People-Smart Leaders: Maximizing People, Performance, and Profits

Much has been written of the importance of workplace social behaviors and values. However, "The missing link in the discussions about the importance of social values in the workplace is a process to measure and monitor the use of the behaviors contained within each value." Empirically defining behavioral performance standards makes it possible to measure, monitor and adjust in real time to improve the efficiency of working relationships, in a manner similar to that for improving technical performances. Quantifying such unquantifiables as open communication, cooperation, trust and mutual respect is the ambitious goal of authors Larry and Michael Cole: two respected business professionals who have made their lives and their livelihoods putting the MBC Software® methodology, as described in People-Smart Leaders, to work. Identifying the three working relationships key to the success of every organization, they provide organizational leaders with a fresh vocabulary and a plentitude of tools for fostering this "people operating system": the foundation for a revolutionary systematic process bringing organizations into a new "people age."

Larry Cole, Ph.D. founded TeamMax®, Inc. and its associated methodologies in 1989. He is cofounder of PeopleSystems SoftWare, Inc. and created the MBC Software® methodology, pioneering the measurement of values-based working relationships and leadership. Larry has authored three books, including the first book published in the poultry industry on the subject of improving working relationships between a poultry company and its contract growers. Additionally, he has written over forty articles on personal and organizational development. Each year he speaks to thousands of people on personal development, implementing change, and measuring teamwork.

Michael S. Cole, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer at the University of St. Gallen, located in Switzerland. His interests revolve around the design and application of research designs to organizational and personnel problems, such as personnel selection/placement and readiness-assessment for organizational change. As an author, he has published more than thirty articles in academic and practitioner-related journals. Michael is currently involved in a longitudinal research project with several participating companies located throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. The purpose of this research consortium is to determine the drivers and focusing variables that influence personal and organizational energy.