Links of the Week is a selection of articles and blog posts about #EmployeeEngagement, #Millennials, and #Leadership that were the most popular on my Twitter feed this week. I’ve added some personal thoughts and opinions to the links below as well. Enjoy!

#1

Why Millennials Are the C-Suite’s Secret Weapon for Innovation (The Wall Street Journal)

The future is being invented by a generation that expects free-flowing, self-organized crowds that meet up, network, find each other on digital platforms, form and disband teams, and create their own projects. They belong to tribes that don’t want to wait for orders from a chief.

When a global industry giant convened a top leadership meeting, they brought in 20 high-potential Millennials to discuss how the company can remain competitive in an industry with an accelerating pace of technological change. The answers they came up with? Startup-like spaces in the office, an internal kick-starter program, virtual communities of interest, and crowdsourcing talent from anywhere in the company to work on projects. Those are some great ideas and C-suite executives will be losing out on those ideas if they don’t invite Millennials into the room.

#2

Millennial startup founders are the must-have item this fundraising season (Crain’s New York Business)

Yet enticing these new [Millennial] donors takes a lot of work. They aren’t interested in philanthropy as a way to climb the social ladder; they want to change the world. Young donors expect the charities they support to run like businesses, and they like to see sophisticated, timely reports on how a charity is functioning and where their dollars are going.

A great piece on what makes Millennial patrons different from the previous generation and the challenges non profits face in keeping up with their higher expectations. The higher level of transparency and engagement expected by Millennials from the charities they support is good news.

#3

5 Core Themes from HR Tech World Europe (globoforce)

“HR should stand for Human Relationships,” said David Shing, showing how technology is fully integrating into our lives, but cautioning against seeing it as a panacea. “Technology,” he said, “changes behavior, not needs.”

Simplification, Humanity, Cooperation, Improvement, and Recognition were the 5 core themes from HR Tech World Europe according to globoforce. HR is positioned in a unique position to combine technology with organizational information given its institutional knowledge and how different business units can work together. The role of HR – Human Relationship – managers is only going to increase in the future.

#4

3 Startup Experts Reveal Their Customer Success Secrets (Forbes)

Customers are loyal to their own success, instead of a brand or product. Help them achieve success and your company will grow.

Love the ideas in this article to make customer success a priority. Groove’s CEO runs all the initial onboarding with new clients to get to know their challenges firsthand. HubSpot provides an Inbound Marketing certification program for free even if you’re not a user of Hubspot. Sending a gift like a gift card to a restaurant that you know the client likes or sending a cute onesie for a newborn baby, can be touches that can really help your business stand out. “Great people know great people” so creating a remarkable experience for your customers can help your business grow even faster.

#5

Global Human Capital Trends 2015 (Deloitte)

Only 7% [of companies] have strong programs to build Millennial leaders.

I’m reading through this mammoth, 100+ page report and this was a quote that stood out to me and seems like for you as well. It’s crazy to think that 7% of companies have strong programs for Millennials given that Millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce. It’s a huge area of concern and opportunity.

Some great articles this week. Thank you to those that liked, re-tweeted, or commented on the posts. Looking forward to next week’s roundup!