The Blog of Mark Herbert

Every once in a while you read an article or see a post that makes you say “did someone really say that out loud or put that in print?” That was my reaction when I read an article quoting the CEO of the American Management Association regarding a survey of American corporate leaders that concluded that U.S. workers just don’t have what it takes. They specifically focused on areas like...  Read More

That statement is from the young man in the embedded video from a U.K. based movement called Engaged for Growth, a national employee engagement initiative. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqO3sfRZDAE I was intrigued by the elegant simplicity of the message. I was also impressed that the U.K. has recognized the importance of this phenomenon and strategy in making a difference. The young man...  Read More

What an interesting week. I had occasion to spend a good part of it in a community where I continue to have roots and connections, but where I don’t reside on a full time basis. It was a nice visit, seeing people I care about and enjoying what the community and surrounding areas offer, which is rather a lot. It was also a little bittersweet. One of the reasons I don’t reside there anymore is...  Read More

As many know I am not a big fan of the concept of human capital. It is not that I reject the premise of measuring performance, in fact quite the opposite I totally agree with the position taken by BlessingWhite in their new book The Engagement Equation, that true engagement only truly exists when individual’s goals and motivations are aligned with organizational objectivesand goals. In my mind...  Read More

I have been reading a lot recently about the raging debate about Voter Registration, perhaps more specifically accusations on both sides that there is something nefarious and wrong with verifying someone has the privilege to vote legally in a particular jurisdiction. I guess, simplistically, if this requirement is applied to all voters rather than restrictively applied I don't see it as...  Read More

I apologize in advance that some of this particular post may be very personal. Although I am not a journalist, I am an author and consultant, and some measure of objectivity is probably a reasonable expectation. I found the events in Aurora, Colorado very disturbing. Not just the rather clinically executed way that they occurred, but the increasing tendency for incidents like that. I remember...  Read More

June is always an interesting time for me. It is both the month I celebrate my birthday, but perhaps more importantly the month we celebrate Father’s Day. It gives me a chance to look back and reflect not only on the past year or years, but also ahead to what I still feel I have left undone. I have reached the point in my life and my career where what I leave behind me is more important than...  Read More

I admit it - I read a lot. I find myself very curious about many things, not the least of which are the viewpoints of other people. Since I wrote my last post things have been pretty crazy. I am working with a client to help build a bridge between philanthropy and businesses as one part of a new model to address some of our issues around the management of health and the delivery of health care. ...  Read More

Wow - what another interesting couple of weeks. Seems like once again everybody has lots to say about what the other guy is doing and not much about what they will do differently. I am not a huge fan of our current status quo. I recognize that if you gauge it purely by the stock market we are seeing some progress, but I continue see too many things to take a break. A recent study by Maritz...  Read More

I was having a conversation with a client of mine recently where he shared with me his experience in having a conversation with the human resources department of his organization. I want to be clear that this organization has 18,000 employees in three states; it is not a small company. The discussion was around some issues he was having transitioning out some underperforming employees and...  Read More

I often find myself thinking that there is a real benefit in not being a genius. As I alluded to in my last blog post I thought the research that was shared about the cost of compliance, it is interesting how much pressure being seen as being a genius or expert can put on you. In that post I explored the fact that when we evaluate entrepreneurial ability like leadership, there was an...  Read More

Almost anybody that knows me or has had to sit through one of my presentations or read any of my books, blogs, or other ramblings knows that I am not a big fan of compliance for the sake of compliance. I much prefer the atmosphere and environment created by engagement, the alignment created when people and organizations share a set of ideas and values and work towards common goals that are...  Read More

Meaningful Leadership I have had a chance to do quite a bit of driving over the last week or so which I really enjoy. It gives me a chance to think a lot. I find that a reasonably open road and good music in the background is a great vehicle to really let things crystallize in your head. I think one of the downsides of technologies like PDA’s, cell phones, etc. and email is that we are...  Read More

Defining a Path I had a chance to respond to a question on a business networking site this morning on if I had the opportunity to choose my career path over again would I still choose human resources. My response was in the affirmative. I have been essentially a human resources professional and change agent for over three decades now. I chose that field because I have always believed the most...  Read More

Perpetuating the Insanity I think it was Einstein who I paraphrase in saying, " Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity." Yet still we persist. I read a lot. I read blogs, articles, books, etc. I am always curious to benefit from the thinking of people smarter than I am, which I have calculated to be about 95% of the population...  Read More

As a student of both history and leadership, I am always intrigued and captivated when I see or hear about defining moments playing out. I don’t know that I, or for that matter any member of the public, will ever know what truly transpired at Penn State with Joe Pa and other leaders of that institution, but they did not handle the situation well and now have a stain on their reputation that...  Read More

I had an opportunity last week to do a couple of things that might seem very incongruent to others, but not so much to me. Over the previous weekend I had a chance to read the book, The Four Purposes of Life . It was an interesting book, similar in some fashion to the Spark, the Flame, and the Torch. Both books explore the concept of what I refer to as our longest mile, even though neither...  Read More

Making the Connection I had a chance to read a couple of really excellent articles this week on the issues around the management and delivery of health care. One of them talked about the differences between the effectiveness of the Medical Home as opposed to Accountable Care Organizations, the other about the importance of involving the patient as consumer in the evolution of our health care...  Read More

Inspired by a blog post by Seth Godin and preparing to relocate from Eugene, Oregon to Phoenix in May of last year, I wrote a blog post I called "Completing the Circle." It was about things that you do and people that you touch. At the time it was a very contemplative period. I had lived in Eugene a great deal longer than anywhere I had lived before. It was a deliberate decision; I just somehow...  Read More

Our Future Success Depends on Creating a New Model This blog is co-authored with Kathleen Schafer, Founding Principal of Leadership Connections and a leadership consultant and executive coach with over 20 years of experience in the public sector and academia. In my dream the angel shrugged and said, “this time if we fail it will be a failure of imagination,” and then she gently placed the...  Read More

I had an opportunity this week to read Accenture’s latest report on engagement. Two things went through my mind - I found it very validating. 90% of what they talk about are concepts and constructs I have believed, practiced, and tried to teach for years. The prescription and my Compliance to Commitment model have a tremendous degree of overlap Every aspiring leader, manager, and MBA...  Read More

9.2%. That is the latest number on “official” unemployment announced today accompanied by the usual 100 point market plunge. I also saw some where earlier this week that CEO’s and C level executives expect to see their compensation go up this year in double digits…, the only employee group expected to see any meaningful compensation increase in the next 12 months. Is it just me or is there...  Read More

Perhaps a site that deals with green building seems an odd place to discuss the management of health and health care, but I have always found this site and its readers to take a broad view. The costs of delivering healthcare in this country is devouring an increasing quantity of our GDP or gross domestic product- Health care spending is estimated to have consumed 12% of GDP in 2010 and unless...  Read More

Failure to Lead We have all hear of the conceptof “failure to launch”, but one of our dark secrets from entrepreneurial to Fortune 50 organizations is failure to lead. Failure to lead manifests itself in a number of ways.Sometimes it is the inability or unwillingness of the senior most person or the entire senior management team to clarify an organizations direction. Othertimes it is the...  Read More

The Power of Synergy We have all heard the definition of synergy- the capacity is greater than the sum of its parts, but it seems like for some reason we are still uncomfortable embracing that concept. After over 30 years as a human resources manager, executive and consultant I still marvel at how difficult it is for us to grasp that win-win solutions are inherently better than win-lose. I...  Read More

Connecting the Dots for a Community Tomorrow I am heading back to my former state of residence to try and “connect the dots” in the most significant challenge I have ever taken on. I believe there is a very clear connection between some of the issues we see “presenting” in our economy today and a lack of engagement that started years ago as the social contract and the concept of ...  Read More

An Absence of Meaningful Leadership I have to say as I watch some of the events playing out across the country I am dismayed and disappointed by what I see as an absence of meaningful leadership being played out on stages across the country. Case in point is Wisconsin. I recognize that all lot of people may see the Governor’s stand on “removing certain collective bargaining rights” as...  Read More

Connecting the Dots- Part 2 I began this “series” of posts last week with a discussion of engagement and how there are essentially two ways of creating it- you build it in to the fabric of your organization or you “retrofit it”. We talked a bit about both, but my focus was primarily on the “retrofit “dimension” and when I thought about it there are some things that need to be addressed in...  Read More

Aligning Contribution I had a chance to look at two different blog posts this morning that both helped me crystallize my own thinking a little bit. The first one was a post by my respected colleague David Shedd about the issues with most sales coaching. At its most basic it talked about how the coaching in most organizations is focused on two groups- the top 10% and the bottom 10%. The...  Read More

I enjoy Seth Godin’s blog. I read it pretty much daily. There are people who feel he is a little “new agey” and like Malcolm Gladwell and others he can be more of a commentator than giving explicit direction. I think that is exactly his style and his point. His latest blog, which I have attached here for you, http://bit.ly/dL8wMO , is a great example. Seth compares and contrasts three of the...  Read More