Human Capital Briefs

Every organization has rules. However, many rules are only enforced retroactively, after the damage is already done. We need to think more about the costs of our actions before we do them and temper our desire to win with integrity.

One of the great challenges for business leaders is to separate fact from opinion. Bad facts must lead to action. Bad opinions may lead to action, but not necessarily. The different implications arising from hard fact and harsh opinion are illustrated by two whistleblowers who have recently published books.

Business leaders have no choice but to get involved in politics in a world where political gridlock is as real a threat to one's business as your competitor's new killer product or a hurricane bearing down on your warehouse. To do otherwise is not just short-sighted, it's an abdication of responsibility.

There is a simple power story often told about such behavior: research shows that people with more power tend to pay less attention to others. They are more action-oriented, pursue their own goals, and exhibit disinhibited behavior in part because they believe that rules don't apply to them; they are special and invulnerable.

Google’s reputation for being a great place to work precedes itself. But who knew that it’s also a great place to die? Meghan Casserly at Forbes recently reported on a little-known Google employee benefit: If a U.S. Google employee passes away, the surviving spouse or domestic partner will receive a check for 50% of their salary every year for ten years.

"My boss has started picking at me over tiny, stupid things," she said. "He told me at my review that he was going to send me to our France office to help them build a messaging strategy, but when I asked him about it recently he said, 'That's something we have to look at down the road,' and walked away. It's like I've gone from being his favorite employee to dog meat."