“Out of all of the methods used to rate and grade employees, the dreaded annual or semiannual performance reviews are especially unhelpful and potentially harmful…” Performance Reviews. I’m not sure who hates performance reviews more – the managers who have to give them or the employees who have to receive them. They are loathsome all around. The well written and well-researched article from www.knowablemagazine.org is full of alternatives. The best alternative, however, is the hardest to implement: daily evaluation and feedback. Does that mean I have to actually talk to my employees? Yes. Yes it does. It very specifically means daily interaction. If you have more than about a dozen…

“The lesson: Growth is best achieved by making things simpler for your customer rather than for you.”   Another great article from Harvard Business Review (register to read full articles).  The McDonalds case study is illuminating and I’ll let you read it, but the real less is making your product work for your customer, not for you. I love that stat that says 64% of cunsumers say they would pay more for a simpler and more convenient experience.  That reminds me of a recent tweet where a large desk phone manufacturer showed a video of a user ordering a pizza via the browser on the desk phone.  My response was…

There was a lot of talk about luck this summer!  Mostly due to this paper outlining a well-done lab experiment on luck. Additionally the  MIT Technology Review  (a great resource for business information, especially if you are looking for advice and commentary with a technology bent) had additional analysis. Especially in America, we see success as the natural fallout of talent + hard work.  But does hard work always (or every) guarantee success?  How about talent?  If so, how do they factor in?  If I work 10% more than you (44 hours vs. 40 hours) will I earn 10% more?  How about investors who earn 1,000 times what some people…

In his book DRiVE, Daniel Pink takes a scientific view of what actually motivates us. The answer is simple: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. (Interestingly, money is not on that list. You need to make enough money to make it a non-issue, but after that, we are motivated by Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.) Autonomy in that we have some say over how we do our job, Mastery in that we are given the opportunity to learn and grow in our profession, and Purpose in that we are working for a greater good. In a recent Harvard Business Review post, they come to similar conclusions as to why people quit their jobs.…