By Pierre Robitaille on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 11:25 AM

The Millennial generation, which will comprise the majority of the workforce in just a few years, grew up on GameBoys, World of Warcraft, and EVE Online. IBM has already studied whether participation in massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) develops leadership skills. They found that having to recruit a guild, fulfill a series of tasks, motivate, and retain a guild led to the development of leadership skills. MMORPGs can be nonviolent, virtual-world–building games as well, with experiments in teaching math and science already under way.

FarmVille is a real-time farm simulation game developed by Zynga, available as an application on Facebook. In April 2010, 1 percent of the world was playing this virtual game. Zynga promises new elements of collaboration and social partnership with the game, which is largely individual in nature. If 82.4 million people are learning how to create a farm, imagine what can happen if learning departments could apply this ... Read More »

By Pierre Robitaille on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 2:11 PM

Playing poker with 8-9 twenty-somethings, waiting for the rain to stop, is always interesting. These were articulate and successful high achievers and the discussion eventually evolved towards career issues.

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By Pierre Robitaille on Tuesday, July 06, 2010 6:32 AM

Eurico Rosa Da Silva rode Big Red Mike to a Queen’s Plate victory, and his biggest thrill was meeting the Queen.It is not often that we look to royalty for insight into how to demonstrate leadership in the modern age. So in our age of egalitarianism Queen Elizabeth II stands as an exception. To overlook her ability to connect with people would be a shame. Wherever she visits she gives leaders a tutorial in how to make everyone she meets feel special.

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By Pierre Robitaille on Monday, May 03, 2010 7:31 AM

A new generation and a new business environment are challenging the status quo…

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By Pierre Robitaille on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 2:23 PM

Being a CEO at a VC-backed company isn’t exactly a stable position and we should all learn from early stage firms.

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By Pierre Robitaille on Friday, March 05, 2010 9:42 AM

Get people to challenge you. Putting out a suggestion box, advertising an open-door policy, even walking the floors and asking, “What can we do to improve?” — they’re all well-intentioned actions, but, unless there’s a deep culture of trust and openness, people won’t tell you what they really think.

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By Pierre Robitaille on Sunday, January 24, 2010 8:21 AM

Maybe it was the meeting I attended at a leading international firm where some participants, mobile devices in hand, were alerting the group about breaking news at corporate that may affect their deliberations. Talk about real time.

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By Pierre Robitaille on Sunday, January 17, 2010 8:14 AM

It seems that quantifying generations in waves of 10 year intervals is no longer appropriate. The ever-accelerating pace of technological change is minting a series of mini-generation gaps, speeding up generational differences

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By Pierre Robitaille on Monday, December 21, 2009 1:29 PM

If there is an upside to the recession, it’s that smart companies are beginning to turn time into a tool to attract, retain, and engage high performing talent. Flexible arrangements are finally losing their less than honourable “benefits” stigma.

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By Pierre Robitaille on Sunday, December 06, 2009 1:24 PM

Selecting a person for a job is always something of a bet. Honing your skills in judging people cuts the risk, but it’s impossible to know for sure that the person will grow into the job and that his/her derailers won’t get in the way. People issues are never straightforward, but ignoring them causes setbacks in the organization and to your own progress as a leader.

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