Over the next 7 weeks I would like to share with my EQ readers some research findings and my own views on what I have learned from over 30 years experience of working with Emotional Intelligence in international organizations in Europe, North-America and Asia. I will post one chapter each week under the following headings;

  1. The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2012-08-10
  2. Human Capital in Asia
  3. How are companies responding to the Human Challenge?
  4. What makes an Organization Successful?
  5. Select the Best and Train the Rest
  6. Connect the dots between Human Capital and Business results

1. The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2012

The Conference Board is a global, independent, non-for-profit US based organization that conducts research, assess trends and makes forecasts for businesses all around the world. Their reports are well worth reading and I want to share some of their findings in one of their recent publications as it has a huge impact on Kandidata Asia´s work and what we are trying to do within the field of Leadership Development and Emotional Intelligence.

The report is named “Risky Business – Focusing on Innovations and Talents in a Volatile World” (Research report TCB-R-1491-12-RR) where over 700 CEOs have responded to the 2012 edition of the Conference Board Challenge Survey.

According to the survey the top five challenges for CEOs are:

  1. Innovation
  2. Human Capital
  3. Global Economic Risk
  4. Government Regulations
  5. Global Expansion

The race to innovate, the war for talent and the hunt for new markets –all in a generally volatile business environment, puts high demands and challenges for business leaders. These challenges seem to be universal for most companies but there are regional differences where the issues for leaders in China and India seem to be particularly challenging. To attract innovative talent and to develop effective leaders in countries where there is a shortage of highly skilled talent and where inflated wages is becoming an increasing problem is indeed a challenge.

Human Capital is second on the ranking list and is, of course, at the core of the other challenges. It takes good people with innovative minds, courage to state their views and a global mindset if companies are to be successful on a global arena.

The three top ranked strategies for what organizations need to do was:

  1. Grow talent internally
  2. Improve leadership development programs
  3. Provide employees training and development

All involve actions that have an impact on hiring, developing and retaining people.

It becomes increasingly clear that to be successful, organizations must possess an innovative mindset and a corporate culture that brings out the best in teams of diverse, talented, engaged and passionate people.

The big question is of course; How do you create such a culture??