Every employee wants their voice to be heard, to feel valued and to have ownership in the decision-making process. The leaders who understand this and empower their employees to be active contributors will set themselves apart with better decision-making and higher employee retention.
A focused and disciplined approach to capital budgeting is to classify investment projects into five categories: investment in safety and environmental stewardship, repair of buildings and equipment, information technology, optional profit improvement and expansion of current businesses and investment in new businesses. Each has its own investment criterion.
The Supreme Court has held, “The First Amendment prohibits government officials from subjecting an individual to retaliatory actions, including criminal prosecutions, for speaking out.” The right of corporations to speak out on issues has always been a cherished value of the Republican Party. DeSantis is violating that value.
The lessons of Chernobyl for all political and business leaders are the same lessons relearned over and over again after many disasters and scandals. Always face the brutal facts of reality.
How can you rise above destructive office politics? Meet your commitments to others. Build trust with your peers. Develop alliances. Keep your adversaries close. Build relationship capital. Most importantly, do your job and achieve results, and let those results and your reputation speak for themselves.
“Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless.”
There is no reason why your company’s compensation system should not be transparent and easily understood. It builds trust and credibility with employees and allows them to focus on their job and not compensation issues, which leads to better company performance.
Emotional intelligence is recognized as a key leadership trait. EQ is also important to the success of everyone who interacts with people, regardless of their position within an organization.
Business leaders will never face the challenges of Zelensky. However, the traits needed to inspire your organization are the same: superb communication skills, inner fortitude and a laser focus on the challenge. With these traits, you can rally your organization to accomplish goals thought to be unachievable.
“A toxic corporate culture is by far the strongest predictor of industry-adjusted attrition and is 10 times more important than compensation in predicting turnover …. Toxic cultures include … workers feeling disrespected and unethical behavior.” Ensure your corporate culture is not toxic.
Effective leaders recognize that challenging paradigms and thinking “out of the box” are crucial for achieving breakthrough results and building competitive advantage. Employees who challenge paradigms are your change agents. Listen to them.
“Your comfort zone is your own worst enemy … If the thing you’re doing appears to be working, your natural inclination is to do more of it … When you’re comfortable, you have no motivation to look around and think about what might need to change.”
