Tom Rath Quotes

When leaders throughout an organization take an active, genuine interest in the people they manage, when they invest real time to understand employees at a fundamental level, they create a climate for greater morale, loyalty, and, yes, growth.

The Panda mission really speaks to our philosophy. It is, 'Deliver exceptional Asian dining experiences by building an organization where people are inspired to better their lives.' I'm talking about everyone who works at Panda. They're inspired to better their own lives.

Understanding your employee's perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.

The most important thing executives can do is send a very clear message to their employees that they care about each person's overall wellbeing and that they want to be a part of helping it improve over time.

Research indicates that employees have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.

The idea of investing in the positivity of employees is often low down on companies' priority lists.

If people are not tied to the work from a mission-driven focus, I don't think you're going to motivate them.

If you hire great people, and they're all self-motivated, then you can get by without a lot of structure.

The best way to build the best workforce is to focus on the largest talent pool you have.

The fastest way to disengage an employee is to tell him his work is meaningful only because of the paycheck.

Today, no leader can afford to be indifferent to the challenge of engaging employees in the work of creating the future. Engagement may have been optional in the past, but it's pretty much the whole game today.

An employee's motivation is a direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager.

Productivity is driven at the enterprise level. Better wages, better performing workplaces, are driven at the workplace level.

It's better to grow your employees, steer them into a place that they can learn and succeed, and want to work hard and be loyal, than to have a revolving door of employees. That's demoralizing.

Hire passionate employees.

We would rather have our employees running our business.

As a CEO, you get sucked into dealing with all the tasks of being a CEO. There's a big meeting, a big discussion, and you get into all the big issues, which is your job. But what CEOs often lose sight of is that it's all about the people who work for you. For every 1,000 decisions, 999 were being made when I was not in the room.

Executives must place a priority on wellbeing if they want to attract the right people, keep their best people, and drive their company's financial performance.

Building human-centered organizations doesn't imply a return to the paternalistic, corporate welfare practices of the 19th century. Most of us don't want to be nannied.

Pay attention to those employees who respectfully ask why. They are demonstrating an interest in their jobs and exhibiting a curiosity that could eventually translate into leadership ability.

Employees are a company's greatest asset - they're your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company's mission.

About half the people at Valve have run their own companies, so they always have the option not just to take a job at another game company, but to go start their own company. The question you always have to answer is, 'How are we making these people more valuable than they would be elsewhere?'

If you believe, as I do, that your employees truly are your most valuable asset, you will do whatever you can to help them do their jobs as well as possible.

Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person - not just an employee - are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.

You really have to understand this isn't a business where you sit in the back room and do calculations - you have to be very concerned about employees and customers, because that's really what's going to bring you success.