One Foot Out the Door: Required Reading for HR Strategists
Posted on Thursday, October 18, 2007 by Frank Roche
Short review: If you’re an HR strategist, buy One Foot Out the Door right away. Go ahead…I’ll wait.
Okay, You’re Back
You know how there are so many business books written that have a sorta-kinda clever phrase that they spend an entire book trying to pound into your head? Or when a good article gets stretched to make it book length? I hate wasting my time with that kind of stuff. So, when I read “Psychological Recession” on the cover of this book I was worried. Then I started reading. Worries allayed. Big time.
A Definition of Psychological Recession
Author Judith Bardwick outlines “Psychological Recession” this way:
Definition: A Psychological Recession is an emotional state in which people feel extremely vulnerable to economic hardship, leading to a dour view of the present and an even bleaker view of the future, which more often is not based on current reality. This gloomy mindset reinforces people’s perception of the world as a risky place in which they have little or no control. Anxiety, depression, and a sense of being powerless are a poisonous mix.
In an era when people are talking about employee engagement and commitment, Psychological Recession works to counter those ideas. Layoffs and the lack of job stability (we all know people who have been out of work) add up to a real problem.
Required Reading for HR Strategists
If you’re an HR strategist, you need to read this book. Dr. Bardwick, who was a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and is currently a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, did the workplace research for you and presents facts and figures from dozens of seminal employee motivation studies. You could pay a consulting firm a ton of money to compile this information, or you could just plop down 20 bucks and have it one convenient volume.
I don’t say this lightly, but if you’re in HR and don’t read this book you’re really missing out. (I’ve felt that way about Bob Sutton’s The No Asshole Rule and Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist. They’re essential reading.)
Free Webinar on Oct. 24
AMA is offering a free webcast on Oct. 24, 2007 for One Foot Out the Door where Judith Bardwick will discuss her book. Click here to register.
One Foot Out the Door: How to Combat the Psychological Recession That’s Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business
Publisher: AMACOM
Pub. Date: October 2007
ISBN-13: 9780814480588
Amazon. B&N.
Terrence Seamon
Oct 24th, 2007
Judy Bardwick is very passionate about this topic, and I’m glad she is.
If you missed the webcast today, it will be available in the AMA archive by next week.
Terry
Frank Roche
Oct 24th, 2007
Hi Terry, I’m sorry that I did miss the webcast, so I’ll have to look for it in the archives. Thanks for the pointer.
Judy Bardwick
Oct 25th, 2007
Hello Frank Roche:
Thank you very much for your weblog comments; indeed I am passionate on the topics of commitment and engagement and employee/boss relationships as the keys to good management and business success.
I sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm for the messages in my book for HR professionals!
Cordially, Judy Bardwick
Frank Roche
Oct 25th, 2007
Hi Judy,
That’s a really well done book. I enjoyed the flow and the lessons, both. And all the supporting documentation is just fantastic. I meant what I said: This is a must read for HR pros. Continued success with One Foot Out the Door.
Judy Bardwick
Oct 25th, 2007
Thank you!
Judy
suze
Nov 5th, 2007
Is AMA American Marketing Association? If so, why? If not, who? (interested in Webinar but don’t know where to go)
Frank Roche
Nov 5th, 2007
Suze, AMA that I’m referring to here is the American Management Association. Hope that helps.
Linda Kossoff
Mar 14th, 2008
As soon as I read the first chapter of One Foot Out the Door, I knew I had hit upon something directly relevant to my workplace. I work for a smallish (60-employee) trade publishing company in Southern California. It was founded around 30 years ago and is still owned by one woman whose only apparent goal for her company is to help her buy more and more expensive toys. But putting personalities aside, it is also a company with no human resources personnel or plans to have any. The staff is entirely at the mercies of the owner, her longtime second-in-command and their immediate supervisors, who in turn are at the mercies of just those two previously mentioned individuals.
How do you get the message of a book like this across in such an environment? Talks have proved fruitless, since any perceived threat to the bottom line results in a (metaphorical) slammed door. Years ago, a quality consultant came in, and their report (which I obtained unbeknownst to my employer)–full of useful suggestions–was apparently disregarded.
I’ve worked at this company for 9 years. It is full of good, talented employees, most of whom seem to just plod along, waiting for the weekend and speaking frequently of leaving.
Do I simply put copies of this book in management’s mail slots and wait for the pink notice? Or is it time to bail?
I’m grateful for this book, but it has also saddened me; now that there are words for what we’re experiencing, it’s pretty hard to ignore.
Thanks for listening,
Invisible Editor