Are You Keeping Up?

There is a great article in the Wall Street Journal this week. The article discusses the bookstore giant – Barnes and Noble. I think it is safe to say that most of us, at one time or another, have spent time wandering through the seemingly endless rows of books sipping on a favorite Starbuck’s treat until eventually settling into one of those comfy chairs. At its peak, the retail giant was known as the trend setter in the book industry. Come to think of it, I wondered if that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie “You’ve Got Mail” was based on the Barnes and Noble business model.

Anyway, the article is a discussion about the sale of the once mighty book giant. The business reason for the sale of the company is the dropping value of the stock price. Can you guess the reason for the drop in stock price? You got it! Not embracing technology and the internet as quickly as the competition did. Basically, the once king Barnes & Noble has now been passed by companies like Amazon.com and others who look to sell books faster, cheaper, and through multiple formats. To investors, this article is just another investor tip. But to me there is a bigger takeaway. Keeping up with technology is a key to the future growth and survival of even the most established organizations.

Online technology is currently playing a similar role in separating the competition when it comes to selecting and keeping talent. In recent years, there have been huge advances to help companies leverage online technology to predict performance and select people who produce more and stay on the job longer. Seek out technologies that have proven to decrease turnover and increase performance while leveraging technology to collect as much data from candidates and employees as efficiently as possible.