Link: http://blogs.theage.com.au/managementline/

As Leon Gettler remarks this morning...plenty of flak today for Premier Steve Bracks over the lack of women in his new cabinet, reports The Age.

Bracks has defended the line-up, saying it's about having the best team for the future. Yeah right, if that's the case, some of the blokes wouldn't be there!

Still, it does leave you wondering whether men tend to be more ruthlessly ambitious than women....
That seems to be the take in a new study out of Britain that Leon has sourced.

Is that your view?
What do you deem most important for you?

Link: http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/learning/conner/071006.html

It seems many people hold incomplete views on the benefits of sleep. After weighing the evidence and serving as my own lab rat, Marcia Cramer now understands that sleepless habits deprive us of our natural capacity to excel. Learning--and applying the right things faster--provides us the only long-term competitive advantage, and optimal learning requires sleep.

Do you get enough sleep?
If not, why not?

Link: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5229.html

A values-driven organisation poses unique risks for its leaders—in particular, charges of hypocrisy if the leaders make a mistake. Sandra Cha of McGill University and Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School discuss what to do when values backfire.

Do you agree?

Link: http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/E6/0C046EE6.asp

Finance and HR are often at odds in business. Craig Donaldson (of humanresourcesmagazine.com.au) speaks with a roundtable of CFOs about the effectiveness of HR, areas for improvement and how HR can best work with finance.

Ah... HR and $numbers, a mix that has always appeared to be difficult... and your experience?
do you agree, or have you found a sure fired way to satisfy the "bean counters"?

Link: http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/11/0C046E11.asp

UNCOOPERATIVE LINE managers and corporate culture are the two major stumbling blocks that prevent successful talent management initiatives from delivering business value, a recent study has found.
Half of the study participants, which included 90 CEOs, business unit leaders and HR professionals from 40 multinational companies, expressed concern that their company’s senior leadership don’t align talent management strategies with business strategies.

What examples do you have of talent management strategies aligning with business strategies?....or not!?