Page 36 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times
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                                      B     CHAPTER TWO







        Crosswind Factors



        Why It’s Harder Than Ever to Build
        a Winning Workplace



        Kites rise higher against the wind.
           —Sir Winston Churchill






        :   ANNA’S JOURNEY TO A BETTER WORKPLACE


        Anna was guarded about trusting her new employer.
           You couldn’t blame her, really. In just over four years she had been
        through a merger—which cost her one great job—only to be down-
        sized at another financial services company because of the severe re-
        cession that hit the industry particularly hard. She told her husband
        she felt betrayed. She and her team in finance had worked very hard,
        putting in extra time—far beyond what had been expected, in spite of
        working for a boss she didn’t respect. She had also built several friend-
        ships that were difficult to leave behind.
           The experiences had left her jaded about the corporate world, so
        when she accepted a new position with a smaller, family-owned com-
        pany, she promised herself that she wouldn’t get too involved “I’ll do

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