1. Philips buys Genlyte-Thomas and immediately vaults into the largest lighting manufacturer in the world, and perfectly positioned itself to sell a complete lighting solution:  lamp, ballast and fixture.
2. The incandescent lamp is banished.  The implications are far-reaching, the entire lighting control industry is built on control of the incandescent lamp, and the CFL replacement will bring attendant issues of disposal, branch circuit design, EMI controls, dimming control, and optical efficiency.
3. It's all about energy.  The near-hysterical run to 'clean energy' solutions, to energy reduction products, to energy management solutions and the rush of technology development in batteries, controls, monitors and alternative sources (e.g.:LED) is as exciting as our traditionally staid industry can get.
4. Cost Controls. Between the metals markets and fuel costs, our industry has taken a significant hit in fundamental costs.  Most of those costs are here to stay, which necessitates strategic responses:  metal substitutions where applicable, staging of freight, moving production or inventories closer to the end user, etc.

Ultimately, every issue above will return to the lowest common denominator:  people.  Those who can respond, defend or capitalize on macro-economic influences will survive and thrive.  The ability to attract talent in this climate is just plain harder than before.  Not because of the excitement of the new challenges, but simply because of the availability of talent that has the maturity and foresight to meet the new challenges head on.

Our talent pool is withering.  The talent that is available is being solicited daily and is in high demand.  Those companies who can react aggressively in attracting talent will win the best of the best.  Hiring slow is akin to making the decision to slow your growth.  ALL companies make hiring mistakes, but the leading companies create hiring processes to mitigate the hiring mistakes AND accelerate the ability to make a decision.  It is very rare for us to work with a candidate who does not have multiple opportunities in play, and our business model is exclusively tied to recruitment of currently employed management, not ad-based applicant flow "applicants'.  In other words, most of our candidates aren't actively looking when we approach them, but once they begin to look, they look at all options.

Does Hire Fast, Fire Slow make sense?  The best talent is there for the company who can make sound decisions quickly.  Accelerating a hiring process isn't as difficult as it may appear, and 'no' is an acceptable answer to a prospective candidate.  Firing Slow, most companies have poorly defined Onboarding processes, whereby the new employee takes longer than expected to get up to speed.  It takes a lot of effort to get a senior executive to full productivity due mostly to the complexity of learning the basics: who does what in the company,  how to read financial reports, how to interact with the proper person, learn the culture, meet the sphere of influence (customers, peers, direct reports, support staff, etc.). Fire Slow simply means new employees need time to adjust.

With a careful, deliberate and analytical hiring process that is held to a performance mandate of  fast, coupled with an OnBoarding process that mentors and reinforces rapid development, a company will succeed in this environment of change. 

Download our free OnBoarding White Paper