I had the good fortune of attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as a child and to this day still flash back to those memorable moments.
On Thanksgiving morning we still have the parade on the TV, but I have to admit, it’s more on in the background and we glance at it from time to time. It’s not as prominent as it used to be, but still present. Same is true for the football game - it's on in the background.
I think in these days, we find time is precious, so parking ourselves in front of the TV for a day doesn’t fit our lifestyle.
We have scaled back in recent years - perhaps because of COVID, but also because as our children get a little older we tend to spend time with them. It used to be a big extended family gathering, but less so in recent years.
We like to find a family in our community that is less fortunate than we are and bring them dinner for their family.
We spend the balance of the day in our kitchen - turkey is optional, but good food is a must.
Breakfast. We start with something fresh baked - it makes the house smell good and sets the tone for the day. My wife makes killer cinnamon rolls!
For example, in 1947, the tradition known as the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation was founded under the Truman administration. Ronald Reagan was actually the first present to formally "pardon" one of the turkeys given to him whereas Truman, Eisenhower, and several other presidents actually ate the turkeys presented to them! It wasn't until 1988, that George H.W. Bush instituted the turkey pardon as a national tradition while he was in office.
Ironically yes - it was a good year. I spent an inordinate amount of time with our kids which was great, but also a challenge. Think back about home schooling, juggling Zoom calls between two working parents, masks, InstaCart and home food delivery...it was a mess for a while, but all-in-all, it’s hard to complain. We were fortunate to have been able to stitch things together.
Health. As long as we’re all healthy, we can make anything work.
Neil Greco
Partner, Boston MA
Last week, global leaders met in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss action required to curtail climate change (COP26).
Many have differing views on the effectiveness of UN directives how best to combat climate change – from carbon sequestration to energy efficiency measures to the accelerated growth of renewable energy sources and an increasing interest in EVs.
This is not a new phenomenon.
In 1992, the United Nations established their Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Largely driven by Green House Gas (GHG) emission of industrialized nations, this initiative was reinforced by the Accord de Paris in 2015 (COP21). For years, coal fired (electric) generation has been the culprit followed closely by the refinement of oil and the harvesting of natural gas. Certainly, the mining and automotive industries have their fair share as well. Then of course there’s...the cows!
In 2019, investment heavyweight Goldman-Sachs made a statement by pledging $750B US for investment in sustainable finance. This not only increased visibility for “sustainability”, but it also accelerated the need to attract talented individuals to lead this charge – whether a Chief Sustainability Officer for a global industrial or a Chief Executive Officer for an early-stage disruptive technology provider or a Chief Technology Officer needed to spearhead a new automotive platform that (over time) will completely pivot an industry – leadership is required.
While many believe Green House Gas is the focal point, our experience suggests emission curtailment comes in many ways and extends well beyond (direct) carbon management.
For over a decade, we have been working on both sides of the emissions challenge – along-side of major industrials and Utilities helping them recruit “corporate sustainability” executives to navigate new business models and sustainability measures:
For those organizations responsible for ensuring there is power, we have been working to implement new ways of doing business – from carbon capture to modifying their generation fleets.
On the other side of the equation, we have been actively recruiting for companies delivering “new” forms of energy technology – from digital energy networks to solar and wind to battery energy storage to electric vehicle infrastructure – some of which has been instrumental in electrifying parts of the world where electricity is a luxury.
One thing remains constant, as industry continues to pivot and address climate change, organizations need a fresh perspective: new leadership. Whether evaluating supply chains to ensure they are “climate conscious” or attracting expertise from adjacent industries to propel advancements in technology, we have been at the forefront of this change. Why does this matter?
The difficulty in attracting A-Players to your business has increased exponentially. Knowing where to look and how to recruit talent has become increasingly important.
Leveraging years of experience, understanding the industry shift and being able to not only attract - but also assess- top talent is a key differentiator for Friisberg & Partners.
Neil Greco
Partner, Boston MA
Hvordan bliver arbejdsmiljøet i fremtiden – og hvordan vil det påvirke kulturen i virksomhederne? I løbet af de sidste årtier har vi set office hubs dukke op overalt og stadig flere arbejder freelance. Tidligere var en daglig arbejdsgang på moderne kontorer med stor opmærksomhed på faciliteter, et stærkt fokus for både arbejdsgivere og medarbejdere, men det har Covid-19 ændret på.
Med Covid-19 har vi taget et kvantespring ind i en ny virkelighed, hvor hjemmearbejde betyder at medarbejdere ikke opnår den samme dosis socialisering og vidensdeling ved vandkøleren eller kaffemaskinen. Størstedelen af medarbejdere har taget godt imod nye teknologier og justeret deres måder at arbejde på, og af denne grund er det i mange virksomheder ikke længere påkrævet, at vi er på kontoret hver dag eller deltager i møder med fysisk tilstedeværelse.
Jeg har i mit arbejde som Trusted Advisor erfaret, at vores ”new normal” kan fungere, når der bliver ydet en indsats i at skabe tillid til nye samarbejdspartnere og kolleger. Generelt kræver det en stor mængde fokus på hvordan alle parter kommunikerer.
For at give dig svar på ovenstående spørgsmål, har jeg talt med mit netværk.
Vertic er et digitalt marketingbureau, der hjælper F500-virksomheder med deres digitale rejse. De har med succes rekrutteret nye medarbejdere ansat til at arbejde på andre lokationer end deres normale kontorer geografisk under og efter COVID-19. De har haft et forspring med at arbejde fra forskellige geografiske lokationer internationalt og i brugen af alle digitale hjælpemidler. Alt dette fungerer i et omfang, hvor de overvejer at benytte sig af fjerntliggende hubs i en større grad, når de skal hente nye kompetencer og herved ikke være begrænset af den geografiske afstand. Mads Petersen der var med til at stifte virksomheden i 2002, er dog bevidst om vigtigheden af
Our own Diversity & Inclusion gives us a huge and sustainable advantage over our competitors. Gender parity is vital to any workplace. Not just because it's a laudable goal; it simply makes bottom-line business sense.
It is also the backbone of our innovation. We know that our multiplicity of perspectives sparks creativity, and helps us to spot and seize new opportunities. It also encourages us to always challenge stereotypes.
We understand that our diversity is integral to our success. It enables us to understand the unique needs of our clients and find innovative ways of addressing those needs.
Gender diversity helps us to attract and retain talented women. No company can afford to ignore 50% of the potential workforce and expect to be competitive in the global economy.
We know that only the highest-performing teams, those with different opinions, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds will ultimately succeed in the global marketplace. We encourage different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, which enables better problem solving, leading to superior performance.
We make sure our teams have a diversity of genders, as well as backgrounds and ethnicities. But we know that hiring women, transgender, or nonbinary people into our workplace isn’t enough. - we empower our teams to not only reach but exceed their full potential.
The role of medical consultants is evolving, and many organizations focus on and develop digital methods of reaching doctors and patients. How will the role of field workers change in the coming years? Is F2F contact still important and necessary?
I joined Stada at the most difficult moment – during the pandemic. The organization was not growing and my goal was to achieve growth. We needed to appreciate that the market was changing in terms of therapeutic areas that are growing and those that aren't. Also, we needed to increase the role of pharmacies and the evolving competences of representatives and managers to determine our approach to promotion which was strongly focused on solution.
We also redefined the approach to market segmentation and who expected what. Importantly, the organization and our people had to change. When I joined the firm, I initiated a mental shift among employees towards, “I would like to develop myself and grow with our organization and proactively change to generate double digit growth.”
Stada specialises in pain management, prescription medications as well as OTCs and supplements. Due to the pandemic and changing demographic, there are more and more young doctors, and this forced us to revise our strategy. We also started to revisit our specialists. We were so determined and motivated that the business started to grow. Even now, after the pandemic, the team wants to be in the field where possible. Also, the beginning of this year marked a launch of the program aimed at re-establishing relations with our clients – we started to organise F2F meetings with them.
Following the acquisition of Wallmark, Stada now reaches the consumer through Amazon, online pharmacies, e-commerce, conferences, webinars and in the mass market through advertising and direct communication with the patient.
Coming back to the topic, we shouldn’t generalize and say that the world is only digital now and you do not have to visit doctors F2F - in my opinion the middle ground is the best solution. The key to this is the product that is sold and the segmentation of doctors into those who want visits and those who do not. A lot depends on the therapeutic area and the age of the patients. In the specialist field, without f2f meetings, we will not be as recognisable as we would like.
Both pharmacy and chain markets grow and the role of the chain sector increases. Certainly, professionals connect digitally, but representatives still visit their partners. It's a myth that there are no direct visits.
Do the communication expectations shift along with the generational change in the medical community? What trends do you currently notice and which are you happy about?
The generational change is very beneficial for the community. It encourages young doctors to learn, to develop. They are focused on cooperation, through applications and webinars. They are patient- and new technology-oriented much more than the older doctors, who mostly see value in direct visits. Young people are “in the same team” as pharmaceutical company. They are a generation that wants to learn medicine - they are not only guided by routine.
To meet this need, we have built the Stada med portal. Through webinars we share knowledge about new aspects of pain treatment. Stada.med creates a space where doctors discuss patients and their needs. Young doctors are eager to learn how to help the patient and go off the beaten track.
My observation is that this is also happening in the pharmacists' community where they are closer to the patient. Mass market, on the other hand, is guided by acting on the emotions of the consumer through advertising, based on certain atavisms of people and their reflexes.
How will the patient benefit from digital communication?
The patient has already gained and will gain even more. We have two groups of patients:
How can advisory partners such as Friisberg help and what, in your opinion, should be their role in supporting the digital transformation?
I can see two areas here. The first one is the marketing, market research, patient / consumer research. How do patients feel about the digital age? Is it a good direction, is it helping or bothering them? What is good, what is irritating? Those partners can substantively contribute to this discussion.
The second is, of course, recruitment. During the process to focus on the analysis of the "digital" generation of candidates - the world is changing. We have a variety of people in the organization and we try to choose those who are open to new technologies and are eager to learn. If we want to keep up with trends and work in a pharmaceutical company, we have to learn all the time. The second thing is reliable feedback and making the candidates aware of their shortcomings in order to help them develop. Even though it is often difficult information, it is worth building candidate experience in this way.
Lukasz Dominiak
Poland
How will the working environment be in the future – and how will it influence the culture in companies? Over the past decades we have seen office hubs popping up everywhere. Physically working together in modern offices with a large attention on amenities, was a strong focus for both employers and employees, but Covid-19 has changed that.
So what now? How will the changes influence organizations and their culture in the future?
With Covid-19 we have fast forwarded into a new reality where organizations see employees working from home and not having the daily dose of intersocial activity and rapport by the water cooler or the coffee machine. Work is still being done and to some extend in an admiring, yet sometimes alarming way. We have adopted new technologies into our daily routines, and suddenly it is not required that we are in the office every day or attend meetings with a physical presence.
In my work as a trusted advisor, I have seen that our new normal can work, but it takes an effort. It takes an effort to build trust to new business partners and colleagues, and you must pay attention to how you communicate.
I have spoken to my network, to get you some answers!
Vertic – a digital marketing agency helping F500 companies with their digital journey – have successfully recruited new employees global working remote from the head quarter. They have had a head start in working on the distance and using all digital tools available. It is working in a way that they are planning to use remote hubs even more when bringing in new competences, not being limited by geographical distance. Still founder Mads Petersen is aware of the importance to bring in new colleagues in order to get to know each other, form trust and feel the culture.
Focus on mergers and acquisitions often is on numbers, optimizing business processes to reach the strategy, while employees and culture are often neglected. Studies show that Covid-19 has made it even more difficult or close to impossible to engage in the forming for a new culture and on-boarding new employees. However new tools and ways of working have been introduced and have become routine. You don’t have to be at the same location to work together saving a lot of time and money travelling. And the transition from one location to another has been easier than expected. Despite that the necessity of meeting in person, bonding and building trust is essential to grow a culture, and some employees have a hard time adjusting, lacking the trust amongst one another.
For McKinsey & Company, Covid-19 has brought different kind of assignments and projects along as well as they see a vast demand for their services. But the company has become more aware to have a focus on how their human capital is coping. New colleagues have been seen having a hard time adapting to the organization, when only working remotely and consider leaving the company within a year, due to it is hard to getting to know your colleagues and clients furthermore don’t expect you to be on site in different cities across the globe when you are working on an assignment. Hence HR and management are taking the temperature on the employees’ mental health weekly to look after their most valued asset. Employees have a hotline to the HR Manager and is offered professional guidance and help without having to document that they are not feeling well to the authorities or a doctor. Small groups of employees that don’t know each other are formally being put together for dining to small talk, exchange ideas and getting to know each other. Employees are encouraged to take a walk with a colleague or in a group whom they don’t socialize with on a regular basis.
Organizations have been quick to adapt to the new circumstances. New ways of working and technologies have been adapted quickly - and it is working – results are achieved – but it is important not to forget the human factor and to meet in person, if we want build trust, exchange ideas, and build and nurture the culture of the organization that bind us together.
Jacob Gylling Mahler
Partner, Copenhagen
Globalization and other major world events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall (consolidation of East and West Europe), wars in countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan etc, the aging populations and low birth-rates in major economies of the world have facilitated massive movements of talent from one place to another - mainly to the West.
From a microscopic perspective, in South Africa, where I live, we have seen massive transformation of workplaces since the fall of apartheid in 1994.
This transformation is facilitated by the introduction of employment equity laws, resulting in women and people of colour slowly moving into senior positions that were previously occupied by white males.
All these megatrends point to a dire need for proactive diversity management programs to help organizations manage and leverage on these changes.
It values what every employee brings to the table as unique so that the organization can grow and succeed accordingly. The overarching theory is that when employees come together from different backgrounds, creative problem-solving processes grow in turn. This is thanks in part to an increased number of varying perspectives.
Mainly, it can serve as a reflection of a diversifying world - thanks to demographic changes, globalization and a digitalizing workplace, diversity can help teams to be better attuned to the many needs of their customers.
A study by Glassdoor shows the following advantages of a diversified workforce:
Originally diversity management was primarily about discrimination in recruitment and promoting tolerance within the company. But over time, things have evolved to where companies recognise the importance of diversity in the workplace as a key competitive advantage.
Here are some tips on how companies can craft their diversity programmes:
Themba Mthombeni
Partner, South Africa
Top management positions, mainly in multinational companies, represent a goal for 83% of the employees within the age group of 23 – 40, according to a study made by Friisberg & Partners Romania, of 150 Bucharest-based subjects.
The career path towards a top management position invariably goes through middle management ones, yet the abilities and knowledge necessary for a top management role can be different.
Which are the differences between a middle management position and a top management one?
Following a study on a focus group of 52 middle and top managers, as well as from our own experience in the market, we came to the following conclusions:
In the end it is a personal decision, one makes in his/her career path.
Aiming to become a top manager means more than education, experience and data accumulation. It means even more than long work hours and sacrifices made. Becoming a top manager also means a higher degree of decision making in regards to putting to work one’s business vision.
Our study reveals not only the aspirations and goals of professionals in the market, but also a deeper understanding of what it takes to be a top manager.
Although native abilities are important, in order to successfully walk in the shoes of a top manager, one needs years of experience, a profound market understanding and, most of all, a business vision.
Floriana Enescu
Partner, Romania
Guglielmo Sallustio, from our office in Milan, is hosting our 115th Partner Conference this week. Accepting that for many travel is still not entirely safe, nor easy, we are running a Hybrid Conference with in-person and virtual delegates taking part.
We are all genuinely looking forward to seeing each other once again, to welcoming our new Partners and Consultants – we have had numerous arrivals to Friisberg in the recent months - and to discussing our 2025 growth strategy.
Ours is a Management Consulting firm that specialises in Executive Search, particularly for businesses operating in multinational markets.
Our six-monthly Conferences ensure that our Partners are always learning from each other to constantly improve the service, and the results, we deliver to our clients.
As Search consultants, we know all too well the frustration and disappointment that comes in the form a great candidate, with whom our Client has fallen in love, accepting a counter-offer...
In recent months we’ve seen several instances of counter-offers influencing the outcome of a recruitment process.
How best to handle a counteroffer?
Well, from a Headhunter’s perspective, our aim is to prevent the serious consideration of a counter-offer - and the answer may lie in a very thorough interview process.
We strive to make sure that candidates we’ve approached, and who are interested in a career move, have given it some thought, have weighed the pros and cons and have come to a decision based on their consideration, not a spur-of-the-moment impulse.
But with all the preparation and thoroughness, we can still never rule out the possibility of a candidate getting and accepting a counter-offer. It is human nature and we are in the business of humans!
And from a candidate viewpoint:
If you are unhappy with your current position/employer for whatever reason and are exploring your options, you should be prepared for the possibility of getting a counter-offer at the end of the process (although some employers do have a policy of making no counter-offers at all!).
Most typical reasons for a company to make a counter-offer is to retain valuable knowledge and to avoid the cost and efforts of replacing you. So let that sink in. Yes, there are some cases when accepting your employer’s counter-offer is the right move, but generally speaking, an increase in salary isn’t a magic wand - in fact with such an offer should come the realization that your employer has all but admitted that you are worth more to them than they have been paying you.
Interestingly, research published in Harvard Business Review suggests 50% of people who take a counter-offer end up leaving the firm within the next year anyway.
And what about Clients?
Having an ideal candidate reject your offer only to accept a counter-offer with their existing employer can be a bitter pill to swallow. After all, you put in the effort, met with the candidate, answered their questions, etc. but apparently, it was not to be.
Well, that may be the best outcome, given that the candidate was not motivated enough to join your company. It’s possible that a pay increase was the objective all along for the candidate, or when the candidate hands in her notice, she is genuinely surprised at the steps current employer is willing to take to keep her on board.
Sit down with your Search Consultants to examine the outcome, make adjustments if necessary (is it this one candidate? Have we been turned down before due to a counter-offer? Is our salary competitive? Should we avoid the competitor where we are targeting? And move on.
Veronika Mohasci
Senior Consultant, Budapest
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