Column

Organizations share the responsibility to make sure every employee is being developed professionally every year. Every personal performance goal statement should include a professional development objective.

These precious gifts appreciate over time quite apart from the Dow and are unconcerned about interest rates or inflation. It is a good time for Americans to rediscover what makes us truly wealthy.

“Half of all Americans today say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from nearly 60 percent in 1995. But among the 50 percent who say they are content, only 14 percent say they are ‘very satisfied.”

It is the uninterrupted walk of 1,000 days that brings real, sustainable growth; the accretion of tiny layers of knowledge and experience that build a strong mountain that will not erode.

Are graduated levels—a chain of command—in the organizational chart helpful or hurtful? How does hierarchy meld with the notion of the leader as servant? Or, should an organization seeking to infuse servant leadership into its culture flatten itself like a pancake run over by a diesel road roller?

Team play is beautiful. There is nothing more rewarding than when a group of individuals submits their self-interest for the good of the team, embrace whatever role they have, and strive for shared success.