Reasons Your Top Talent Leaves

From Mike Myatt over on Forbes; 10 Reasons Your Top Talent Leaves

1. You Failed To Unleash Their Passions: Smart companies align employee passions with corporate pursuits. Human nature makes it very difficult to walk away from areas of passion. Fail to understand this and you’ll unknowingly be encouraging employees to seek their passions elsewhere.

2. You Failed To Challenge Their Intellect: Smart people don’t like to live in a dimly lit world of boredom. If you don’t challenge people’s minds, they’ll leave you for someone/someplace that will.

3. You Failed To Engage Their Creativity: Great talent is wired to improve, enhance, and add value. They are built to change and innovate. They NEED to contribute by putting their fingerprints on design. Smart leaders don’t place people in boxes – they free them from boxes. What’s the use in having a racehorse if you don’t let them run?

4. You Failed To Develop Their Skills: Leadership isn’t a destination – it’s a continuum. No matter how smart or talented a person is, there’s always room for growth, development, and continued maturation. If you place restrictions on a person’s ability to grow, they’ll leave you for someone who won’t.

5. You Failed To Give Them A Voice: Talented people have good thoughts, ideas, insights, and observations. If you don’t listen to them, I can guarantee you someone else will.

6. You Failed To Care: Sure, people come to work for a paycheck, but that’s not the only reason. In fact, many studies show it’s not even the most important reason. If you fail to care about people at a human level, at an emotional level, they’ll eventually leave you regardless of how much you pay them.

7. You Failed to Lead: Businesses don’t fail, products don’t fail, projects don’t fail, and teams don’t fail – leaders fail. The best testament to the value of leadership is what happens in its absence – very little. If you fail to lead, your talent will seek leadership elsewhere.

8. You Failed To Recognize Their Contributions: The best leaders don’t take credit – they give it. Failing to recognize the contributions of others is not only arrogant and disingenuous, but it’s as also just as good as asking them to leave.

9. You Failed To Increase Their Responsibility: You cannot confine talent – try to do so and you’ll either devolve into mediocrity, or force your talent seek more fertile ground. People will gladly accept a huge workload as long as an increase in responsibility comes along with the performance and execution of said workload.

10. You Failed To Keep Your Commitments: Promises made are worthless, but promises kept are invaluable. If you break trust with those you lead you will pay a very steep price. Leaders not accountable to their people, will eventually be held accountable by their people.

If leaders spent less time trying to retain people, and more time trying to understand them, care for them, invest in them, and lead them well, the retention thing would take care of itself. Thoughts?

Follow Mike on Twitter @mikemayatt

America Is Falling In Love With The Chubby Kid In New Nike Ad

Nike is not an Olympic sponsor this year but that hasn't stopped it from borrowing interest in what it takes to compete for its "Find your greatness" campaign. The result—this thoughtful, unexpectedly moving video of an overweight pre-teenager, Nathan, forcing himself to run down a lonely road in London, Ohio—is fantastic. Note that it's filmed in a single, unedited take.

Jim Edwards, Business Insider

What Men Should Wear to Work

For the team behind the glossy pages of Esquire magazine, knowing the ins and outs of men’s style is an essential component of the job.

We asked editor-in-chief David Granger and other Esquire staffers to give At Work the lowdown on how a man should dress for work. Here’s their advice:

Think ahead: “It’s vitally important, if you’re starting out, to dress for the position that you’d like to have in five years,” says Jack Essig, senior vice president, publishing director, chief marketing officer.

Invest in a good pair of shoes: “Shoes really make the man,” says design director, David Curcurito. “Men’s style doesn’t go out of fashion that fast. You could go to Woodbury Commons and buy a $500 pair of wingtips and it’ll last you 10 years.”

Tuck in those dress shirts: “There are many shirts that are made to be untucked — just not dress shirts,” says Mr. Granger. (“It’s just men who are afraid they’re no longer young trying to express that they’re still young.”) Buy what fits: “Fit is key,” says Nic Screws, senior associate market editor. “It doesn’t have to be expensive. Invest in a good tailor. Know brands that fit you.”

Seek advice: When shopping in a department store, “sometimes the tendency is to go to the guy that looks hippest in the store,” says fashion director, Nick Sullivan. “You shouldn’t. You should go to the oldest guy in the store, especially if you’re buying a suit. Because he’s the one who knows how things should fit. But it’s not a universal rule. Sometimes you can get really unlucky.”

Go simple, comfortable: “Just keep it simple and don’t overthink it,” says Richard Dorment, senior editor. “And comfort is absolutely essential … It doesn’t matter how much you spend or how much time you’ve spent putting into it, you have to look comfortable to be comfortable to look good.”

Ban the backpack: “Unless you’re hiking, leave it at home,” says Mr. Curcurito.

Take care: “The only thing I ever tell men — young men, old men — the only advice I can give them is to care a little bit,” says Mr. Granger. “If you care a little bit, you’ll end up looking good. Nobody can tell you how to dress. But if you think about it, you’ll look good.”

By Robin Kawakami, WSJ