Groundbreaking Leadership Book Tour Debunks Happy Employee Myth

Washington, DC –- December 3, 2009 -– We’ve all heard that if you make employees happy, they’ll give you great performance. But a new book reveals the failure of that idea. Trying to make employees happy does not automatically deliver great performance.

In fact, this groundbreaking new book shows that for all the billions of dollars companies have spent trying to satisfy and engage employees, 72% of employees admit they’re still not giving their best effort at work.

In “Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give it Their All, and They’ll Give You Even More” (McGraw-Hill November, 2009), Mark Murphy, the founder and CEO of Leadership IQ, divulges new research from more than 500,000 employee surveys and leaders about why the “happy employee” philosophy has failed and how leaders can inspire employees to passionately give 100% every day.

Mark Murphy will host two free webcasts on December 15 at 12:00 PM EST and December 16 at 2:00 PM EST. In each 60-minute webcast, Mark will reveal exciting new research on the best leadership style for inspiring employees to become hundred percenters.

Here are just a few of the big ideas in “Hundred Percenters” that Mark will discuss:

— More than 70% of employees would rather work for a leader who challenged them with difficult goals and required them to learn new skills.
— If leaders assign really difficult goals, employees perform better and have more self-confidence.
— SMART Goals can be dumb, and often discourage employees from pushing themselves and developing new skills.
— Many leaders unknowingly discourage employees from becoming hundred percenters through insufficient recognition and tolerating slackers.
Hundred percenters want lots of constructive feedback, but you should never deliver it with a Compliment Sandwich.
— If you’re going to assess your employees with a survey, never ask if they’re satisfied (and never use a five-point scale).
— You cannot build an organization of hundred percenters if you tolerate Talented Terrors (people with 100% skills but 0% attitude).

“Hundred Percenters” debunks many recent management fads. The truth is that employees cannot be bribed into giving 100%. Nor can they be coddled into greatness. Instead, this book describes a new leadership model that pushes employees to discover and maximize their unrealized potential, while leaving them beaming with hard-won pride and fulfillment.

To attend either webcast, go to http://www.leadershipiq.com/events/free-virtual-book-tour-with-mark-murphy

About Leadership IQ
Leadership IQ is a leadership training company, and directs one of the largest leadership studies ever conducted. Our work has appeared in Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, CBS News, ABC’s 20/20, Fox Business News and many more. Leadership IQ is headquartered in Washington, DC with offices in Atlanta and Cincinnati.

About Mark Murphy
Mark Murphy, Chairman & CEO of Leadership IQ, is one of the country’s leading management experts. Mark has lectured at Harvard Business School, Microsoft, IBM, GE, MasterCard, Merck, AstraZeneca, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins, and hundreds more.

Mark leads one of the largest leadership studies ever, and his groundbreaking work has appeared in Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Investor’s Business Daily, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and many more. He has also appeared on ABC’s 20/20, CBS News, Fox Business News and NPR.

This press release was distributed through PR Web by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company
listed above.