All the Marketing in the World Can't Fix...

The longer I am in business the more I realize the relationship between corporate environment and human performance is critical.

In fact, my experience has been that out of any ten-person team normally assembled you're lucky to get one star solid performer, three decent ones, and a lot of folks who are just waiting for the 5 o'clock whistle. Further, everybody seems to be in denial about it.

Bob Sutton, over at his blog, has covered his new book "The No A$$hole Rule" and triggered an avalanched of heartfelt outpourings on bad treatment. Some of the stories of a$$holes run amok and bad people policy are....what? Startling, heartrending, make you shake your head?

Bottom line:
1. Bad people policy makes no rational sense and damages corporate performance in the short- and long-runs.
2. Bad people policy has a measurable impact on both enterprise value and internal efficiency and effectiveness. It is NOT judgmental though judgment as to consequences is required.

In other words, the costs and benefits of strategic investment in investing in people can be thought of in the same way as we do other strategic choices. We all know that we don't like working in bad environments, and our collective tribal knowledge is that it's bad for us, for the company and for the stock.