Incredulous but true. Here are several examples of the absurd-in-action from the executive suite. A colleague who works in sales shared that her employer is undergoing massive changes and consolidation. Besides reducing staff and increasing the remaining employees’ workload, management also lowered sales commissions while raising sales goals. At a staff meeting the head of
Connecting and engaging people in the workplace with LEGO® … just one of many fascinating topics shared in my video discussion with Smart Women Conversations’ host Yvonne DiVita, respected blogger, serial entrepreneur, and my former publisher who remains a dear friend. Yvonne launched Smart Women Conversations to “inform, educate, create laughter and share stories of
Here’s what Audrey Hepburn’s character Regina Lampert says when she meets Cary Grant’s character for the first time in the 1963 classic film, Charade. Grant: “Do we know each other?” Hepburn: “Why? Do you think we’re going to?” Grant: “I don’t know. How would I know?” Hepburn: “Because I already know an awful lot of people,
I started working on employee engagement long before the “e” word came into vogue, and I’m tired of it. Here’s why. Overused as a business buzzword, the term “employee engagement” has become meaningless. It gets talked about in executive suites and management meetings, yet few companies actually do anything about it because too much effort
Because it’s good for your health. That’s the key message in Read ‘Em & Reap: 6 Science-Backed Ways Reading Puts You on the Road to Achieving More and Living Longer by Tom Collins. [Disclaimer: I was fortunate to review an early draft of the book.] Collins draws on research from neurology, psychology, cognition, education, and
After hearing from clients and colleagues undergoing organizational restructuring, I’m totally confounded by their descriptions of what’s happening. Managers are brought in from “corporate” or outside the organization and placed in positions to make changes without gathering any input from current managers who are running successful business units. Yes, I get that company execs can
“Companies are in a talent war. It’s a race to get the best candidates quickly since unemployment rates are lower than they’ve been in years.” “The days of employees being thankful just to have a job are over and likely will not return for a while. Instead, the onus is on employers to cultivate and
When it comes to management and organizational dysfunction, there’s little that surprises me anymore. Asking a colleague about work, I got this description of the company’s new president: “I know all about his first marriage, his second marriage, his grandchildren, etc., but he doesn’t know anything about me. He dominates executive meetings with his talking
In honor of National Customer Service Week (observed the first week in October), here are three amazing stories told by customers — all marketing professionals — who experienced and analyzed them. They represent different situations that share a common theme. Customer experience #1: “I walked into an Eckerd Drug Store to buy a sympathy card. Before
I love working with my clients, and yet I get so frustrated sometimes — not at them, but for them. I get frustrated on their behalf because of the organizational absurdity they have to deal with. For example: A management team focuses on improving employee and customer engagement despite inconsistent or no corporate support. An executive director