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TUESDAY DECEMBER 11, 2012 A WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER COMPILED BY SAM GEIST
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MARKETPLACE LESSONS
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I've many times remarked that 90% of what we learn is outside our area of expertise. Last week my daughter and son-in-law attended a lecture given by Angela Lee Duckworth PhD, who is currently an assistant professor, department of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. (She has as well many other credentials). Her talk was about the value of "grit" in children and how it is a more predictable indicator of success than IQ and talent. After Rebecca related some of the details of her talk, I thought how valuable grit is in today's workplace. How beneficial it would be to find an employee with grit, someone who is able to put together an active plan, adjust it as needed, be ready to take on the difficult tasks that arise in every job and work through them to completion. And work this way on an ongoing basis.
No, grit doesn't come easy. It takes years to develop (remember Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours to gain competency). But it can be done! Imagine the power of an organization that runs on grit.
LESSON LEARNED:
"True Grit is more than a John Wayne movie and more valuable too."
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THE STATS
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Earlier this month a study was released that highlighted employees' insights and perspectives on work, engagement and the top skills to grow careers.
Employees' perceived importance of job skills to employers
- 34% - Relevant on-the-job experience
- 31% - Work ethic
- 28% - Years of experience in the field
- 19% - Knowledge of the industry
- 19% - Education
- 18% - Soft skills (communications, collaboration, teamwork skills)
- 17% - Proven mastery of hard skills required for the job
- 10% - Right cultural fit for the company/office
- 7% - Being currently employed
- 4% - Other
Employees' impressions of importance of skills to growing their careers
- 46% - Flexibility/adaptability
- 37% - Computer/technology
- 34% - Leadership
- 32% - Collaboration and teamwork
- 25% - Interpersonal communications
- 22% - Time management
- 11% - Financial/business analysis
- 8% - Foreign language
- 5% - Environmental practices
- 6% - None of these
--Randstad Engagement Index
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For marketers, demographics are an important tool in doing business effectively. A recent population survey shows that American households are getting smaller -- and headed by older adults.
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The average population per household now stands at 2.55, down from 3.67 in 1948.
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Much of that decline is attributable to the growth in 1-person households, which have almost quintupled in number from 1960, and now account for 27% of all households.
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More than half of householders 75 and older live alone as of this year.
- Data shows that the percentage of households headed by adults aged 75 and older has grown from 6% in 1960 to 10% this year.
- Households headed by 30 to 44 year-olds has plummeted from a peak of 34% in 1990 to just 26% this year. (Attributed to the aging of the Baby Boomers).
- 39% of households are headed by adults aged 45-64.
- There are now 7.8 million couples living together without being married, more than double the 2.9 million from 1996.
- Married households make up 49% of all households, down from 71% in 1970.
- The proportion of households headed by white non-Hispanic adults stands at 69% this year, down 8% from 75% in 2000.
- 52% of married couples have both husband and wife in the labor force. That's down from 56% in 2000.
- The percentage of stay-at-home parents who are fathers has grown from 1.6% in 1994 (76,000) to 3.6% this year (189,000). Among married-couple parents with children younger than 15, the percentage with stay-at-home mothers is estimated to be 24%.
- 85% of single-race Asian children live with 2 parents (whether married or not). That proportion falls to 77% among single-race white non-Hispanic children, 66% of Hispanic children, and 38% of single-race black children.
--Marketing Charts/Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey, US Census Bureau
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| THE QUOTES |
"When people talk, listen completely."
--Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
American novelist
and short-story writer
"In a fast-moving, competitive world, being able to learn new skills is one of the keys to success. It's not enough to be smart - you need to always be getting smarter."
--Heidi Grant Halvorson,
Motivational psychologist and Author of "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently" For information related to this quote see THE STATS below.
BONUS QUOTE "I am particularly interested in the subjective experience of exerting self-control and grit -- and conscious strategies which facilitate adaptive behavior in the face of temptation, frustration, and distraction."
--Angela Lee Duckworth, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
For more on Professor Duckworth and her research on "grit" see Marketplace Lessons.
 We'd love to hear from you.
Please email your
comments or suggestions to [email protected] |
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Connect with Sam Geist
  
Reproduction for publication is encouraged with the following attribution:
From "QuickBites," by Sam Geist. (800) 567-1861 http://www.samgeist.com
Sam Geist lectures, facilitates workshops and conducts training seminars on sales & marketing, the changing marketplace, leadership, differentiation, customer service and staff motivation. His three books, "Why Should Someone Do Business With You... Rather Than Someone Else?" "Would You Work for You?" and "Execute... or Be Executed" are available in bookstores everywhere, published by Addington & Wentworth Inc.
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