IA1

I listened to HBR IdeaCast podcast episode 615: Does Your Firm See You as a High Potential? Featuring Jay Cronger, a leadership professional at Claremont McKenna College. Jay spoke about the process used within a corporation to determine if an employee is viewed as a high potential employee. At the end of the year, all of a companies leaders get together to discuss the status of their individual employees. This is a huge process for young employees who are trying to move up the ranks of their company. Jay discusses a few "x-factors" that they look for in employees, such as: employees who show initiative to learn, talent accelerated or someone who looks to help everybody, not just themselves, or can they solve new issues or situations quickly, calmly, and effectively. He also talks about that there is not set model to get to CEO of a company. If a company moves you around a lot, it could be for multiple reasons. For one, they might not like you and are trying to find a position they like you in, or they could be moving you laterally to build your assets. A CEO of a company must be complex and have knowledge in every area of that business, so the more experience the better. Jay wraps the podcast up by stating that some people view this high potential ranking process as unfair, but in reality it is to push all employees to be their best.

In chapter 7 of our textbook, Exploring Business, the authors discuss recruiting, motivating, and keeping quality employees. The high potential employee review process helps determine where employees stand within the company. This ranking system helps motivating all employees to be their best. According to the expectancy theory employees will work harder when they believe there will be a reward for their actions. On the podcast Jay talks about how to know if a company values you, sometimes if a company believes you are putting forth great work and have high potential they will give you a reward such as maybe an invite to a special event that your peers do not get to attend or even a promotion for continuous outstanding work. In Fredrick Herzberg's two-factory theory, the two factors are motivational and hygiene factors in which an employee may want in a certain job. If a job meets most of an employees standards for hygiene and motivational factors in a given job, they are most likely going to work their hardest and be their best, placing them higher on the potential scale.

In class I made a joke about not knowing what type of business I would like to own one day. When asked, I responded, "a successful one". Although I am unsure of what type of business I would like to go into, this podcast was very beneficial for me. It taught me what is expected from upper management to progress into a higher position, and one day how expectations for my employees. Hiring employees with a desire for learning and that "x-factor" are a very important role to making a company successful. Also, not all employees that I think might be in that high potential zone will produce at that level. In the podcast, Jay states that the once someone stops learning, you are no longer high potential, and I believe that would be a great message to all people aspiring to reach the top of the business world.

For future individual assignments my plan to be successful is to have all due dates marked in a a schedule along with my due dates, being three days before the actual date. I will use the extra three days to proof read and finalize my assignments to perfection so that I am submitting my best work every assignment. When I run into problems I will reach out to other classmates who might be able to help or the professor.