Recently I wrote about Dov Siedman and his company LRN. I was delighted to see this article about him in Fortune magazine.
The Science of Employee Engagement
For this month’s edition of Talent Management magazine, I was invited to contribute a guest editorial. The piece I wrote is entitled “The Science of Engagement.” You can read it at this link to Talent Management’s digital magazine or below.
Relationship Failure at Microsoft
An article appearing in The New York Times entitled “Microsoft’s Creative Destruction” makes it clear that the company has big problems stemming from internal rivalries. We teach that organizations that sustainable superior performance = task excellence + relationship experience. So often organizations die because the failure to achieve relationship excellence sabotages task excellence. Keep that in mind when you read the article and it will become clear that Microsoft is heading down that path.
Employee Engagement Network, 2,000 Members
Congratulations to David Zinger who founded and has developed the Employee Engagement Network. It’s a must place to be for anyone interested in employee engagement.
Boost Productivity, Innovation: New Program with Linkage
Jason Pankau and I recently teamed up with Linkage to offer a course on our book, Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion. Creativity and Productivity. The course includes video with supporting participant and facilitator guides. Here is a backgrounder on the program entitled Fired Up Leadership to Boost Productivity and Innovation.
Lifting Spirits In Difficult Times
“The times are difficult. They require courage and faith.” – Thomas Merton
Last Saturday evening, my wife Katie and I attended a gathering to hear about a new artistic collaboration between our friend Rob Mathes and Irish poet Michael O’Siadhail. The evening of conversation, poetry and music brought a dose of truth, beauty and goodness to my day. It lifted my spirit.
Performing one of the songs with Rob was vocalist James “D-Train” Williams. Prior to the performance, my friend Ian Cron, catalyst to the Mathes-O’Saidhail collaboration, said a few words about courage and faith during difficult times. As usual, Ian was profound. He quoted Thomas Merton, whose words are so applicable today. We need courage and faith to persevere when the future looks threatening, as it does for so many.
During difficult times, we also need truth, beauty and goodness. When I’ve been working so hard that I go numb, I find that truth, beauty and goodness have a mysterious power to revive me: truth in the form of learning something new and refreshing from a book, an article or a movie; beauty in music, the theater or nature; and goodness in a kind, encouraging or helpful outreach to others.
If you are facing difficulties and need to be refreshed, watch Rob Mathes performing for Kathy Lee Gifford on The Today Show, read Ian Cron’s wonderful book Chasing Francis, or reach out to encourage or help a family member or friend in need. During a difficult time in my life when my beloved Katie was undergoing treatment for advanced ovarian cancer, my family was on the receiving end of a continuous flow of truth, beauty and goodness that I wrote about in an essay entitled Alone No Longer. The essay was published as an Amazon Short. I hope reading it will encourage you, too.
Free Webinar: Re-energize Employees
Employees have been through a difficult season at work. Layoffs, fewer resources and financial stress have taken a toll on employee enthusiasm, energy, engagement and alignment with their organization’s goals. What should managers do to help employees recover, refocus and re-energize for the season ahead. Jason Pankau and I are delighted to partner with the Best Practice Institute where we will be presenting a free hour-long webinar on the topic of re-energizing employees following the “Great Recession.” The webinar will occur on July 14 at Noon EST. To read the webinar description and sign up:
- Click on this link
- Enter the Promo Code STPABP2 in on the right side (under the member sign-in box)
- You will be redirected to a page where you will need to enter information about yourself (i.e. your name, email and job position). After this page is filled out, you will be registered to watch the webinar for free!
This is a timely topic and we hope you will join us.
Employee Engagement: Beryl Companies
One of my favorite business books is Paul Spiegelman’s Why Is Everyone Smiling?. Spiegelman is the CEO of Beryl Companies, a call center outsource company for the healthcare industry. On March 24-25 I’ll be moderating a session at the Conference Board’s Customer Experience Management Conference in New York City where Paul will be speaking. You can learn more about the conference at this link. And be sure to check out the above webcast I hosted with Paul.
Re-connecting on Capital Hill
The New York Times columnist Mauren Dowd describes President Obama’s effort to reconnect with Republicans at this link. This is a form of the “Knowledge Flow Session” I write about in my book in chapters 11 and 12. You can read about it at this link.
Leadership Wisdom: Howard Behar
One of my favorite business books is Howard Behar’s It’s Not About the Coffee. Behar is the former president of Starbucks International and Starbucks North America. On March 24-25 I’ll be moderating a session at the Conference Board’s Customer Experience Management Conference in New York City where Howard will be speaking. You can learn more about the conference at this link. And be sure to check out the above webcast I hosted with Howard.