turns, millennials have boasted one of the highest graduation rates of any generation to date. Generation Z may soon surpass them too as Laura A. Scione, managing editor of eCampus News reports : “ Despite growing questions around the value of college and return on investment in tuition, just 25 percent of Generation Z students say they believe they can have a rewarding career without going to college, compared to 40 percent of millennials. Eighty percent of Generation Z respondents and 74 percent of millennials agree that college either has a fair amount of value, is a good value, or is an excellent value. Only 20 percent of Generation Z students and 26 percent of millennials said college has ‘little value’ or ‘no value at all.’ ” Good for them! The statistics remain on their side—and the side of anyone who pursues higher education. Anthony P. Carnevale is the director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Based on his research, that trend will only continue (Gillian B. White “Those Savvy Millennials” The Atlantic , May 2015, p. 38): " In 1973, 32% of jobs did not even require a high school diploma, 9% required a bachelor’s degree, and 7% required a master’s degree or higher. It is projected that by 2020, 12% of jobs will not require a high school diploma, 24% will require a bachelor’s degree, and 11% will require a master’s degree or higher. " Derek Newton wrote an article entitled “Please Stop Asking Whether College Is Worth It” in which his opening declaration gets right to the point: “ Colleges and universities are still the best, most direct path to a good career that pays well. ” In addition to those insights, the unemployment figures consistently reveal the enduring value of higher education. The seasonally adjusted July 2019 unemployment rate for persons not having a high school diploma is 5.1% ( Bureau of Labor Statistics ). Having a high school diploma drops that rate to 3.6% and some college or a two-year degree drops it further to 3.2%. Pretty good trending, would you agree? Finally, if we look at people having a four-year degree, a graduate degree, or a doctoral degree, the unemployment rate is a low 2.2%. Higher education’s edge is especially clear when you consider the range of these numbers over the education level. Look at the two ends of the spectrum: less-than-high school (5.1%) versus a four-year degree or higher (2.2%). Consistently, regardless of the measured time, the unemployment rate for a less-than-high-school-educated worker is two to four times larger than for the college-degreed worker. This is why, when people seek my counsel about career planning, higher education remains one of my most significant emphases. Education pays. Degrees still rock. Regardless of how good or bad the economy is, regardless of how many individual academic and career disasters can be cited, and regardless of how loudly the antidegree crowd howls, you are still in a better position having a degree than not having a degree. The good news for the millennials and Generation Z is that they have arrived at the same conclusion and now they will enjoy the benefits.