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Michael C. Bush, CEO at Great Place to Work®, on the high impact of the pandemic on the market as a whole, technology as the key driver of the business growth, employee experience as the innovation enabler, and successful collaboration with HTEC Group.
…one thing that was true in 2019, and 2020 and is true in 2021is that people make the world go around. People have competitive advantages in terms of pricing, in terms of quality of the product, in terms of innovation, in terms of market power, in terms of monopoly or duopoly, and so on. But, in the end, it all comes down to your people.
– Michael C. Bush
CEO at Great Place to Work
Another fresh Fast Forward episode is on! Inspired by ambitious mission of Great Place to Work to help organizations become great workplaces for all, our CMO Niko Slavnic reached out to Michael C. Bush, CEO at Great Place to Work, to talk about the current trends on the market, the impact of the pandemic on their business, collaboration with HTEC Group and so much more.
Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Founded in 1990, GPTW software and insights are used today by more than 10,000 companies worldwide to build a better workplace by understanding what really matters to their people. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting, and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™.
Listen to the podcast to hear more about:
- The high impact of the pandemic on the market as a whole
- Technology as the key driver of the business growth
- Employee experience as the innovation enabler
- Why people make the world go around
- Successful collaboration with HTEC Group
Covid-19 is changing businesses on a global scale. Michael points out that people usually fail to see the big impact of less probable events like Covid-19, explaining that this is one of the dark sides of capitalism.
“Oftentimes, people don’t want to think about the high impact of a low-probability event. They tend to spend more of their time where they feel like there is a higher probability, and that’s one of the dark sides of capitalism — always focusing on where you’ve got a higher probability that something is going to happen rather than think about the high impact of a lower-probability event.“
Businesses will have to adapt to this new change to be able to get ahead of their competition. Those that fail to do so will be left behind. Michael believes that not all businesses will move forward at this new change; those that continue to move at this rate will reap enormous benefits.
“There are still a lot of businesses which are longing to go back to 2019…So, I don’t think everyone will move forward at this new change…but, some will, and I think that ones that do are going to get a huge competitive advantage. The ones that continue to move at this rate are going to separate themselves. So I actually think that there’s going to be some companies that will double their power in the marketplace as a result of continuing at this rate of change versus those who want to get back to getting all of their employees together, controlling them, and watching them ….Some things were realistic to do in 2019, but certainly not in 2021.”
Michael also points out that the pandemic caused us to see how powerful technology is and its wonders on a global scale in times of uncertainty.
“...We now know that the world can keep moving and businesses can grow solely based on technology…this is quite possible for many businesses.”
Michael believes that, at the end of the day, people make the world go around.
“One thing that was true in 2019 and 2020 and is true in 2021is that people make the world go around…People have competitive advantages in terms of pricing, in terms of quality of the product, in terms of innovation, in terms of market power, in terms of monopoly or duopoly, and so on, but, in the end, it comes down to your people. So, your people are the secret weapon…you want to make sure you are getting the right people, getting the best people, because if you do that, then you can execute some of the new ideas that are required when something like a black swan occurs.“
The speed of change is influencing employee experience as well, changing their attitude towards work and making them more purpose-driven. Michael emphasizes that employee experience drives innovation and that organizations need to focus on solving complex problems because, in this way, they show they care about people’s well-being.
“It’s creating an employee experience that leads to faster innovation, faster organization and a more innovative organization and one that solves more complex problems because they (employees) are purpose-driven. They not only want to make money, but they also want to improve the environment while they work, they want to raise families while they work, they are concerned about education in their community while they work, they are concerned about those that are less fortunate while they work, they are concerned about political issues while they work. These are all things that are becoming more and more important for working people.
If you don’t have an organization thinking about complex problems, you will have a tough time getting the best talent.
“…So this has changed, and so, what you want to measure in terms of what an employee is experiencing is different now — if you say that you care about your employees, you’d better be doing things to improve the environment. Otherwise, people may think that you really don’t care. This is a change which is occurring all around the world.”
Finally, Michael touched on how HTEC helped Great Place to Work move its business forward.
“We would be nowhere without HTEC. HTEC has enabled our business to jump forward about fifteen years from where we were; we were the worst in the industry, we’re one of the best now…”
“HTEC will redefine what people think about software development in Eastern Europe, HTEC will redefine it as being the center of the world’s smartest, best software development. I believe that’s the quest it’s on.”
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