photo credit: michael-|-ruiz on flickr.com
This week’s links include a number of useful pieces of practical information. What can retaiilers learn from tracking? How to hire. The realities of the long tail. Why Content MArketing is starting to fail. Getting women into hardware.
- How to Hire
This piece positions recruiting as the prime responsibility of a CEO/founder.
“f you don’t hire very well, you will not be successful—companies are a product of the team the founders build. There is no way you can build an important company by yourself. It’s easy to delude yourself into thinking that you can manage a mediocre hire into doing good work.” - The Most Important Thing You Will Read All Day
We’re big fans of Bob Lefsetz. (subscribe to his newsletter here). Bob is a content machine. He talks mostly about the recording industry. The stories have broad applicablity in our media drenched culture. This on is about the falacy of the “Long Tail”. (That’s the idea that real economic growth can be had by marginal players because of the internets.) It’s also a big stab at the “Pareto Analysis (*0% of results come from 20% of the products or people). Lefsetz says, convincingly, that it’s more like 80/1. - What information can retailers see when they track customer movements?
The answer is really precisou little. And, what is collected takes serious analysis. Outside Opportunity “This is possibly the most simple measure, with the basic premise of counting the total footfall outside the store. This allows businesses to quickly check if traffic is as expected. If not, it’s a good sign that companies might have to, at the very least, increase their marketing budget. This could be useful for hiring decisions too; if there are normally more people walking around on Thursdays, it’s a sign that more staff should be employed. Estate agents might also find this an effective way of showing impressive data to potential commercial tenants.” - The Failing State Of Content Marketing
Simply, there is too much of a good thing. Maybe better put, There would be too much of a good thing if any of it was good. So, when you hear about the wonders of content recruiting, hold on to your wallet. - Silicon Chef Female-Focused Hardware Hackathon
Growing female tech leaders can be a practical thing.
This is the story of a female focused hardware hackathon in Silicon Valley. 150 women participated. (While you’re looking at the article, check out Make Magazine.)
Events and Such
- HRTech Europe (Amsterdam, Oct 24-25)
- HRExaminer Radio : Industry News and Commentary with guests. Fridays at 11am pacific (2pm EDT)
- Today’s Show: Today’s Show: Shravan Goli, CEO of Dice
- Oct 25, 2013: John Wilson, CEO of WilsonHCG
- Dec 6, 2013: Lisa Jones
