Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees as if They're Real People

New York Times bestselling author Rodd Wagner tackles one of the most destructive problems facing organizations today - the breakdown of the social contract between people and the organizations where they work.

"Your people are not your greatest asset. They're not yours, and they're not assets."

With this declaration, one of the leading authorities on employee performance rolls up his sleeves against the weasel words, contradictions, bad habits, and intrusions that reduce people to "human resources." To "FTEs." To "human capital." To flesh-and-blood widgets.

Armed with empirical evidence from the provocative studies he leads around the globe, Wagner guides you through the new realities of what it takes to get the highest levels of intensity from people in a more mercenary, skeptical, and wired work world. He explains how elements such as individualization, fearlessness, transparency, recognition, and coolness are reciprocated with loyalty, productivity, innovation, and - inescapably - corporate reputation.

Rodd Wagner is the New York Times bestselling author of three books, most recently Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They're Real People. A contributor to Forbes, he is one of the foremost authorities on employee engagement and collaboration. Wagner's books, speeches, and thought leadership focus on how human nature affects business strategy. He is currently working on his fourth book, to be announced later this year.

Wagner is a confidential advisor to senior executives on the best ways to increase their personal effectiveness and their organizations' performance. His work has taken him around the world, to the executive suites of major corporations in nearly every industry, to the Pentagon, and to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.

Wagner is lead author of the books 12: The Elements of Great Managing and Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life. His books have been published in 10 languages and his work featured in The Wall Street Journal, ABC News Now, BusinessWeek.com, CNBC.com, and the National Post of Canada, and parodied in Dilbert.

Wagner holds an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Utah Graduate School of Business. He was formerly a principal of Gallup, the research director of the Portland Press Herald and WGME-TV in Maine, a reporter and news editor for The Salt Lake Tribune, and a radio talk show host. When not writing or consulting, he enjoys fly-fishing, and snowboarding.