Expert Performance: Apologies to Dr. Ericsson, But it is Not 10,000 Hours of Deliberate Practice

Dr. Anders Ericsson's research on expertise has finally received some good attention in Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers and Geoff Colvin's book, Talent Is Overrated. These books place a new…

Employee-of-the-Month & Ranking

Third in a series: Employee-of-the-Month is one of the most common management tools used to motivate employees. Learn why it is one of the worst things you can do.

Nature’s Dirty Trick

I knew that OOPs! was going to be controversial when an executive who was asked to review the manuscript said, "I found myself getting angry as I read it." Of the 13 management practices that…

Repetition Compulsion at Citigroup

When I saw an article reported in the New York Times about Citigroup’s plan to increase employees' base salaries by a much as 50% to offset the reduction in bonuses I was reminded of Sigmund Freud’s…

Oops #4: Ranking

The 4th Management Practice That Wastes Time & Money: Ranking. I also discuss ranking in my latest appearance on ABC's Money Matters.

Google is Looking for Answers in the Wrong Place

In a May 19th article in the WSJ, Scott Morrison wrote, Google Searches for Staffing Answers. The article is about the fact that Google has recently lost a number of top executives and other midlevel…

Oops #3: Performance Appraisals

The 3rd Management Practice That Wastes Time & Money: Performance Appraisals.

Talk Does Not Cook Rice

On hearing of the North Korea test of a nuclear bomb, Obama said, "The U.S. will take action." I hope he will. However, I am afraid that he meant that he will get other people (U. N. and China) to…

Bonuses Don’t Work? It’s Elementary, Dear Watson

I read an article from the New Zealand Herald by Simon Caulkin (3.16.09) that caused me to alternate between depression and excitement. The title of the article is: Bonuses boost performance? Sorry,…

Is Management Broken?

In an article in Fortune Magazine (May 11, 2009) called, How Business Can Stand Tall Again, David Gergen quotes Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic as saying that the cause of today’s economic…

Ask Aubrey: The Performance Matrix

Ask Aubrey Question: I am working on implementation of Performanace Matrices. I'm struggling with establishing the correct "behaviors". In some cases the catagories I'm picking truly seem like…

“We Are Lost, But We Are Making Good Time”

 In a USA article about GM’s decision to close 15 plants for 9 weeks, Stephen Spivey, a senior auto analyst for the research company of Frost & Sullivan is quoted as saying, "Production has…

Ask Aubrey: Behavior of the Ages

A blogger up for a new postition recently posed this question to Aubrey:   "How would you advise approaching and managing a new staff that could possibly be older than you?"…

AIG Is At It Again

AIG is in the news again. They are being beat over the head because someone has found that they have 374 bonus plans. While most people are upset seeing the word attached to AIG in any way, the fact…

Tough May Have Got You Here But It Ain't Gonna Get You There

Where do you fall on the management spectrum; kick butt and take names or boss-of-the-year?  Understand what makes for a good leader and how IQ and GPA do not equate to being a good boss. …

Need We Say More About the Impact of Bonuses...

Is it possible to have 374 different bonus and compensation plans?!  This recent article from Politico uncovers the half-truths and realities of how AIG compensated its employees (AIG Bonuses…

Thinking About Cutting Bonuses?

I wrote earlier on this blog about the fact that AIG gave the word "bonus" a bad name but the issue of bonuses keeps popping up. I have read lately in several business articles that some businesses…

When Will They Ever Learn?

I was recently reading a paper on "grade inflation" published by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.  It states that "In the face of acknowledged grade inflation, the Princeton…