It’s all about the people

The much-lauded CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer has made “people” her number one priority in righting the company ship. Her first year did not yield great results. But if history is any guide, leaders who prioritize hiring and retaining the right people at the company produce impressive turnarounds. Exhibit A: Back in 2001, Doug Conant…

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Getting ‘Culture’ Right

Eventbrite’s co-founder and president, Julia Hartz woke up from a nightmare, and decided to leverage her company’s amazing culture to drive performance, earnings and shareholder value. Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1mHDhIMyKs&feature=player_embedded

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The Power of ‘Thanks’

We here at The Curci Group talk a lot about leadership, communication, and engagement, offering a lot of advice on various things to do and not do. But there’s just one very small thing you can do today that will have a dramatic impact on the productivity and engagment of your employees: say “thank you.”…

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The importance of hiring, training and coaching managers to greatness

More and more companies are recognizing the importance of pushing responsibility and accountability down to the front lines. Being effective at front line accountability requires strong managers providing hands-on support. Gallup CEO Jim Clifton writes that “Millions of Bad Managers Are Killing America’s Growth.” While I don’t agree with this sweeping generalization, it is clear…

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Nothing Ever Changes.

We hear that from time to time. During initial discovery, we’ll hear employees say things like “they say they want to do things differently, but when push comes to shove, they’re averse to change.” Or, “great ideas, but who’s going to do it….we’re short-handed as it is.” Or, “changing the system would mean completely retraining…

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How can walking improve your productivity?

Today is National Walk@Lunch Day, so grab your Fitbit and get moving. An increasing number of companies are incorporating wellness and activity into their culture as a means of improving the health of their employees and reducing health care costs. Plenty of research also shows that wellness programs have a significant impact on productivity and…

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Is your organization a meritocracy?

If it isn’t, or if it’s not perceived as one, then you’re at risk of losing you’re your best employees. According to a recent performance and engagement survey* of over 200 companies, in over 42% of the companies low performing employees were among the most engaged and happy. And, they were most likely to recommend…

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Building Culture from Within…

One of the biggest challenges for CEOs in large organizations is preserving a healthy and vibrant culture. As an organization grows, and leaders are forced to focus outward, employees can begin to feel disconnected. The CEOs ability to maintain personal contact with employees up and down the org chart becomes daunting and eventually impossible. The…

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Beyond Servant Leadership

I fancy myself something of a business book nerd. I’ll spare you the list. Suffice to say that I see value in nearly every popular business book written. But I have to admit that at this point, the pattern’s becoming clear. Many of the mantras are the same. Reframed, repackaged and resold. I’m also a…

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The Science of Happiness

I recently had the privilege of hearing Harvard rock-star professor, Shawn Achor, discuss the brain’s response to positivity and the sociology of happiness. Pretty simple stuff, really. And yet profoundly powerful and roundly ignored. Most companies and schools follow the flawed perception that “if I work harder, I’ll be successful. If I become successful, then…

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