“Less Countable Rewards Can Be More Satisfying”

That’s the take-away from some research on compensation, the perception of fairness and the realities of satisfaction that comes to us from Kellogg School of Management Professor Neal Roese (who I was lucky enough to work with on a case study during my last quarter there). 

An excerpt from the Kellogg Insight article on the research (emphasis, as usual, is mine):

In the popular ABC television drama “Nashville,” a young country music artist is discovered by a famous producer and offered a signing bonus. But the bonus is not cash—instead, it is a gorgeously restored, classic convertible sports car. The musician happily accepts this gleaming prize over the protestations of his manager, who reminds him that the car is worth much less than standard signing bonuses. But the advice falls on deaf ears. The young musician jumps behind the wheel of the convertible and speeds blissfully away, his hair blowing in the wind.

Why would someone be satisfied—happy even—with an obviously inferior reward? According to Neal J. Roese, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, and Jingjing Ma, a doctoral student at Kellogg, it all comes down to how “countable” the reward is. The two argue that presenting rewards or bonuses in less quantifiable terms decreases the likelihood that recipients will compare rewards, which in turn increases their satisfaction.

Compensation specialists and managers everywhere should take note.

Read the rest of the very interesting article here. 

Bill Marriott – On Not Choosing His Son As CEO

A fascinating, long read from Bill Marriott on not choosing his son to succeed him as CEO, comes to us from HBR.

An excerpt:

…my son John, who is 52. Like all family members who have joined the company (including me), John started at the bottom, as a cook in the kitchen. He went on to work in nearly every part of the business over the next 30 years. He spent most of his adult life preparing to succeed me as CEO. He devoted his heart and soul to learning the business. If I’d followed my own heart, I probably would have chosen John as my successor.

But as time went on, I realized that it wasn’t the right fit—not for John, and not for Marriott. As personally disappointing as that was to both of us, I had to make the right decision for the company.

Read the full piece here. 

It is as much a chronicle of Mr Marriott’s thinking, as it is an account of how Arne Sorenson became CEO.

Giving – The Secret To Success?

True leaders give without expecting anything in return, say the gurus. Forget leaders though. What about regular professionals that may (or may not) want to become a leader – but still want to get ahead in their careers. Is “giving” a way for them to get ahead too?

Likely, argues a long essay (highly recommend reading it…probably takes 10 minutes or less. Admit it…you’ve spent more time looking at cute cat videos on YouTube!) by Susan Dominus on the NYT, last month.

In it, she writes about Adam Grant, Wharton’s youngest tenured Professor (he’s 31). Consider this excerpt:

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Ambition, Happiness and Well-Being

Ambition is good, and it drives us forward.

And you could argue that the collective ambitions of people drive society forward. If our cavemen ancestors weren’t ambitious, as a group, you obviously wouldn’t be reading this piece.

But zooming back to individuals, Jessica Stillman’s well written article on this subject in Inc. magazine, concludes (in a very “meta” kind of way):

…but when the question is fashioning a good life for yourself rather than attracting the maximum number of clicks to your post, the real takeaway is probably not an either/or choice but a question of shades of grey. Individuals need to locate themselves on a spectrum of ambition and become fully aware that moving in one direction or the other involves real and sometimes painful losses.

The piece, which every professional should probably read and mull over, excerpts from a long-form article in The Atlantic by Emily Esfahani Smith, which is also worth reading. 

Blogging and Your Career

If you are a professional, should you blog?

Listen to Noah Smith, an economics blogger, talk about the promise and perils of economists blogging about economics here.

Though he talks about economics, I think his thoughts (advice) apply to pretty much any professional that wants to blog about her or his profession. 

Got that? Good. Now get back to reading the rest of this blog!

Interviewers Like Hiring People Just Like Them

In organizations and companies both large and small, hiring the right candidate is very important. But the question is, how do you know, in an hour or two, or even in an 8-hour day, if someone is “right” for your firm?

In order to answer that question as objectively as possible, companies devise and use batteries of interviews (a-la Google), tests, case interviews, role-play, personality assessments and of late, even big data driven hiring systems. And the overarching objective here is to eliminate subjectivity and assess skill and abilities – including the ability to work with others, in teams, etc.

Some interesting research from Lauren Rivera, an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management suggests though that it is exceedingly difficult to eliminate human biases (on the part of the interviewers) in this all-important “intake” step.

For 9 months, she became intimately involved with various aspects of the recruitment process at an elite consulting firm and found that

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