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Summer Newsletter (Newsletter Archives)    

Sure there's the practical answer: mow the lawn, host a barbecue, hit a bucket of balls, take a walk, see how long you can resist turning on lights (maybe in protest to the energy fiasco and rolling blackouts).

But it's the philosophical answer that I seek. Having lost three friends within the last month, I am acutely aware that our lives have a limited amount of "daylight". I am also aware that the rolling blackout of bad news, falling stock prices, and layoffs has many of us focusing on the darkness rather than the light. (Please know that I write this as much for me as for you.) Sometimes the light is hard to see!

My inner work right now is to become clearer on priorities, values, and life purpose. How am I filling the "daylight"?

What about your "daylight"? Is your day filled with activities that feed your soul? Do you know your "no matters what's"? These are those people and activities that you must connect with-no matter what!

If you called my office in May, you heard that I was engaged in a "no matter what". My sister and I took our 85 year-young Mother to Ireland, a place she said she always wanted to visit. For 14 amazing days, we traveled 1500 miles along back roads, looked for stone circles, ate picnic lunches, marveled at the deepest green grass, the ancient ruins, the thick run of stone fences, the hills of yellow gorse, and the hopping of lambs. We marveled at the generous, trusting and warm people who never asked us to sign a guest register or show a credit card until we checked out of our B&B.

Ever a sport, Mom stayed at the music pub until midnight so we could tap our toes and clap our hands and lift a glass with the locals. We tucked her in bed at night and became sisters once more, sharing stories and face potions, giggles and tears, and yes-even the double bed. Precious, precious time-daylight moments.

This summer, grab hold of your "daylight". Fill it with your "no matter what's". May the road rise up to meet you and the wind be at your back.

Competitive Edge: It's the Talent, Stupid!

Despite an economic slowdown and widespread layoffs, companies cannot afford to lose the talent war. In a knowledge- based, talent-centric global economy driven by ideas, the company with the best talent wins. Period.

Jettisoning employees in financial tough times can very well result in losing industrious producers, top talent, longtime workers, and top managers. Such shortsightedness can be costly on many fronts. The cost of recruiting talented workers typically runs 70-200% of their annual salaries. A loss of sales staff can hurt a company's bottom line. Lose productive people and the customer might be penalized. And the resulting morale decline can take a toll on employee engagement-being fully connected with producing great results for an organization. A company doesn't make profits. People do.

So here's the operative question: are job eliminations, workforce realignments strategically driven, designed to foster long-term growth? Do these practices allow organizations to reposition themselves competitively and take advantage of new opportunities?

If so, than this is the message that must be spoken, written, lived from the top down. And retention-re-engagement- efforts become imperative. It's too late to undo the layoffs that have already happened. Let's focus on how to rebuild the broken communities that are left behind.

• There aren't enough workers for the jobs of the future.
  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a ten million-worker shortage by 2006 and a 40 million-worker shortage by 2015.
• Employee loyalty has to be earned. Expectations have changed.
  If work isn't challenging, meaningful and focused on growth and development, they won't stay, a fact proven by an ongoing study of "retention drivers" by Dr. Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan- Evans.
• The free- agent workforce is growing, luring the best and the brightest.
  With so many options and the ability to launch aggressive searches online, employees can leave if they're bored, see no career path, or have a "jerk" for a boss. Remember, headhunters don't take a holiday in economic downturns. It's prime picking of the plums.
• Retention and re-engagement skills and practices can be taught.
  Arie de Geus, chairman and CEO of Synopsys, a 2900-employee firm with $800 million in revenue is implementing a new program to help retain "high fliers" (star employees) and "solid citizens" (stable, loyal workers). Former Royal Dutch shell exec, de Geus believes, " The ability to learn faster than your competition may be the only sustainable competitive advantage." That's why training is at the heart of his new retention program.