You can also read the book for free online.

Happy Holidays!

Posted by Judy McLeish at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Increasingly, the best companies are realizing that they cannot take the commitment and loyalty of their employees for granted. Some, like Best Buy, are doing something about it. What is Best Buy doing? Well according to a recent Business Week article called “Smashing the Clock" - Best Buy has embarked on a radical experiment to transform its culture from one that known for killer hours and herd-riding bosses to a “results-only work environment” or ROWE.

ROWE “seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours.” “

Hence workers pulling into the company’s amenity-packed headquarters at 2 p.m. aren’t considered late. Nor are those pulling out at 2 p.m. seen as leaving early. There are no schedules. No mandatory meetings. No impression-management hustles. Work is no longer a place where you go, but something you do. It’s o.k. to take a conference call while you hunt, collaborate from your lakeside cabin, or log on after dinner so you can spend the afternoon with your kid.”

We love ROWE, and believe that more and more companies need to embark on a radical departure from “face time”. We are hearing from many employees that they would like flexibility in their day. They would like to be judged on what they do – not whether or not they are there all of the time. We will be watching closely as Best Buy rolls ROWE into its retail environment. If it is successful – we believe Best Buy will have a huge source of new recruits to look at from Wal-Mart and Target!

Posted by Judy McLeish at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The CEO has taken another extraordinary step, which deserves to be recognized. We are sure that it was something that not only motivated everyone at the company, but was well received by all of its stakeholders. John Mackey writes a blog, and on November 2nd he wrote that the Board of Directors had voted to raise the salary cap from 14 times the average pay to 19 times the average pay, effective immediately. He then went on to explain why they needed to increase the salary cap – to keep their leadership team.

We were impressed by his candor. But, what impressed us more was this:

While it has become necessary to raise the salary cap at Whole Foods to help ensure the retention of our key leadership, this is not true in my case. The tremendous success of Whole Foods Market has provided me with far more money than I ever dreamed I'd have and far more than is necessary for either my financial security or personal happiness. I continue to work for Whole Foods not because of the money I can make but because of the pleasure I get from leading such a great company, and the ongoing passion I have to help make the world a better place, which Whole Foods is continuing to do. I am now 53 years old and I have reached a place in my life where I no longer want to work for money, but simply for the joy of the work itself and to better answer the call to service that I feel so clearly in my own heart. Beginning on January 1, 2007, my salary will be reduced to $1 per year and I will no longer take any other cash compensation at all. I will continue to receive the same benefits that all other Team Members receive, including the food discount card and health insurance. The intention of the Board of Directors is for Whole Foods Market to donate all the future stock options I would be eligible to receive to our two company foundations — The Whole Planet Foundation and The Animal Compassion Foundation. In case there is some technical, tax, or legal reason why these stock options cannot be given to our two foundations, then I will retain future option grants and will pledge to donate 100% of the gain from those options to the foundations. This donation of future options received doesn't apply to the stock options already issued to me prior to January 1, 2007.

With Much Love,

Kudos!

Posted by Judy McLeish at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

He starts the memo that was posted in the Wall Street Journal by saying:

Three and a half years ago, I enthusiastically joined Yahoo! The magnitude of the opportunity was only matched by the magnitude of the assets. And an amazing team has been responsible for rebuilding Yahoo! It has been a profound experience. I am fortunate to have been a part of dramatic change for the Company. I proudly bleed purple and yellow everyday! And like so many people here, I love this company.

It’s time for us to get back up. I believe we must embrace our problems and challenges and we must take decisive action. !

We lack a focused, cohesive vision for our company. We want to do everything and be everything – to everyone. We are scared to be left out. We are reactive instead of charting an unwavering course. We are separated into silos that far too frequently don’t talk to each other. Our inclination and proclivity to repeatedly hire leaders from outside the company results in disparate visions of what winning looks like – rather than a leadership team rallying around a single cohesive strategy.

I’ve heard our strategy described as spreading peanut butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to evolve. I hate peanut butter. We all should.

We lack clarity of ownership and accountability. We now operate in an organizational structure that has become overly bureaucratic. For far too many employees, there is another person with dramatically similar and overlapping responsibilities. This slows us down and burdens us with unnecessary costs.

Equally problematic – does anyone really own the success of their product or service or feature? There are far too many people in charge and it’s not clear if anyone is in charge. This forces decisions by committee or consensus and discourages the innovators from breaking the mold.

We lack decisiveness. Combine a lack of focus and ownership and the result is that decisions are not made or are made when it is already too late.

Brad, goes on to say that we have awesome assets. If we get back up, embrace dramatic change, we will win. He creates a three pillared plan for action.

1. Focus the vision.
2. Restore accountability and clarity of ownership.
3. Execute a radical reorganization.

Thank you to Five Blogs Before Lunch who wrote - On December 6th, Yahoo! Announced that it was reorganizing itself – Brad should be smiling.

Yahoo! is undergoing a massive overhaul. This involves the scarping of a raft of product groups and senior management roles, and the creation of two major divisions, one concentrating on advertisers and one on users.

The reorganization follows on the heals of what now many call the “Peanut Butter Manifesto” highlighting that the company has become too bureaucratic to compete in a world of nimble rivals and technology start-ups.

….How many other companies need a call to action? Are suffering from spreading too much peanut butter? Maybe others should follow the lead of Brad Garlinghouse and create a company call-to-action!

Posted by Judy McLeish at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

He had been working as an engineer in a medium sized firm for the last several years and like everyone else there was putting in a lot of hours. It was ‘par for the course’ at the firm. He was a hard working guy and never minded putting in the hours, but did harbor resentment towards what some people call “managing perception”. Long hours were definitely equated with dedication and commitment and were rewarded – bigger better projects, raises etc… So as you can imagine no one was going home on time even if they could!

People padded their daily activities, making it look like they were slaving away for 12, 14, 16 hours a day when more often than not they weren’t even coming close! Talk at the water cooler was always about the ‘grind’ and how busy and tired everyone was. If someone was taking vacation “slacker” was lightly whispered around the office

His first two weeks at the new job my friend was careful to put in the long hours, already accepting that long hours would be viewed positively. He arrived earlier than necessary, hung out a little longer than he needed to, did some research about his new city online during the day, sent out his deliverables right at the deadline even if they had been completed hours before etc… And, he watched his colleagues leave at 5pm daily…

At the end of the first two weeks his boss took him aside and seemed concerned. She told him that she noticed he had been putting in long hours while his colleagues were leaving at 5pm everyday. Her concern? Did he really know what he was doing? Unlike North America where many of us seem to wear our fatigue and long hours as a badge of competency and honor, in Finland quality of life is seen as more important. Leaving at 5 shows that you are good at what you do and have your priorities straight. The quality of your deliverables is what counts. If you can do it in less time you’re a hero!

When employees are recognized and rewarded for the work they do and not just the hours they put in great things happen. People are happier, productivity, quality and creativity rise. People feel valued and important.

With the New Year coming, resolve to focus on results not hours. You’ll never go back! Onnellista Uutta Vuotta!

Posted by Judy McLeish at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

 The use of personality assessments continues to grow in popularity. Why? Because they yield insights into people’s individual drives, temperaments and motivations.

The best companies are increasingly leveraging predictive tools to help them better understand their employees. And we all know it is employees that are our greatest assets!

The nature of work is changing. Companies are increasingly trying to position themselves in hyper-competitive industries. They are looking for customer-focused, sales-oriented, team-oriented individuals who can provide them with a key competitive advantage over their competition. Many companies are discovering that their personality make-up can be a key competitive differentiator. How? Think about it – how many times have you not returned to a particular restaurant or bank branch because of a surly waitperson or customer service agent? Similar stories relating to the “human-side” of business are everywhere.

Personality traits have a direct and substantial impact on job performance. Research indicates that between 20 – 25% of an individual employee’s effectiveness on the job is attributable to his or her personality.

PI Consulting found that retail sales managers with higher degrees of assertiveness achieved an average of 35% more year-over-year sales growth than did their less assertive counterparts.

PI Consulting also found that more effective leaders generally have more ambition, likeability and openness to new experiences than their less effective counterparts.

Personality assessments are being used in a variety of new and innovative ways to create a competitive advantage.

• Recruiting – personality assessments are being used to define some of the key characteristics for a job and to craft targeted recruiting strategies. Imagine if you were able to pinpoint – non-customer oriented individuals before they joined your company.

That is exactly what Mandarin Oriental, Miami did. They leveraged Predictive Index. What is Predictive Index? It is a Behavioral assessment that has been developed specifically and exclusively for use in industrial and business settings. Why does the hotel use this tool – “the right fit for the position means lower turnover for the hotel overall.” Watch the video to see how leveraging the Predictive Index tool has helped Mandarin Oriental succeed.

• On-boarding – with the insights of personality assessments, new employees can be brought up to speed more effectively. How? A company can more easily identify who needs more targeted training and support up-front versus those that are more comfortable learning on their own.
• Culture change – more and more companies are being forced to adapt to changing market conditions. Many companies are shifting to becoming more customer-centric, relationship based sales and service cultures. Personality assessments can be leveraged to find and develop talent that will thrive in the new environment.
• Coaching – with the benefit of the personality assessment, Managers can coach to the individual. They can create performance improvement strategies for those who desire it, and they can allow others to learn skills autonomously.
• Leadership Development – personality assessments are increasingly being used in leadership development programs at all organizational levels. These assessments can give leaders valuable data on where their natural behavioral strengths lie and how to leverage them to drive business results.
  
  Does your company understand your organizational personality? If not, you may want to look at leveraging the Predictive Index tool as a way to increase your competitive advantage.

Posted by Judy McLeish at 02:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to Reuters, in Second Life, Dutch bank ABN AMRO NV opened a branch inside on Friday, December 1, inside Second Life’s Internet-based virtual world.

According to the article, ABN AMRO, the Netherlands’ biggest bank, said it will create a virtual bank resembling ABN’s real-life outlets, offering financial advice. ABN said it won’t be offering banking services at first. An ABN spokeswoman said that such services may be available in the future.

“Communicating with customers via the Internet can become more personal and more direct,” Wietze Reehoorn, a member of ABN’s executive board, said in a statement. “Competition between Dutch banks will be determined to a significant degree by finding the best way to establish personal contact with customers.”

We certainly agree with Wietz Reehoorn and think that it is "high time" that a Bank branch entered Second Life. We think more banks should think of Second Life as an opportunity to build more personal relationships with customers.

Posted by Judy McLeish at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“they are not a team of financial planners or number crunchers. We're real people dealing with real money issues. We want to get rid of our credit card debt, are starting to think about college savings for our kids, have a sneaking suspicion that everyone else's cell phone plan has more minutes for less money, are tired of getting stung by stupid bank and credit card fees, and dream of buying a more environmentally friendly car. We feel like businesses have stockpiles of data on us as consumers and think it would sure be great to have more information on where we spend our money so that we can make better decisions. Alone, that's a pretty daunting proposition, but together, by pooling our knowledge, we can create an immensely powerful thing. We want to take control of our money to reach our financial goals, and invite you to join us.”

You can reach me directly at (800) 511-8544. If you have comments about our product, questions about how it works, or just want to chat a bit about what inspired us to create Wesabe, please give me a call. Sure, I could have an intern man the phones, but I can’t think of any job more important at Wesabe right now than talking to our new members and people who are thinking of signing up. So when you call, you’ll be talking to me. I look forward to it!

Posted by Judy McLeish at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)