Houston – Leading the Nation Out of the Recession

Posted on 22 January 2012

By Annise Parker, Mayor These are tough economic times. If you have a job, you are worried about losing it. Those who are out of work are facing tough competition as they try to find new employment. Knowing this, I have made it a priority to highlight job creation and implement new programs that can, [...]

Job Growth – Texas Leads the Way

Posted on 22 January 2012

TEXAS CREATED ONE OF EVERY FIVE JOBS IN THE NATION Of all the new jobs in the United States created between June, 2010 and June, 2011, 20 percent of them – one in every five – was created in Texas. The state’s economy is highlighted in “Best Performing Cities, 2011 – Where America’s Jobs Are [...]

The Human Side of Things

Posted on 15 January 2012

G&A PARTNERS’ CEO TONY GRIJALVA SPEAKS TO THE RISE OF PEOS AND JOB TRENDS IN TEXAS In spite of the economy, in spite of the recession, in spite of companies downsizing or right sizing, Tony Grijalva knows it’s good to be in the hiring business in Texas. Grijalva, the Chairman and CEO of G&A Partners, [...]

Keep Austin Booming

Posted on 04 December 2011

RECENTLY RELOCATED COMPANY CEOs SHARE WHY AUSTIN TOPPED THEIR LIST AND WHAT TEXAS CAN DO BETTER It’s no secret that Texas continues to do well in job creation, even during our slow emergence from the recession. And the standout city in Texas for luring jobs from elsewhere is, arguably, Austin. With its mix of an [...]

Growth, Speed & Talent

Posted on 04 December 2011

ELITE EXECUTIVES OF DALLAS’ CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY DISCUSS THE CHALLENGES OF BUILDING IN 2012 AND BEYOND The commercial construction market dropped 8.5 percent in Texas between 2009 and 2010, according to Engineering News Record. Permits for single-family homes are down 14 percent in 2011 compared to last year. The construction industry is facing challenges not seen [...]

Say on Pay

Posted on 04 December 2011

THE ECONOMY AND POLITICAL CLIMATE ARE LIKELY TO CAST A HARSH LIGHT ON EXECUTIVE PAY DECISIONS By David Bixby Overall, 2011 proved a fairly positive proxy season for public companies holding their first Say on Pay shareholder advisory votes as part of new proxy requirements under The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act [...]

Agent of Change

Posted on 26 November 2011

CEO STEPHEN BROOKS ON WHY AND HOW HE REINVENTED GRAND HOMES For the first 20 years of Stephen Brooks’ tenure, Grand Homes was continually growing to the point of building 1,000 homes in 2003. Five years later the home building business in Dallas hit bottom. Along with the obvious economic pain, Grand Homes found itself [...]

CEO Perspectives on The Economy In 2012

Posted on 26 November 2011

Three CEOs shared their views on the 2012 economy on the campus of TCU in Ft. Worth in late October. The event was led by Dean Homer Erekson of TCU’s Neeley School of Business and Texas CEO Publisher, Pat Niekamp. Health Care Karen Kennedy CEO, Impel Management & Chief Administrative Officer, Medical Clinic of North [...]

The Economy In 2012

Posted on 26 November 2011

ON A PATH TO RECOVERY OR IN THE IRONS? By O. Homer Erekson To a sailor, being aware of the direction of the wind is a key determinant of being able to make forward progress.  Sailing straight into the eye of the wind puts the boat “in the irons” and stops it dead in the [...]

Giving In to Get Results

Posted on 03 October 2011

WOULD YOU RATHER BE RIGHT OR GET WHAT YOU WANT? By Gigi Sage Several years ago I was hired by a large energy company to work with 80 of their top executives who were struggling to advance their careers within the company. I found that the executives had a mindset of competition and conflict with [...]

Man Down on the Job

Posted on 03 October 2011

HOW BUSINESS OWNERS CAN DETECT AND DEFEND THEIR BUSINESS AGAINST WORKERS’ COMPENSATION FRAUD Business pays the cost for the majority of workers’ compensation fraud. The fraudsters are varied and can include claimants, businesses, health care providers, bill collectors, bookkeepers, administrators and accountants. The game of fraud is expensive: In July, a $17 million workers’ compensation [...]

Woman of the Board

Posted on 26 September 2011

TO GAIN BOARDROOM ACCESS, CEO ARCILIA ACOSTA SAYS BRING YOUR “A” GAME Arcilia Acosta is a rarity in the world of business. Not only is she president and CEO of two companies, she serves on the board of directors for a major corporation. According to the 2010 Catalyst Census, about 15 percent of corporate board [...]

Leadership In An Age of Transparency

Posted on 19 September 2011

FROM SOCIAL MEDIA TO INVESTOR RELATIONS, HOW TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION IS INFLUENCING 21ST CENTURY BUSINESS During the first decade of the 2000’s, “transparency” has been getting a lot of attention, both for its potential to make businesses smarter and more accountable, and for its potential to create problems within a company. On one hand, a transparent [...]

Bringing Down the Cost of Health Care

Posted on 31 July 2011

INCENTIVES, EDUCATION AND THE BIG UNKNOWN – 2014 In Houston, the tone for doing business is set by the oil companies. When it comes to their motivation and strategy for employee benefits that include wellness programs, fitness facilities, employee incentives, and in-house medical clinics, is it all about healthy employees and lower costs, or is [...]

Tools for Affordable Health Care

Posted on 31 July 2011

TEXAS MICROCHIP SENSOR POISED TO REDUCE HEALTH CARE COSTS By Nicolaos Christodoulides, Pierre N. Floriano, John T. McDevitt & Michael Williams The Problem Health insurance costs are a major fraction of the expense doing business, especially for small companies and start-up firms. With health care premiums soaring, many small business owners are asking their employees [...]

The Picture of Health

Posted on 24 July 2011

DR. JAMES TRUCHARD’S PRESCRIPTION FOR CUTTING HEALTH CARE COSTS & BOOSTING EMPLOYEE WELLNESS The fitness center on the first floor of National Instruments Building B bears a striking resemblance to workout rooms in any health club. The usual collection of machines stands ready – treadmills, elliptical trainers, devices that work arms, shoulders, legs – and in [...]

A Better & Healthier Mousetrap

Posted on 24 July 2011

A PRIMER ON CRAFTING A VALUE-BASED BENEFITS PROGRAM By Kathy Durbin Nationally, family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance increased 119 percent between 1999 and 2008. According to a new Commonwealth Fund report and numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), costs could increase another 94 percent to an average of $23,842 per family [...]

The Road to Wellville

Posted on 24 July 2011

A C-SUITE DISCOURSE ON THE COMPLEXITIES OF EMPLOYEE WELLNESS Cancer is expensive. A study of major employers found that patients with cancer cost more than five times as much to insure than patients without cancer. In addition, cancer is expensive to businesses in the loss of productivity and it is also expensive to families in [...]

Think Safe – Act Safe

Posted on 05 June 2011

KEEPING TEXAS TEENS OUT OF HARM’S WAY ON THEIR FIRST JOBS For many businesses, hiring teenagers is commonplace. But teen employees bring little knowledge of workplace safety to the job. According to figures provided by Texas Mutual Insurance, 160-thousand teens nationwide are injured on the job each year. A third of them need to go [...]

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From the CMO

The Return of the Schmooze

Posted on 17 December 2011

IN A DIGITAL WORLD, WHY HOSPITALITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE STILL REIGN SUPREME By Maria Orozova Everywhere I turn lately, it seems there’s a growing nostalgia for the glory years of American business. Audiences are cheering shows like Mad Men for celebrating the golden age of the ad industry on Madison Avenue. They see something exciting [...]

From the CFO

Taking Credit

Posted on 22 January 2012

UNDERSTANDING AVAILABLE EMPLOYMENT TAX CREDITS By Thomas Jones, Jr. Our nation’s unemployment rate hovers at nine percent and monthly job losses continue to rise. That has generated discussions in Washington about innovative fiscal policy instruments, such as job creation tax credits, to help stimulate labor demand. In 2010 Washington took action and signed the Hiring [...]

Biz Dev

Focusing on the Wrong End of the Pipeline

Posted on 09 October 2011

WHY PUSHING QUARTERLY SALES DOESN’T ALWAYS YIELD REVENUE INCREASES By Bill Harrison Some sales organizations are organized, goal-oriented, and process-driven – most, however, are fairly disorganized and unfocused. An easy way to tell great sales organizations from average sales organizations is to measure where managers spend the majority of their time. Is it at the [...]

People Matters

The Talent Show

Posted on 11 December 2011

THREE TALENT MANAGEMENT METRICS CEOs CAN USE TO IMPROVE THE BOTTOM LINE By Deborah L. Kerr and Paula A. Soileau What would happen if the CEOs scorecard looked something like this? 19 percent success rate – about 1 in 5 of process outputs is an unequivocal success 31 – 50 percent of data used are [...]

General Counsel

Owners & Contractors – Are You Protected?

Posted on 11 December 2011

NEW ANTI-INDEMNITY LAW IS A GAME CHANGER — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW By Heather E. Asselin & Sam K. Arora On January 1, 2012, a new law will significantly alter the way owners and general contractors are allowed to shift their risks and responsibilities to subcontractors under indemnity agreements. Texas is now among a [...]

Generation Integration

Don’t Hire Leaders – Grow Them

Posted on 22 January 2012

WHY INVESTING IN THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION NOW IS SMART LEADERSHIP By Sharon Birkman Fink It’s time for businesses and other organizations to stop trying to recruit leaders and instead to start building them. Companies should discover that the best leaders are invested in the organization through more than just stock options. They understand the culture [...]

Governance

Using Other People’s Money

Posted on 03 October 2011

6 “RIGHTS” TO DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE EARLY-STAGE BOARD By Hal Shear After the money’s in – be it angel, VC or self-funding – and the dust settles, early-stage companies can create a path to success by establishing winning governance practices. Best practices in corporate governance represent not only those practices that comply with the letter [...]

Corporate Responsibility

Healthy Leaders, Healthy Businesses

Posted on 31 July 2011

HOW EXECUTIVES CAN SHAPE THEIR HEALTH AND THEIR COMPANY’S FUTURE By Tyler C. Cooper, MD/MPH Despite the demands placed on top executives, it’s no surprise that as a whole many in corporate America are not always inclined to incorporate exercise and good nutrition into their daily routine as much and as often as they should. [...]

In Closing...

Focus on Fitness, Not Weight

Posted on 15 January 2012

WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH CARE BENEFITS SAVINGS – THINK LONG TERM, NOT WEIGHT A Commentary By Ragen Chastain It’s New Year’s Resolution time. If this year’s resolution involves saving money on employee benefits and helping employees be healthier and more productive then a focus on healthy habits is the key. It has become increasingly [...]

Technology

A Steward of Good Recources

Posted on 30 October 2011

ARE DECISION-MAKING FUNDAMENTALS BYPASSED IN SOFTWARE INVESTMENTS? By Keith German CEOs and their leadership teams make tough, important decisions every day. Many of these decisions come after extensive consideration, often requiring the application of skilled planning efforts. Why are so many companies and non-profits straining valuable resources in the software purchase process? Surprisingly, many executives [...]

Internal Memo

The Growing War for Great Talent

Posted on 15 January 2012

6 STEP ACTION PLAN TO STRENGTHEN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT By John Casey The market for talent has turned this year in North Texas. Every day there are more new jobs and fewer quality candidates. Some company CEOs have already been affected by the growing war for talent and many more will be impacted by this change [...]

Sustainability

3 Practical Reasons To Go Paperless

Posted on 01 May 2011

WHY PEOPLE, PLANET & PROFITS = TIME, ACCESS & SPACE By Brian Loeb and Jeff Shaabani The modern workforce is drowning in paper – the average employee produces 27 pounds, or 10,000 sheets, per year, says the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s no wonder, a study shows, that knowledge workers spend half their time searching [...]

Operations

Green Power: Myths & Realities

Posted on 11 December 2011

WHY CEOs NEED TO BE THINKING GREEN ENERGY NOW, NOT LATER By Mark  Kapner, PE and Virginia Palmer, Ph.D Mark Twain once said, “It’s not what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you DO KNOW for sure that just ain’t so.” This gem seems to apply to the conventional thinking about [...]

Mentoring

Engineering A Better Workforce

Posted on 29 May 2011

MAKING STEM FOR K-12 MORE ACCESSIBLE VIA MENTORSHIP AND CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT By Dr. James Truchard The National Academy of Engineering recently published the 14 Engineering Grand Challenges, authored by a select group of our country’s most esteemed scientific and engineering minds. The engineering grand challenges lay out the 14 most important and significant issues our world [...]

Higher Education

It Takes A Community (College)

Posted on 29 May 2011

THE INTEGRAL AND PRACTICAL ROLE TWO-YEAR COLLEGES PLAY IN HIGHER EDUCATION By Dr. Richard Carpenter If I told you that you had a choice of paying either $18,514 or $28,516 for a bachelor’s degree from a Texas public college or university and that you had a better chance of graduating with the lower priced option, [...]

Employee Development

Training Day

Posted on 19 June 2011

HOW TO LEVERAGE HUMAN CAPITAL IN THE NEW ECONOMY By Christine Reyes Within the next six months, top performers – in particular – will be polishing up their resumes and looking for work environments that will help them develop their skills and careers in exchange for increased productivity and engagement. During the economic downturn workers [...]

Executive Education

Capital Improvement Projects: Low Bid vs. Best Value

Posted on 17 December 2011

THE APPROPRIATE PROCUREMENT METHODOLOGY – PIT BULLS OR A PRECISION DOGSLED TEAM? By Mike Novak It is inevitable that a CEO is required from time to time to pull the trigger to commit funds and begin a Capital Improvement Project (CIP). No doubt a painful responsibility as “CIP” translates to big dollars and an additional [...]

Leadership

Construction Zone Ahead: Proceed With Caution

Posted on 02 January 2012

FIVE LEADERSHIP TACTICS THAT WILL PUT YOUR COMPANY AHEAD By John Carlson With a sputtering economy and congressional gridlock, it’s not difficult to see where the challenges are in the construction industry. The biggest issue facing the industry today is funding. The federal government is deep in debt, and it sets the agenda for state, [...]

Commentary

Present And Accounted For

Posted on 23 October 2011

RECRUITMENT OF EFFECTIVE BOARD MEMBERS DEPENDS UPON MUTUAL RESPECT By Kent Burress It’s board member hunting season in our little corner of the non-profit world. We have a strict tenure policy, so every year about this time we recruit a few new board members. It’s a good policy that guarantees a renewing flow of ideas, [...]

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