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What's Your Decision-Making Energy Conversion Ratio?

In Michael Pollan's fascinating book 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' (not directly a Predictable Success-related book, but a worthwhile read nonetheless), he points out that in the US, it takes between seven and ten calories of energy (in growing, processing, preparing and distributing the food) to put one calorie of food on your plate.

That led me to think about the decision-making 'energy conversion ratio' in the organizations I work with: Do you have a manager, a peer, a team member who's decision-making 'energy conversion ratio' is higher than 1:1?

Someone, in other words, in whom you have to invest five, seven, ten times more energy in managing them, than the organization gets back in return?

If so, what are you going to do about it?

Orientation Up in the Air

This month's Hemispheres magazine (United's in-flight mag) has a great article about employee orientation - particularly the role of senior executives in making it a worthwhile exercise.

A recent study by staffing firm Robert Half International found that a third of employers fail to provide a formal orientation program for new hires. For those who do, more than 50 percent of employees rated the orientation as anywhere from "not effective" to "only somewhat effective."

I contributed substantially to the article - but the other contributions are right on the mark as well

CLICK HERE TO READ THE HEMISPHERES ARTICLE