

Five Ways High-Performing Organizations Manage People
How do high performing organizations manage this change? They have embraced the new definition of work (with new HR practices as well):
Organizations substantially increased spending on learning and development over the past few years, according to the two new reports.
The American Society for Training and Development's 2011 State of the Industry Report finds that organizations in the United States spent $171.5 billion on employee learning in 2010, up from $125.8 billion in 2009 -- an increase of 36 percent.
Some successful companies have thrived off of making their employees compete against each other, giving many a manager the brilliant idea that they should try it at their own office. They should think twice before going down that road.
This interview with Katherine Hays, chief executive of GenArts, a visual effects technology company, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
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Earl Wilson/The New York Times
Katherine Hays is the chief executive of GenArts, a visual effects technology company based in Cambridge, Mass. She says she has learned to step back more and to have her employees become the “owners” of their work.
Corner Office
Every Sunday, Adam Bryant talks with top executives about the challenges of leading and managing. In his new book, "The Corner Office" (Times Books), he analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews with more than 70 leaders.
Q. When was the first time you were somebody’s boss?
A. The first time I had a real leadership position was at Massive, a video-game advertising company that I co-founded. We started that from an idea, and built it into a company with international offices before selling it to Microsoft. You wear every hat at the beginning, and then you gradually hire a team and you begin handing off some of those specific hats.
How defined is your brand?
“I have always believed that great brands are built on improving the lives of the people they serve; I wanted to prove that maximum profit and high ideals aren’t incompatible but, in fact, inseparable,” said Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer of Proctor & Gamble and author of GROW.