Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with business and management

What companies are great at training people

willnot — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:35:02 -0800

What companies do a particularly good job of advancing the skills of their employees? What kinds of things do they do that facilitate that? A little while ago, I listed to an interview with John Hagel. It it, he mentioned that if you ask any CEO what the most important thing in their business is, they'd say their people. However, many people don't really feel appreciated.

Hagel suggested that the problem is with the focus. Rather than focusing on finding or retaining great people, companies should focus on building great people and that if they get the reputation for that, then finding and retaining people takes care of itself.

I was really struck by this idea, so I'd like to know what companies do a particularly good job of this and what kinds of things they do to facilitate learning and growth.

painting company organization software

jellywerker — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:37:20 -0800

business management software for a painter My boss would like some form of software that organizes his clients. Something where he can create a file and put in a name and contact info, paint color used, etc...

Sort of like a beefed up contacts organizer I guess.

He'd also like to be able to link a picture of the job the the client's file, as well as have some sort of way to input the bid, preferably in a format that he can print out as an invoice.

The ability to organize by date input would be very helpful.

Anyone know of any software that can do this? Or most of this?

Let me take care of the boring stuff, while you get on with your doodling.

divabat — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:33:24 -0800

Emerging and small/medium scale artists and creatives: what would you like your manager to do? What would compel you to hire the services of a manager/admin person/PA and how much would you be willing to pay? I've been doing similar semi-managerial work for my best friend who's in broadcast media. Officially I manage her website and web presence, but I also manage fanmail, keep out the creepies, pass on job offers, liaise and organise job contacts & interviews, research opportunities, and help her hash out ideas. She finds me useful because she herself isn't very tech-savvy and doesn't know how to harness current technology as effectively as possible.

Based on my "charmed bridge" question, as well as past work & volunteer experience, I feel that I could do more this kind of work, as a freelancer or a business owner. Essentially I'd like to help artists concentrate more on their work by dealing with the extra not-creative side. I'm particularly interested in those who feel overwhelmed by the Internet (I've met TONS!) and who only have a basic poorly-designed site but not much else to help them get out there.

The things I thought of doing (that I'm actually pretty good at) are:
* Social media - knowing what their audience uses, maintain their web presence, etc
* Managing and screening fanmail
* Liaising and organising media/work/volunteer/speaking requests
* Research opportunities relevant to them (workshops, gigs, etc)
* Introduce them to other people they could collaborate with
* Taking care of "boring" paperwork (forms, visas, grants, etc)
* Ordering equipment/tools/items and finding good deals

Some other skills that may be handy include booking events, accounting, and PR/publicity, though I'm not as great in those as I am in the above.

If you were an independent creative person (of whatever form), what would compel you to hire a manager or assistant? What is the difference roles-wise between managers and PAs and assistants anyway? How much would you pay and how were you willing to pay for it?

Also, there are some tasks where I work better in collaboration with someone else - for instance, in managing people's websites, I usually deal with the concept and putting things together, while I get my boyfriend (who studies web services at uni) to code the website. How would I bring in a collaborator ethically and with fair compensation? Do I just recommend someone, get a commission, do it all myself?

Freaky Management Friday: Former Boss Edition

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:22:55 -0800

Being interviewed by outgoing manager for his/her job. Complex management question inside. Three years ago, I was a very junior person in Group A of Very Large Company. I was then hired away by Group B (totally unconnected) for a management position two slots higher than my previous role. Now, thanks to my management experience in Group B, I am a finalist in a search for the top job in Group A. I would be returning to the place I worked just a few years earlier, this time as the most senior manager. As part of the interview process, I have to be interviewed by the current senior manager in Group A- the person whose job I would be taking. S/he will be dropping down a level and will report to me. So AskMeFites, what advice can you give me on this interview? It's a touchy one, and I have some ideas on how to proceed, but I want to hear what you have to say before I decide on a strategy. My goal here is not just to have the interview go well, but to make him/her into an ally.

Extra background: My experience qualifies me to do this job and many of the people in management in Group A would be overjoyed to have me take the reins. I know this for certain (it's not just conjecture). The real sticking point is the current manager- and yes, this person was in charge when I was part of Group A. Also, there will be a replacement for this manager no matter what happens with my interview.

Recommendations of blogs or websites on retail management and strategy?

willy_dilly — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:02:58 -0800

Recommendations of blogs or websites on retail management and strategy? I'm a business school student with a focus in retail management. I'm hoping to learn more outside of the classroom and stay up to date with the latest in the industry. Anyone here have recommendations as to which blogs or websites I should visit? I'm mainly interested in the supermarket/convenience store, retail management, and retail CRM/data analysis, but anything regarding retail would be great also.

How can I fend off the boss with data while I do my job of building a great website?

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:48:33 -0800

What kind of web stats can I provide my bosses, to satisfy their hunger for "measurable stats" but avoid going down a rathole and losing focus? I joined a very old line company mid-way through last year as the manager of the web team. The company is a few hundred years old, and is roughly in the retail business. The company's clients are generally older, well-heeled, and relatively technophobic. The website itself is mainly brochure ware for the company, but has extensive and detailed on-line product catalogues. There is no e-commerce component. My hiring was coincident with the re-launch of its website. There's little interactive "2.0" functionality to it, but some pretty cool stuff with regard to displaying items for sale.

When I was hired, I knew all of this, and basically took the challenge on to, over time, redo the website and bring it into the 21st century (employer user-centered design techniques, rich interfaces, etc... make the whole experience a lot more engaging). I have built out a product roadmap with a lot of this functionality, but my boss and the CEO (his boss) don't want to hear any of it, until we can establish some benchmarks for success and some reasonable goals. The first thing they are looking to show is the adoption rate, i.e.: how have the traditional customers taken to the new platform? Has this led to additional sales activity, has it lessened costs (i.e.: do we need to do shorter runs of print catalogues because more customers are now exclusively doing product research with us on-line?), and so on.

Those are worthy pursuits, but the problem is that we have not even been through a full business cycle, and the site's functionality is so basic, I cannot think of anything past basic stats like pageviews/customer or unique visits by each customer trended over time (however, until we get through a business cycle or two, these data will be skewed). Just the most basis stuff.

Problem here is that the CEO has a monomaniacal focus on everything being data-driven and my boss seems unable to push back on him, if he even wants to. My viewpoint, based on all of the above is that if we build a state of the art site and make elegant, engaging and highly useful, we will attract a new generation of customer. Any attempts now to justify what's been done, or what we're going to do (other than focus groups), I think might be premature or misleading.

Can anyone offer any help?

Social Entreprenuership in Print

divabat — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:49:34 -0800

What are some good books and magazines related to social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, and the Fourth Sector? I've seen a lot of management/business books but they tend to focus on "MAKE MORE MONEY YAY" and not much on benefiting society or community development. Some I've found useful are:

* GOOD magazine
* Let's Not Screw It, Let's Just Do It by Richard Branson
* Occasional issues of Fast Thinking

any others?

Intel management yell profanities?

pallen123 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:43:52 -0800

Once heard a story about Intel executives going through some kind of management/communication training in which they were encouraged to swear (yell profanities) at one another... Had something to do with letting go of airs and overcoming reluctance to speak openly/honestly with each other I think. Anyhoo, I'm trying to verify this occurred, and hopefully find a written description of the session, who ran it, for what exact purpose, etc.

Any help hive? Thank you.

Can you identify this Peter Drucker quote:

pantufla — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:29:20 -0800

Can you identify this Peter Drucker quote: "The future can not be planned..." "but events can often be foreseen. This requires strategies that anticipate where the greatest changes are likely to occur and what they are likely to be, strategies that enable a business to take advantage of new realities and convert them turbulence into opportunities."

Any info as to the source of this quote is highly appreciated.
Thanks!

Subcontract. Manage. Mediate.

greggish — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 11:11:27 -0800

So, Organization A has hired Organization B to implement a program. Organization A has reason to believe that Organization B is not implementing that program effectively/ethically, but the implementation is already in progress. So, let's say Organization A was compelled to turn to Third Party (C) to participate in the process of implementing the program -- as an observer, mediator, what have you. Actually, 'what have you' is the first part of the question -- what would such a Third Party C be called? C would oversee, mediate, and potentially arbitrate issues that arise between working staff and management. Is there corporatese/legalese for this sort of thing?

The second part of the question is: help me find effective models thereof.

How do you get a 750+ on the GMAT?

vjz — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 08:56:33 -0800

After using numerous prep books, official guides and the Powerprep software, I am stuck at the 700-720 range. I checked this post, but I am looking for more specific help for a really high score. Right now, I am answering 90% of the questions correct. Do I need to get 100% right? Or get more questions right in the beginning? What am I doing wrong? I am exactly three weeks away from the test.

Tell me about the "Theory of Constraints"

pracowity — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:14:31 -0800

Have you been exposed to the "Theory of Constraints" at work? Did you choose to use it or was it imposed upon you? What came of it? Did it improve things? If it changed the way you work, how so? More importantly: what the hell is it?

GMAT tips

rorycberger — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 10:19:32 -0800

I will be taking the GMAT on monday and was wondering if anyone had some last minute tips, particularly things that you might not find in a GMAT book. Through my own knowledge and studying a couple of GMAT books I think I've got the basic problem solving skills covered, but I was hoping to get some more personal accounts of what to watch out for on the test, any tricks about the computer interface, etc. Also, my books are both a little thin on the essay section of the test, so tips on that would be greatly appreciated.

Do Content Management Systems really work?

By The Grace of God — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 19:40:53 -0800

I work for a company of about 100 people whose product is information, but it manages information in a really crappy manner. Nobody knows what's going on elsewhere within the company; often crucial people are unaware of events staged by other departments. We are thinking of getting a CMS to fix this: everything from stuff for our website, to our print publications, to the schedule of classes and events would be accessible there to most staff and editable/reviewable by some through a permissions system. Do these CMS things really work to fix information flow? Of course three aspects are key: a) the ease of use, power, configurability and flexibility of the software; b) the cultural and educational preparedness of the staff to adopt the software and use it to its best potential; and the effectiveness of training to bridge the gap between a and b.

I am interested in your own experiences with adopting CMS systems to manage information flow, as well as pointers to any rigorous studies on this matter. I'm tired of useless promotional "white papers" from various vendors. Assume we want to own licenses and that we can afford quality.

Time Management for Businesses

will — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 17:35:07 -0800

What's the best book out there on time management? I've yet to find one that does it all: explain the key concepts of time management, provide a proven framework for gaining control of your time, and identify common mistakes and helpful tips.

Extra points if it deals specifically with any of the following contexts: entrepreneurship, running a proprietorship or small business.