Have you ever (secretly) rolled your eyes when The management book of the year comes out? You know the one. It’s the book everyone’s reading and suddenly quoting. Your boss read it. Your boss’s boss recommends everyone read it, and your colleagues react with a subtle hint of judgment when you confess over coffee you haven’t read it…yet. That management book. I wrote this post for all the lazy, but well-intentioned managers who need a cliff notes version of how to be a better

I was recently reminiscing about my teenage years when I would order 12 CDs for a penny from Columbia House by dropping a postcard in the mail. I could hardly wait to get my hands on those new CDs, and after six to eight long weeks of waiting they were finally delivered to my front door. Flash-forward to the current day when I used the Amazon app on my phone to buy diapers. And thanks to my Amazon Prime membership, they were delivered to my front door . . . in about six hours

Anyplace But Here: Why Employees Leave Your Company “How long do we want employees to stay?” I challenge you to ask that question of any leader in your company, all the way up to and including the CEO. After that, ask the question of other employees in the company. Will the answers be the same? Will anyone even be able to give you an answer? Do employees even know the company is trying to retain them? The answer is probably “no” in all cases. Elaborate employee retention init

When I think about employee retention, I always come back to the story of a professional I know who kept a list at her desk of all the employees who came in and out of her 18-person department over the course of three years. She puts the number at 68 and she has the names to prove it. Of course, even that number is conservative—it took a few months of her just observing the revolving door before she even decided to start her list. If the first time you think about employee re