Page 12 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

Preface Cxi

honestly with each other, and how they resolve and often celebrate
differences. One executive lamented his employer’s performance on
such matters: “We have vastly underestimated how deeply ingrained
are the organizational and cultural rigidities that hamper our abil-
ity to execute.” The leader who wrote this was Elmer Johnson, who
penned these words in a memo dated January 21, 1988.
His employer? General Motors.
Mr. Johnson may have foretold the ultimate destiny that lay before
GM and became reality some 20 years later—its loss of market leader-
ship and product innovation that led to a government bailout and the
company’s eventual slide into bankruptcy court.
Think this stuff doesn’t matter? Think again.
We’ve titled this book Re-Engage. To some it might sound like
clever wordplay, especially since “employee engagement” has become
one of the most overused and least understood buzzwords of this still-
new century. But to us it has multiple layers of meaning. The out-
standing employers we introduce you to in this book are effectively
re-engaging employees in several ways.
The best places to work know how to re-engage:

: Those who have become disengaged because of a disappoint-
ing work experience or bad boss.
: Employees who have been traumatized by an event outside
their control, such as an economic recession or the tough
times their current employer may be facing.
: Those who are already engaged and must be effectively led,
managed, and supported every day lest they slip into a state
of disengagement. The best workplaces see this as a task that
cannot be taken for granted; even their best and brightest
may suddenly or gradually lose their passion and commit-
ment to the business.

Some of what we gleaned from our research and present here is
quite novel, adding new insights that have emerged in recent years
about the elements that create a first-class employment experience.