Are you building a 21st-Century Organization?
Thought-provoking article from McKinsey & Company The 21st-Century Organization – Human Capital – CFO.com. The main point is that U.S. companies are increasingly comprised of knowledge workers who unfortunately, are trapped in organizational structures that don't support them.
While there are some good ideas here, like separating current line businesses from new strategic initiatives, I do have some questions about how effective this approach will be. For example…
What are the incentives for top talent to create internal long-term growth businesses inside a big company? Better to go outside into the start-up world, get a chunk of equity, and sell the company to a larger entity. This doesn't meet everyone's risk/reward criteria, but certainly enough people are willing to take this risk.
At any rate, the authors certainly are right on one point — that current organizations fail to tap into the knowledge of their people. How well does your organization do this? Let me know what you think.
