HR News

While millions of people have read Malcolm Gladwell's books, his ideas have had particular resonance with today's business leaders. Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli and Gladwell were just named to HR Magazine's Top 20 Most Influential International Thinkers of 2011.Cappelli spoke with Gladwell by phone about why Gladwell is an "academic groupie," the inconvenient truths that can spring from scholarly research, and how important decisions -- like going to war or dealing with today's economy -- might be dealt with differently if we were to draw on the "extraordinary wisdom" of universities.

Although women have been steadily gaining ground for years in the workforce, both in the U.S. and abroad, they still occupy a very small number of board seats in big companies. Some countries have responded by passing laws requiring that a certain percentage of seats on a company's board of directors be held by women. But experts warn that the issue of greater board diversity calls for more than a "one-size-fits-all" solution.

With millions of people looking for employment, the workplace these days is an increasingly unhealthy environment for those who still have, and are trying to keep, their jobs. One key reason -- a stagnant economy that reduces the leverage employees have when they attempt to negotiate improved working conditions, move up in their organization or find better jobs outside the company. What can employees do to make their workplaces less toxic?

Women have been in the workforce for decades, but many will acknowledge that it is still a man's world, and that the unwritten rules of the workplace continue to favor men. So how would they structure a professional environment that would help more women reach the corner office?