The Generational Power Shift In The Industry (and In the Workplace)
The day to day leadership of our industry (and most industries for that matter) rests in the hands of people in their forties. The greybeards look, well, a little old. Changes through merger, acquisition, failure and astonishing growth are the way that the new leaders have emerged.
While the industry’s self concept still includes the top 3 job boards (Monster, CareerBuilder and Yahoo HotJobs), the real action is happening in regional competition. The most notable form of the game is being played out in the Jobing - JobDig competition for the heart of the United States.
| Jobing | JobDig |
| Alabama Arizona California Southern New England Texas Colorado New Mexico Nevada Florida Wisconsin |
Arkansas Iowa Illinois Kansas Minnesota North Dakota Nebraska Oklahoma South Dakota Wisconsin |
Each firm has operations in 10 States, Wisconsin is the only place where they have a head to head competition. Jobing appears to use an opportunistic formula for market expansion while JobDig is lacing together contiguous operations. You have probably heard of Jobing; you may not have heard about JobDig just yet.
Both firms are headed by success focused men who don’t care if you have heard of them unless you are in one of their markets.
This is the new school. Markets are multiple and a part of a kaleidoscopic view of the business development plan. Tweaking their models to the specifics of a locale is the heart of the game. It is very difficult to play if you were raised on only three channels (the “one America view”). It’s easier when you’ve been raised on cable and the internet.
Aaron Matos and Toby Dayton are strong examples of the new leadership in the industry. They customize their models to suit locales rrather than forcing a template the way their predecessors did. It’s the difference between hierarchical management and horizontal management.
There are many other obvious examples.
Similar dynamics are unfolding in the workplace, just out of the sight of the baby-boomers who believe they are still in charge.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
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