Publications
Our research and work has been published in a variety of magazines, edited books, and peer-reviewed journal articles
Being Funny Pays
This short article shows the value of good interpersonal and communication skills. Use of humor by senior executives from a global consumer goods company was found to predict performance a year later; interestingly, men and women use different types of humor and to different degrees. It seems that humor is an important way that
we can connect with colleagues and communicate a variety of complex messages.
Choosing Consultants
Companies invest significant time and resources working with consultants. Understanding the two most common consulting models in the marketplace (and a hybrid at their intersection) can help consumers of consulting services better select the right partners to maximize their investment and achieve better business outcomes.
Executives' Adaptability
Adaptability is a key capability required to be a successful leader. This article tells the story of four cases; highlighting the varying degrees of adaptability they displayed in their work. See how this impacted their effectiveness and success. These executives came from varying industries (airline, high tech, healthcare, Marketing) and held
different roles (CEO, CTO, Project Manager, Operations). Do you recognize any of them?
Emotional Intelligence
My colleagues and I found, over and over, that personal capabilities matter. For example, (Chapter Below), for call center agents at a major life insurance company, performance on service quality and sales were strongly associated with personal capabilities. At a major UK brewery, it was found that sales people with higher
competency scores were higher performing (i.e., # of new distribution points, # of new accounts, overall sales numbers). Interestingly, annual performance review ratings, years with the company, and years of sales experience did not predict job performance.
Do Development Programs Work?
We ran a study with people from two different organizations (retail & services) using a pre- and post-assessment with the Emotional Competence Inventory; after going through a rigorous 1-year development program focused on building
these capabilities, we found that peoples’ scores went up on post-assessment – suggesting that you can learn these skills and capabilities.
Executive Blind Spots
It’s well known that self-awareness is important, but we suspected that higher-level executives have bigger gaps between self-assessments and other-ratings (e.g., peers, managers, direct reports) than lower-level employees. We looked at 360-degree surveys of 1,214 leaders from a wide variety of organizations and industries. Higher- level