The Best of the Gallup Management Journal 2001-2007

Since 2001, the Gallup Management Journal has provided leaders with essential insights into managing the human side of their businesses -- their employees and customers. The Best of the Gallup Management Journal features more than 50 thought-provoking articles with actionable ideas, grounded in decades of Gallup management research.

Since 2001, the Gallup Management Journal has provided leaders with essential insights into managing the human side of their businesses -- their employees and customers. This book features the highlights of the first seven years of the GMJ: more than 50 thought-provoking articles with actionable ideas, grounded in decades of Gallup management research.

The Best of the Gallup Management Journal 2001-2007 could not be more relevant today, as executives continue to struggle with the transition into a 21st century global economy. Many leaders have reengineered and reorganized their companies numerous times. But what remains is the biggest business challenge of all: improving and perfecting relationships with customers and with the employees who engage them. More than anything, executives and managers need quantifiable, measurable strategies for making the "intangible" side of their businesses as productive and profitable as it can be.

For years, "hard-headed" business leaders and gurus have said that it's impossible to measure these intangibles. The GMJ argues that they're wrong, and this book offers proof. Drawing on interviews with millions of employees and customers worldwide, the articles and interviews in these pages cover topics such as the best way to get meaningful employee feedback, why customer satisfaction is the wrong measure, the 12 elements of great managing, why most advertising doesn't work, and the impact of positive leadership.

A range of voices from within and outside of Gallup is included in these pages. A Ritz-Carlton executive tells how his company is reinventing its world-class brand, while a leader at Ann Taylor describes how the retailer invests in talent. Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman probes how customers think, while one of the inventors of the Internet, Vinton Cerf, speculates on the future of his creation.

With its lively writing and penetrating, research-driven insights, The Best of the Gallup Management Journal 2001-2007 is essential reading for leaders who want to engage employees and customers in a hyper-competitive and ever-changing global economy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595620192
• ISBN13: 9781595620194
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: Gallup Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Research-driven insights from a variety of perspectives

Credit Geoffrey Brewer and Barb Sanford with a superb judgment when selecting articles that first appeared in the Gallup Management Journal from 2001 until 2007. As they explain in the Introduction, "In its essence, the GMJ's purpose is to give leaders actionable insights into managing the human side of their businesses - their employees and customers. It continues to be our hope that those insights help make your business more productive and profitable." Brewer and Sanford note that "every GMJ article, whether it's written by one of Gallup's leading experts or scientists, or by an executive from a successful global company, or by Gallup's very own CEO, must have three elements for us to publish it: a strong point of view, real-life stories that bring that viewpoint to life, and deep and solid research that supports it. There isn't a viewpoint or perspective in this volume that isn't backed by decades of Gallup management research, or at the very least, research that's been approved by Gallup." Indeed, rigorous and extensive research also provided the key insights shared in several recent bestselling books written by current or former Gallupers (Gallopers?) such as Marcus Buckingham, Donald Clifton, Curt Coffman, and Tom Rath. The individual essays are carefully organized with five categories: Employee, Customer, Brand, Leadership, and Performance. I encourage those who read this brief commentary to check out the Table of Contents. It correctly indicates not only the articles' authors and specific titles but also the wide range of viewpoints and perspectives that they wanted to have properly represented. Probably because many of my recent consulting assignments have involved interviews of major thought leaders, I especially appreciated the inclusion of "GMJ Q & A" exchanges with James Harter, Rodd Wagner and Harter, Jennifer Robison, Daniel Kahneman (2), Simon Cooper, Roy Spence, Bruce Avolio, and Vinton Cerf (2). Here is a selection of brief excerpts that suggest the thrust and flavor of the various articles. On the manager's duty: "The events of September 11 forced America to reexamine what it seeks to defend: religious freedom, free markets, representative government, `domestic tranquility,' and life itself. Managers are not bystanders to the drama, responsible only to their boss and the bottom line. They have powerful stewardships over the democratic way of life. The inherent principles if management stem from the direct connections between political liberties and economic freedom." Rodd Wagner, Page 24) On the importance of customer engagement: "For most of us, [ATMs] have become a routine part of the way we bank; we find them efficient and convenient...But as satisfied as you may be with the service that ATMs provide, when is the last time you recommended a particular machine to one of your friends or colleagues? Or recommended your bank, for that matter? ATM users can be perfectly satisfied but not engaged." (Benson Smith, Page 98)