When I first began my corporate career and was managing a blue-collar workforce, one of the senior engineers told me the best treatment plant operators were those who could “see around corners.” They had what I eventually came to recognize as wisdom. While all the operators in that plant were knowledgeable and well-trained, the “corner […]

At my recent annual physical I was reminded how each and every employee of any organization is an emissary of that institution and bears the corresponding responsibility. As I walked into the reception area and approached the young lady at the desk, her gaze remained fixed on her computer screen. She told me, in a […]

Over the past three decades, I have promoted scores of individuals into management positions — often with disappointing results in the early years, despite a seemingly rigorous selection process. It’s not that these folks were abject failures in their new managerial roles. It’s just that too few of them displayed the level of excellence that […]

For several years now a good friend and I have been running on a well-established trail in his town. Our conversations are far ranging, from politics to the stock market to our respective work environments. For almost as long we’ve been running, my buddy has been complaining about this one chap who works for him. […]

The year was 1981, and I had just been hired by Combustion Engineering in Ottawa as a fledgling HR staffer. The annual performance review quickly became the bane of my existence; it was clear managers were not taking the process seriously. I brought my complaint to my department head, the Vice President of HR. He […]

Why aren’t chief human resources officers given the same respect as fellow members of the C-Suite? The HR Chief may have a seat at the table, but not much of a voice. This is perhaps never more apparent than when the subject of succession must be addressed by the CEO and the board. When members […]

When President Andrew Jackson assumed office in 1829 as the seventh President of the United States, the Cabinet that he had appointed was ruptured by dispute, largely the result of an ongoing battle between Vice President John C. Calhoun and Secretary of State Martin Van Buren. The fierce infighting disabled the Cabinet to the point […]

When I first began my corporate career in the early 1980s, it was about the time that United Technologies had a prominent advertising campaign centered on the theme of “Let’s get rid of management.” The suggestion was that employees should be led, not managed. The notion that we didn’t need managers made no sense to […]