Blog
The Manager’s Dilemma: Is it Good to Be “Nice?”
An article in the Harvard Business Review pushed my buttons. The title was How nice bosses get ahead. Nice is a wimpy word, an imprecise word. It pussyfoots. It equivocates. Nice is vanilla, neither a strong compliment nor a biting insult. We default to it when a...
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Why Your Brain Views Change as a Saber-Tooth Tiger
Change management articles and white papers warn us about the havoc change wreaks on employee engagement. Employee fear, resentment, and resistance during major modifications to strategy, structure, culture, systems, and processes are among the biggest obstacles to...
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Six Tips for Becoming a Successful Change Manager
It's easy to recognize a new change manager. You can tell by the panic in their eyes, their trembling hands, and the beads of sweat on their brow. Believing themselves inadequate to drive the initiatives essential to business transformation, they might even be...
read moreIs Employee Engagement Dead?
Amidst all the buzz about employee engagement programs, a growing contingent wants to throw them out. Rodd Wagner, in Forbes last year, predicted The End of Employee Engagement, calling it a "check the box exercise" at many firms. Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin by...
read moreTaming the Change Management Monster
"Abominable! Can you believe that? Do I look abominable to you? Why can't they call me the Adorable Snowman or...or the Agreeable Snowman, for crying out loud? I'm a nice guy." —The Yeti in the movie, Monsters, Inc. As Halloween approaches, my thoughts keep turning...
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