WIDGETS: THE 12
RULES FOR MANAGING
YOUR EMPLOYEES AS IF
THEY’RE REAL PEOPLE
Rodd Wagner
McGraw Hill, 2015
“Your people are not your greatest
asset. They’re not yours, and
they’re not assets. Assets are property.
You don’t own your people.”
Rodd Wagner declares
employees are not “human resources”
or “inventory.” Money,
land, buildings and computers
are resources. By depersonalizing
people as widgets, it
becomes easier to apply a variety
of operational terms such
as “onboarded” or “downsized.”
Realizing that HR and management
wanted more from
employee engagement methods,
he and his team developed the
New Rules, addressing issues
such as transparency, wellbeing,
pay, fearlessness, meaning,
collaboration and employees’
perceptions of their future.
Talking point
Humans are reciprocal. For corporations,
this has enormous
implications. After the Great
Recession, Wagner says companies
are unprepared for the new
breed of worker who is more
individualistic, impatient, thrillseeking
and connected, and who
will require better leadership and
managing than at any time before.
reviews
OFF THE SHELF
By Alyson Nyiri, CHRL
HEART-CENTERED
LEADERSHIP: LEAD
WELL, LIVE WELL.
SECOND EDITION.
Susan Steinbrecher
and Joel Bennett
Sustainable Path Publishing, 2014
Ten years ago, the original
edition asked readers to go inward
and reflect and choose
the course of action from your
heart. It was a hard sell; however,
today’s leadership strategies
have changed. Organizations
are more open to innovative approaches
and are beginning to
understand the need to infuse
meaning into their workplace.
Heart-Centered Leadership
offers seven principles (e.g.,
know your impact) and corresponding
virtues (e.g., integrity
and foresight) for heart-centred
leaders to follow. The principles
offered relate to conviction and
a deep and abiding belief in nature
of work and people.
Talking point
Heart-centered leadership is
defined as having the wisdom,
courage and compassion to lead
others with authenticity, transparency,
humility and service.
The terms used here could fit
many spiritual traditions. How
easily could it be adapted to fit
your multicultural workplace?
NO ONE UNDERSTANDS
YOU AND WHAT TO DO
ABOUT IT
Heidi Grant Halvorson
Harvard Business Review Press,
2015
Opening with Lululemon’s
founder and former CEO and
chairman Chip Wilson’s now
famous blunder that “some
women’s bodies just actually
don’t work” for yoga pants, social
psychologist Dr. Halvorson
demonstrates how critical it is
to come across the way you intend
to.
Despite what we may believe,
we are much harder to
read than we realize. Added
to that, we rely heavily on assumptions.
For communication
to succeed, it is essential that we
learn to accurately perceive others
and ourselves. Halvorson
offers numerous strategies for
correcting and overcoming bad
impressions.
Talking point
Halvorson talks about ways
to produce egalitarian perception,
which is the goal
of judging people fairly and
treating them accordingly. As
HR practitioners, we’re well
trained in this process. But is
the profession accorded the
same courtesy?
COPYFIGHT: THE
GLOBAL POLITICS OF
DIGITAL COPYRIGHT
REFORM
Blayne Haggart
University of Toronto Press, 2014
Grappling with copyright and
intellectual property, plus the
relevant law, is part of the job
for many HR professionals.
Two questions drive the
book. First, in a world where
economic giants drive copyright
reform, are smaller
countries able to exercise
copyright - policy autonomy?
Second, when it comes to
making copyright policy,
whose voices matter?
Haggart examines the development
of and decisions
made by the U.S., Canadian
and Mexican governments regarding
Internet treaties as
well as their individual copyright
policies.
Talking point
A copyfighter is the broad banner
to describe people who are
fighting for reforms to intellectual
property – trademarks,
patents, copyrights and what
are called “related rights.” n
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MAY/JUNE 2015 ❚ 71