PLUS: HEALTHCARE CURES ‘GARBAGE JOBS’ RISE THE NEXT TECH TSUNAMI ON EDGE... TO CUTTING OEDGEn Skills leaders use to deal with Edgetoday’s constant changes The Skills Leaders Need in Today’s Crazy Times $14.95 ISSUE 42 WHO’S BEHIND ME? EVERYONE. Goals. We all have them, but ambitious people know that hitting them is faster and easier with the support of others. Korn Ferry is a leading organizational consultancy in the business of supporting people and organizations to be their best. Now you don’t have to go it alone. Korn Ferry. Business Advisors. Career Makers BE MORE THAN kornferry.com/bemorethan Click KornFerry.com/Institute Gary Burnison Chief Executive Officer Jill Wiltfong Career Chief Marketing Officer Jonathan Dahl Advancement Editor-in-Chief Has your career hit a wall? Russell Pearlman Managing Editor What salary should you ask for? See Korn Ferry Advance for Nancy Wong Bryan Copy Chief complete career guidance. Jeff Anderson Copy Editor Check out → kfadvance.com Creative Directors Robert Ross Roland K Madrid Jonathan Pink Art & Production Goliath, Meet David Candace Dodds How do some small emerging Marketing & Circulation Manager businesses outrun their much larger Erica Shannon rivals? Listen to insights from key Project Manager small-business leaders in Korn Ferry’s Tiffany Sledzianowski new podcast series. Digital Marketing Manager Edward McLaurin kornferry.com/ Find episodes at → Marketing Coordinator podcasts-goliath-meet-david Nadia Bianchi Contributing Editors David Berreby Simon Constable Patricia Crisafulli Daniel Goleman John Kimmelman Leadership News, Peter Lauria Renee Morad Every Week Richard C. Morais Adam Penenberg Korn Ferry’s experts reveal Glenn Rifkin leadership lessons from the news Annamarya Scaccia Chana R. Schoenberger each day, be it on the latest CEO Chris Taylor successions or a major merger, Meghan Walsh summarized in our “This Week in Contributing Illustrators Leadership” email on Thursdays. Peter Horvath Richard Montoya Sign up at → kornferry.com/institute Contributing Photographers Paul Mitchell Randall Cordero / 2 / Think about this... Fast- Tracking IT WAS ALWAYS TOUGH Care Talent No one, it seems, TO BE CEO. BUT IT’S How to engage employees in an age when a growing number of new jobs is happy with TOUGHER TODAY. are “low quality.” 10 healthcare, but the CEO of a Technology fast-growing Companies need a 5G strategy nonpro t sooner than they think. 12 believes he has some answers. Purpose 36 Why aren’t rms that are driven by social good making diversity and inclusion a top priority? 14 The Race History for Lithium Pan Am’s hard landing. 16 The auto industry’s massive Simon Constable The Global Economy transformation COVER STORY has suddenly The gray sides of On Edge... going green. 18 made the hunt for this metal To Cutting Edge critical. 42 Elections. Trade wars. Loreto Montoya Suárez Political unrest. The Latin America Cover Artwork There’s unrest in the streets, skill sets business leaders by Paul Mitchell but another crisis is brewing From need for what may in the workplace. 20 Antiquity to AI: A Stoic become the most volatile Renaissance Daniel Goleman year of the 21st century. 26 On Purpose An ancient Can purpose help people philosophy has live longer? 22 found new life in the most unexpected PLUS Downtime place: corporate boardrooms. Interests Outside the O ce Starts on page 59 But why? 50 On Leadership Gary Burnison CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ Four words, simple but so revealing: “Tell me about yourself.” ♦ It’s an icebreaker for starting conversations from job interviews and client meetings to your first Illustration by Peter Horvath time meeting anyone. This open-ended question invites responses that can take any number of directions—as long as that direction leads to making a connection. wait to dive deeply into the details of who they know The fear is understandable—nobody really gets out Of all the responses I’ve heard over the years, couldn’t even contemplate. Instead, she smiled and and what they’ve done. One person I interviewed of sixth grade. Back when we were 11 or 12 years old, the best and most memorable was “I’ve climbed the said, “How the heck am I going to get down?”— didn’t even wait to be asked. The minute we sat down our biggest worries were: Are the other kids going to like highest mountains on every continent, including showing her ability to engage others with humor together, he ended all small talk and launched into a me? Will they want to be friends with me? Will they want Everest.” Obviously, it’s a rare person who conquers and humility. (No surprise, this candidate recently canned speech name-dropping who he knew, where me on their team? Now tell me—has anything really the Seven Summits, considered the pinnacle of joined our firm.) he had worked, and what his titles and responsibili- changed? Meeting someone new, whether socially mountaineering. But that’s not the reason this You don’t need to be a world-class mountaineer ties were. He repeated everything that was on his or in business, brings up those same fears. The more answer stood out from all the rest. to stand out in an interview or any other encounter resume—a copy of which was on the table where we vulnerable you feel, the more tempting it is to avoid By responding this way, the person told me she with a person who wants to get to know you. Your sat. In his 12-minute filibuster, he said nothing that reaching out to someone new. is adventurous and response to “tell me indicated who he was as a person. And when the Don’t worry about having a killer opening line insatiably curious—clear about yourself” should interview was over, I felt I didn’t know him at all. like you’re Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle doing indications of having be grounded in your A lot of people, I’ve noticed, struggle with mak- stand-up. Just go back to the basics. Everyone has learning agility, which It’s so easy with a dog— ACT: being authentic, ing a real connection. I even experience it while something interesting to say. Korn Ferry considers and no pressure with a forging a connection, walking my dog Charlie. Over and over, people come There are many aspects to you, and how you to be the number one baby in a stroller, either. and giving others a up to Charlie, asking “What’s your name?,” “How old respond to “tell me about yourself” can and should predictor of success. I taste of who you are. are you?,” and “Can I pet you?” without a word or eye vary from conversation to conversation, based on the could also see that she By sharing a very contact with me—even though I’m standing there at context. I’ve interviewed Navy SEALs, fighter pilots, is disciplined and goal-oriented—an indication that short anecdote or brief bit of personal information— the other end of the leash. and professional athletes, some of whom have dis- she’s largely intrinsically motivated. Anyone who 30 seconds or less—you allow someone to get to know It’s symptomatic of a much bigger problem: peo- cussed their backgrounds in detail and others who spends years conditioning and training to climb the you. For example, when someone asks me about ple don’t know how to make a first-time connection focused on something else instead. Neither is right highest mountains in the world is clearly driven by myself, I tell them that I was raised in McPherson, with others. It’s so easy with a dog—and no pressure or wrong. Go with your gut as to what feels most achievement. Kansas, went to college in California, and have five with a baby in a stroller, either. They’re happy with appropriate and meaningful in the moment. But that’s not all. When I asked her, “What did children. I can’t tell you how many times my small- everything you say. But when it comes to breaking So the next time someone prompts you, “Tell me you think about when you reached the summit of town Kansas background makes a connection. the ice and starting a two-way conversation with about yourself,” just remember: it’s an invitation, not Everest?” she didn’t wax philosophical or dwell Unfortunately, most people don’t approach “tell me someone they don’t know, many people freeze up, a pop quiz. All it takes is a very brief story to give a on the fact that she’d done something most of us about yourself” as an invitation. Instead, they can’t clam up, and back up into a corner. little insight into who you are as a person. 1 / 6 / / 7 / We might be heading toward a future of either a low-quality job or no job at all for some people. TALENT 10 TECHNOLOGY 12 PURPOSE 14 Scott Macfarlane David Barnette Kate Shattuck Senior Client Partner and Sector Lead, Senior Client Partner and Global Account Lead, Financial Technology, Professional Coleader, Impact Investing, Learn more at KornFerryAdvance.com Services, Korn Ferry Search, Korn Ferry Korn Ferry VOICES ON... Talent of jobs are they? Not good ones, according to a the hours worked, coupled with a wage increase report by Cornell University and the University and the opportunity to obtain new skills, could of Missouri, Kansas City. The study tracked job lead to the increased productivity that firms need. creation—excluding management roles—and cre- To be sure, many large corporations are increas- ated an index that categorizes a “low quality” job ing wages to their lowest-paid workers in a bid to as any with pay falling below the mean for that better recruit and retain talent.