Blogs & News

Every year I look forward to reading the results of the Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of ‘informed publics’ that asks people to respond to a series of questions about their trust in institutions. The ‘informed publics’ group is a select population of college educated, high-income individuals who regularly use online media and read business publications.

A report released by Human Rights Watch on Feb 23, 2011 titled Failing Its Families offers a critique of the historical and current support provided in the United States for family-leave programs. The US is cited as one of just three countries worldwide offering no legal guarantee of paid maternity leave for working families.  The question of a legal guarantee for paid paternity leave, or paid guardian leave was not raised in the report. The 1993 Family Medical Leave Act does provide for up to 12 weeks of job protected unpaid leave for men and women, yet covers only about half of the workforce.

I recently finished reading SPARK – Lessons from Lincoln Electric’s Unique Guaranteed Employment Program by Frank Koller. It is an absorbing account of Lincoln Electric, a Cleveland Ohio based manufacturing business. Founded in 1895, Lincoln Electric is the world’s largest manufacturer of electric arc-welding equipment. I visited there during the summer of 1991, when I was helping to conduct focus group interviews for companies being considered for the 1993 edition of The 100 Best Companies to Work For in America book. I remember being struck during the interviews with how confident, centered and focused the employees were.

The Spring 2011 issue of California Management Review (Vol. 53, #3) presents a series of articles on the topic of Conscious Capitalism.

The ones I really like are from the practitioners – John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Markets,and Doug Rauch, former President of Trader Joe’s.

During a recent discussion with two colleagues about the topics covered in my book The Trustworthy Leader, the question of manipulation came up. Over the years some people have charged that progressive management practices can be manipulative in that their goal is often to get people to work toward a goal that they might not initially intend to. Thus, the argument goes, the practices that cause this work must be manipulative for they are causing people to aim for a goal they are not consciously choosing.

It appears that Howard Schultz seeks to live a good life. In this week’s issue of Fortune magazine (Dec. 12, 2011) an article celebrates Schultz being named Fortune magazine’s 2011 businessperson of the year by telling his business success story. Many anecdotes from his personal life and community activities are included, and provide a rich description of who he is as a person. His consistency of effort to be a good person, amid all the distractions that come with wealth, corporate success and public recognition strikes me as a clear example of his virtuous circle at work.

Want to learn what the World's Best Multinational Workplaces know about company culture?

Watch Lisa Brummel, Chief People Office of Microsoft, accept the award for #1 World's Best Multinational Workplace!

Check out the video clip of SAS CEO, Dr. Jim Goodight, accepting the award for #2 World's Best Multinational Workplace!

Check out the video clip of NetApp accepting their award as #3 World's Best Multinational Workplace!