the korn/ferry institute briefings on talent Chief exeCutive offiCer Gary Burnison Chief marketing offiCer Michael Distefano editor-in-Chief Joel Kurtzman Publisher Laurance Allen managing editor, online Derek Fromson Creative direCtor Joannah Ralston Zappos CirCulation direCtor Peter Pearsall Races Ahead pg.16 faCts & figures editor Stephanie Mitchell marketing Coordinator Stacy Levyn How Yahoo Changed board of advisors Sergio Averbach Sakie Fukushima John Keller Stephen Bruyant-Langer Joe Griesedieck Robert McNabb the Guard pg.22 Cheryl Buxton Robert Hallagan Alice Punch Dennis Carey Lan Kang Gary Reidy & Ana Dutra leadership Singapore Bets Contributing editors Chris Bergonzi Victoria Griffith Deborah J. Jacobs Big on Talent pg.30 Lawrence M. Fisher Paul Hemp Glenn Rifkin Europe’s New Workplace Gurus pg.42 Keeping Boards i s s u e 2 Informed pg.62 The Korn/Ferry International Briefings on Talent and Leadership is published quarterly by the Korn/Ferry Institute. The Korn/Ferry Institute was founded to serve as a premier global voice on a range of talent management and leadership issues. The Institute commissions, originates and publishes groundbreaking research utilizing Korn/ Ferry’s unparalleled expertise in executive recruitment and talent development combined with its preeminent behavioral research library. The Institute is dedicated to improving the state of global human capital for businesses of all sizes around the world. ISSN 1949-8365 People-Centric Cover illustration: Copyright 2010, Korn/Ferry International Robert Risko Q2. 2010 Requests for additional copies should be sent directly to: Briefings Magazine Q2.2010 Science An Interview With PO Box 327 $19.95 us Daniel Vasella, M.D. , Chairman and Derry, NH 03038-0327 $19.95 cnd Printer logos tk Circulation customer service phone: 603-965-2232 Chief Executive, Novartis (align at bottom of box) €13.60 eur pg.48 This is a Skype number with worldwide service. £12.50 uk ¥1,770 jpy For reprints, contact Laurance Allen at 508-888-0050 20.50 chf 73.50 aed Printed in the USA ¥136.40 cny the korn/ferry institute briefings on talent Chief exeCutive offiCer Gary Burnison Chief marketing offiCer Michael Distefano editor-in-Chief Joel Kurtzman Publisher Laurance Allen managing editor, online Derek Fromson Creative direCtor Joannah Ralston Zappos CirCulation direCtor Peter Pearsall Races Ahead pg.16 faCts & figures editor Stephanie Mitchell marketing Coordinator Stacy Levyn How Yahoo Changed board of advisors Sergio Averbach Sakie Fukushima John Keller Stephen Bruyant-Langer Joe Griesedieck Robert McNabb the Guard pg.22 Cheryl Buxton Robert Hallagan Alice Punch Dennis Carey Lan Kang Gary Reidy & Ana Dutra leadership Singapore Bets Contributing editors Chris Bergonzi Victoria Griffith Deborah J. Jacobs Big on Talent pg.30 Lawrence M. Fisher Paul Hemp Glenn Rifkin Europe’s New Workplace Gurus pg.42 Keeping Boards i s s u e 2 Informed pg.62 The Korn/Ferry International Briefings on Talent and Leadership is published quarterly by the Korn/Ferry Institute. The Korn/Ferry Institute was founded to serve as a premier global voice on a range of talent management and leadership issues. The Institute commissions, originates and publishes groundbreaking research utilizing Korn/ Ferry’s unparalleled expertise in executive recruitment and talent development combined with its preeminent behavioral research library. The Institute is dedicated to improving the state of global human capital for businesses of all sizes around the world. ISSN 1949-8365 People-Centric Cover illustration: Copyright 2010, Korn/Ferry International Robert Risko Q2. 2010 Requests for additional copies should be sent directly to: Briefings Magazine Q2.2010 Science An Interview With PO Box 327 $19.95 us Daniel Vasella, M.D. , Chairman and Derry, NH 03038-0327 $19.95 cnd Printer logos tk Circulation customer service phone: 603-965-2232 Chief Executive, Novartis (align at bottom of box) €13.60 eur pg.48 This is a Skype number with worldwide service. £12.50 uk ¥1,770 jpy For reprints, contact Laurance Allen at 508-888-0050 20.50 chf 73.50 aed Printed in the USA ¥136.40 cny f r o m t h e c e o Prognostications. Resolutions. Then, the inevitable procrastina- tion. Yes, it’s a new decade, the second of the new millennium, and with it come mind-numbing and never-to-be-realized predictions, just like ten years ago. the most important variable in the new decade of innovation Remember Y2K? Why can’t people re- will be people — their needs, desires and wants. The future, ally see into the future? The last decade, as Vasella sees it, will be a marriage of science and humanity which turned out not to be lost, had it about which he is “scientifically optimistic.” all — Twitter, Tiger, tragedy, triumph and In “Singapore Bets Big on Talent,” the theme of the im- titans. The emerging markets finally portance of meeting the needs of human capital is further ex- emerged. And, regrettably, we were reminded of mankind’s plored. The article profiles Philip Yeo, a tireless Singaporean darker side with 9/11 in New York and 26/11 in Mumbai. who has drawn scientists from all over the world to trans- Now, the rush toward 2020. By the way, I would say that form Singapore into a biotech superpower. By bringing to- year as “twenty-twenty,” not “two thousand and twenty”; gether Nobel Prize winners, chaired professors and their lab- it’s more in line with every leader’s dream — perfect vision. oratory teams, Yeo has made a wager that the coming decade What’s in store for us in the new decade? More frothy bub- will be more dependent upon the fruits of mind than of labor. bles? Another Champagne Decade? The continued obliteration People make a difference, even on the World Wide Web. of conspicuous spending? The answer to these questions may Tony Hsieh, the colorful, 36-year-old entrepreneur behind come from an unusual source — my kids. Zappos, an innovative, Web-based shoe retailer, has made the What do I mean by that? I mean that the way they ab- phrase “Deliver ‘Wow!’ through service” into the first of Zap- sorb, comprehend and communicate foretells the future. The pos’ 10 corporate values. Whereas delivering Wow! might not smartphone — an oxymoron a half generation ago — is now be a strategy in the traditional sense, it is a strategy now, at simultaneously your clock, your source of news and yes, your the dawn of the decade of innovation. “Zappos Races Ahead” addiction. (Are 2,540 texts too much in a month for my overly reveals that Hsieh’s formula for web-enabled success relies nimble-fingered 17-year-old daughter?) “Googlized” gadgets, not on technical breakthroughs but on service innovations. i-this and i-that are game-changers. Because people matter, succession is more important A few months ago, I began reading newspapers and than ever. In this issue of Briefings, we present a case study books on a Kindle. Like a comet falling from the sky, that gad- called “How Yahoo Changed the Guard.” This article chroni- get has now lost its luster, outmoded by my smartphone cles how an old-line technology company — Yahoo is 15 years since I can now surf, text and talk on my latest device. I am old this year — hired Carol Bartz as its new CEO. Bartz, who irrevocably and totally plugged-in — thanks to my informa- turned around and professionalized Autodesk, a maker of tion-ravenous children. software, knew the leaders at Yahoo from Silicon Valley But, what’s going on is really not about the latest per- boards. Harvard Professor Joseph L. Bower, one of the case sonal technological toy. It’s about product generations shrink- respondents, indicates that it is the companies that are very ing from decades (Anyone remember the telegram? Encyclo- strong, that have had steady profits and that are under con- pedias? The thrice-a-day office mail runs? The fax machine? trol that have done a good job of managing for succession. Desktop computers? Network television?) to years and now Among companies in those circumstances, “some number of to months. And that changes everything. The speed of change them really do invest in talent and the process of succession,” will continue to accelerate and will do so dramatically. Bower explained. “The rest of them just scramble.” Because change and innovation are so prevalent, almost I hope you enjoy this issue of Briefings and find it food for everything will be consigned to obsolescence. If the coming thought. Its content is also available at http://www.kornfer- decade is given a name, my guess is it will be called the de- rybriefings.com. Our aim with this issue is not just to make cade of innovation, for only the innovators will survive. you think, but to help you decide what to think about. Read One innovator featured in this issue of the Korn/Ferry quickly, as this thinking too will become obsolete. By the way, Institute’s Briefings on Talent & Leadership is Daniel Vasella, the reason man can not see the future? Because he wouldn’t chairman and chief executive of Novartis, the world’s third- want to. Onward, to the new decade and the Year of the real largest pharmaceutical firm. In his interview, Vasella said Tiger! —Gary Burnison, chief executive, Korn/Ferry International Risko Robert 2 Q 2 . 2 0 1 0 The Korn/Ferry Ins T IT u T e c o n t e n t s 8 14 30 2Letter from the CEO Leadership 16 zappos races ahead Latest Thinking On the Web, service matters 6 public policy enters the boardroom more than ever. BY glenn rifkin Looking for a new breed of director.