Rewarding Things a Dead Man Can Do
On the face of it, rewarding things a dead man, or woman, can do sounds crazy. But corporations do it every day! Have no accidents, make no errors, and be at your workstation or desk are three of the…
Leadership Debacle at The Tribune Company
Interesting and scary New York Times article on how bad management practices at the top of The Tribune Company have trickled down and poisoned the company’s culture, kept it stuck in …
Oops #12: Downsizing
As a business person I understand the appeal of downsizing. As sales slow and cash flow is depleted, the facts on the side of such action seem compelling. The problem is that, of the many reasons…
Ask Aubrey: What's Your Take on the JetBlue Incident?
The Question:
Some weeks ago, Steven Slater, the former JetBlue flight attendant acted out the fantasy of a large contingent of employees who have had enough of on-the-job stresses. After a heated…
Breaking News: Texting While Driving is Dangerous. Duh!
Anyone who understands anything about behavior knows that the latest suggestion by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for dealing with the problem of texting while driving will not work. He…
Lifeguard on Duty: Swim at Your Own Risk!
Typically when we read headlines that relate to personal safety, we are smacked in the face with the obvious. In a recent New York Times article, they raised the issue, albeit late in the…
Oops #11: Promoting People No One Likes
Executives very often look to promote people who are smart, hardworking, ambitious, and technically competent. But what they often don't see is that the person is also arrogant,…
Lessons From BP
CEBViews recently posted an article Learning from BP (Steven Williams, 9-9-10) which outlines three lessons that are worthy of executive and management attention. Their first point is…
Outsourced: New Show Bound to Spotlight What NOT to do When Managing in New Cultures
I can’t help but think that Outsourced, a new workplace comedy scheduled to air this week, will give us another reason to laugh at potential real-life business scenarios. In a vein similar to…
BP Was Gambling With Safety, Are You?
In a recent NY Times article the chairman of a government panel investigating the gulf rig explosion said that “time after time, BP appeared to have gambled with safety”. While it is easy to…
Food Safety: Who is in Control? Would you believe nobody?
With the recent outbreak of salmonella poisoning caused by egg contamination, it raises the debate yet again, “Who’s in Control of our food safety?” I was appalled, but not surprised, to read the…
Creating a Culture of Safe Habits Begins with Identifying the Best Pinpoints: Hazard-driven Behavior Pinpointing in BBS
All of the talk lately has been focused on ‘what went wrong’ to create what turned out to be disastrous work environments in the case of BP’s Deepwater Horizon well explosion in the Gulf and the…
Managing the Albert Haynesworths
With the new NFL season upon us, I had the opportunity to write an article for the Washington Post about how Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan has so far bucked the prevailing trend in…
Fostering Creativity in the Workplace
I read an article recently (ABC News) that reported on what the magical number of emails a person can “stand” a day before they feel overloaded: 50 emails! That is not the number they receive, only…
OOPS #10: The Budget Process
Managers learn the budget game quickly or they don't survive. Ask for more than you need in the hope that you will get just what you need. Learn why this wastes time and money and what to…
Employees Have Spoken…Fear and Failed Leadership Prove Disastrous in Safety
Finally, we hear the truth! In a July 21st NY Times article, "Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Concern About Safety" results of a confidential survey completed by employees in the weeks…
Words, Just Words
I was asked the following question on the blog: “People talk about the difference between transactional and transformational leadership behaviours. Is this something you could blog about, the…
Should Performance be Measured Daily?
A recently published book on the topic of annual performance reviews was brought to my attention this week. It’s getting quite a bit of press and while I haven’t read it, from one of the…