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  • The Value of Initiative, Creativity, and Passion in Employees

    Obedience, diligence, and intellect. Three key attributes for good employees, right? Gary Hamel says yes, but they aren't enough. In fact, he labels obedience, diligence, and intellect as global commodities that any business can get from various places around the globe. Managers who want their companies to thrive need to find and foster employees with other attributes. Hamel, author of the influential book The Future of Management , points to initiative. Employees who "don't wait to be directed," and push to solve problems before they are even asked. In this BigThink video, Hamel explains the value of initiative, along with passion and creatvitiy--all attributes that he suggests are too rare in the American workplace these days:

  • Dan Ariely on the Limits of Monetary Incentives

    Noted behavioral economist Dan Ariely asks, "If I gave you $10,000 to be funny in the next minute, could you do it?" It turns out that giving someone more money to do something can actually make it harder for them to accomplish the task at hand. In the first part of this BigThin k video, Ariely discusses research into whether offering workers more money produces better work:

  • Michael Beer and 'Equality of Sacrifice'

    Most companies have had to make some tough decisions during the global economic crisis, and few are tougher than those involving personnel. Michael Beer , chairman of the consulting firm TruePoint, says successful companies take a dual-approach to these decisions by thinking about both the needs of workers and the needs of the company--and that these needs are not mutually exclusive. He calls companies that take this approach "high commitment, high performance organizations." These companies are, for example, more likely to make across the board pay cuts and preserve jobs rather than "slicing and dicing." In this video, Beers describes a policy he calls "equality of sacrifice," and says it is good business in tough times: