World Cup Time Again

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clubs, cohesive, corporate setups, discipline, equity, goals, HR, July 13, June 12, leadership literature, league championships, leagues, Leon Menezes, pay packages, professional footballers, rivalries, salaries, sporting world, superstars, team ethos, teams, TV, work ethic, World Cup

That’s right. From June 12 to July 13, the ‘beautiful game’ will light up TV screens and consume miles of newspaper column space. Bets will be placed, national honour will be at stake and, unfortunately, hearts will be broken. From an HR perspective, two things stick out glaringly and are food for thought.

The first is the makeup of the national teams. These consist of professional footballers who play in clubs and leagues around the world. Most often, they play against each other, especially the teams at the top. So how do they now put aside their professional rivalries and come together as a cohesive unit?

This is where the stuff we read about in HR and leadership literature comes into play: it is all about building the team through shared goals (no pun intended) and values. Since this is a national team now, the spirit is easily lit in the search for glory and immortality.

Building Recruitment Ambassadors

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brand ambassadors, CEOs, colleges, conferences, COOs, employee engagement, employees, field visits, fully-integrated, HR, HR domain, HR representatives, Leon Menezes, management trainees, Pakistan, panellists, print media, radio, Recruitment, seminars, speakers, stream, talent acquisition, TV

The recruitment season is underway at colleges across Pakistan and this is a great opportunity for senior management to get out there and inspire future employees. However, what usually happens is that since this activity falls in the HR domain, it is the people exercising that function who will be hustling for recruits.

You may ask: “Isn’t recruitment HR’s job?” Well, HR is the custodian of the recruitment process. But firms that have senior line managers (CEOs and COOs) representing their companies, its challenges, and describing the nature of work first-hand, create a much better impression among potential recruits. In fact, you can even have junior colleagues share their experiences as management trainees and how they have progressed within the organisation.

The City Of The Future

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1960s, 2015, Abu Dhabi, advanced, Black Eyed Peas, cities in the world, climate-control, computerised parking systems, connection, Diablo, e-mails, elevators, files, Fing, flat screens, Games, gaming community, high-tech, internet infrastructure, Korean War, Mariam Sajjad, Masdar, media poles, office lighting, one gb/second, parking spots, PC bangs, pictures, Seoul, smart appliances, Songdo, streets, subways, TV, UltraBook Project, Will.I.Am, workspace systems, World of Warcraft

In Focus: Seoul, South Korea

High-rise buildings and streets that never sleep

In the 1960s, after being ravaged by the Korean War, urban planners in Seoul rebuilt their city on the plans that Karachi was progressing on. Five decades later, Karachi is a shadow of its former self, while Seoul is now one of (if not the) most, high-tech and advanced cities in the world.

Welcome To Blue Area

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7th Avenue, 9th Avenue, accountancy schools, Blue Area, brands Karma Pink, coffee, commercial area, Constitution Avenue, doughnut, F-6, F-7, F-8, F-9 Park, gulab jamuns, hair salons, Haleem Ghar, Hang Ten, Islamabad Stock Exchange, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, jeans, Jia’s Deli, Kohsar Market, pulao-kabab, Savour Foods, Soha Ahmed, Stoneage, Supreme Court, Tiramisu, TV, Usmania, Utility Stores

The Supreme Court of Pakistan

‘Blue Area’ seems a bit of an anomaly in Islamabad. Most other arterial roads are named precisely – and one could argue, unimaginatively – according to their function:7th Avenue(between sectors F-6 and F-7),9th Avenue(between F-8 and the F-9 Park) and Constitution Avenue(the road where the Supreme Court is located). However, Blue Area is an eight-carriage (or is it six?) dual way stretching from behind F-6 to F-8 and includes the Blue Area commercial area on both sides. Hence, an ‘area’, rather than a road.