A Plan Nobody Rereads
Plans that are never revisited quietly become fiction.
Chapter 3 · Planning, Goals, and Strategy
Latest issue
The Management series
One chapter of Management: Optimizing Talent for Organizational Effectiveness at a time. The book →
Every Theory Was Somebody's Emergency
Every management theory you have been handed was somebody's emergency fix. Borrow the fix without the emergency and you are treating a disease your team does not have.
Chapter 2 · The Evolution of Management Thought
Cast, Script, Edit
George Lucas says he built his museum the way he made his films. Most managers build their teams the same way. They just don't know it.
Chapter 1 · The Five Functions and the DART Model
The Compensation series
Twelve issues, one per chapter of Compensation: Rewarding and Retaining Talent, California edition. The book →
Designed Once, Defended Every Day
If the only explanation for a pay gap is history, you don't have a defense. You have exposure.
Chapter 12 · Designing and Defending a Compensation System
Measure What You Reward
Compensation is usually the largest line in your budget. It is usually the least measured.
Chapter 11 · Measuring Reward System Effectiveness
Develop People or Rent Them
When ability or opportunity is the constraint, another raise will not move the number. Development will.
Chapter 10 · Teaching and Transforming Talent
People Stay for More Than Money
Pay gets people in the door. It is recognition that decides whether they stay.
Chapter 9 · Recognition, Retention, and Employee Experience
The Paycheck Is Only Half the Reward
The part of the paycheck that never shows up in the paycheck is often the reason people stay.
Chapter 8 · Benefits and Total Rewards
Incentives Are Powerful and Dangerous
An incentive rewards exactly what you measure. Choose the metric like it is the whole strategy, because to your people, it is.
Chapter 7 · Incentive Pay and Performance Management
A Pay Range Is a Promise
A pay range is a promise. Stop maintaining it, and the promise breaks quietly.
Chapter 6 · Base Pay Structure and Administration
Lead, Lag, or Match: Pick on Purpose
Lead, lag, or match the market. The mistake is rarely the choice. It is making the choice by accident.
Chapter 5 · Market Pricing and External Competitiveness
The Salary at the Next Desk
Your people are comparing their pay to the desk next to them. Always.
Chapter 4 · Defining Internal Alignment
Build It to Survive the Daylight
In California, your pay is already public. Build it to survive the daylight.
Chapter 3 · The California Compensation Environment
There Is No One Best Way to Pay
There is no one best way to pay. There is only the way that fits.
Chapter 2 · Compensation Strategy, Theory, and Philosophy
Read the Pay Stub, Not the Poster
Employees do not read your values poster. They read their pay stub.
Chapter 1 · Why Rewarding Talent Matters