Thirty years ago today, two former University of Michigan students who had met in jobs at a restaurant opened the doors of a gamble. Zingerman's Deli was meant to replicate a great New York deli, except that it was located in a college town.

For businesses today, the most valuable asset they manage are their people--and employee engagement and satisfaction are strategic imperatives that every leadership team should understand and proactively explore. People who simply show up to work each day unengaged are not actively using their talents to pursue or connect to their true purpose and as a result are unable to operate at their full potential.

A lot of great points here.

I completely agree team meetings are a great place to reward individual success or great work!

Is it better to be loved or feared? Niccolò Machiavelli pondered that timeless conundrum 500 years ago and hedged his bets. "It may be answered that one should wish to be both," he acknowledged, "but because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved."

It's hard to think of an important aspect of management more neglected than development planning: helping your employees shape the future direction of their careers. Yet for a variety of reasons, this valuable activity is often ignored... or handled as a bureaucratic exercise... or an afterthought.