Kelly sits down with Stephan Meier, the James P. Gorman Professor of Business Strategy and the chair of the management division at Columbia Business School. Previously, Meier worked at the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision-Making at the Federal Reserve Bank. His new book is called “The Employee Advantage: How Putting Workers First Helps Business Thrive.”  

You note that you used to focus almost exclusively on customer-centric focus as a business strategy. But that’s changed for you.  

“So, the pandemic really made it salient for me that something is not right. But it’s not just the pandemic. There is a trend that was going on for many, many years and it’s also not bouncing back. So, it’s not like, ‘Oh, after the pandemic people wanted a little more, and now they’re back.’ I think it’s something that if in the future, organizations want to be successful, they have to be employee centric in addition to customer centric.” 

While it wasn’t solely the pandemic that is responsible for this shift in thinking, it certainly jump started the conversation. 

“I’ve never met an executive who doesn’t say customers are important, and that my employees are the most important asset. So, they all say that. But who’s actually following through? That’s a very different story. That’s true with customers as well. So you know, Amazon was obsessed about what customers do, and I think that was part of their success. And I think we can do the same with employees. Because it’s just not cutting it to say, ‘Oh, employees are the most important asset,’ and then not follow through. And the pandemic really put it, as you said, on top of mind.” 

The other thing you offer in the book is that the popular opinions about generational work ethic are not really valid. 

“I have a very strong view on this. I tell people this quote from this man who said, ‘Kids these days, they love luxury, they have disrespect of authority. They’re like tyrants.’ And then I show it’s a quote by Socrates, the Greek philosopher. Because the term kids these days is as old as their kids, and every generation thinks they walked uphill both ways to work. But what really happens? Opportunities change. It’s it’s true that in order to make a career, you don’t need to work in the same organization for 50 years as we did in the past. Now, it’s different. You don’t need to do that anymore. You have careers that you can stop. You get a new experience. You go somewhere else. Making a career has nothing to do with the preferences of younger generations being loyal or having values that are not work related or whatnot. I’m pushing back a lot about this notion of kids these days.” 

Photo Credit: Hallie Burton