Today's Wall Street Journal includes an article about 15 business that have been identified as the "Top Small Workplaces" for 2009 (click here). "For the third year in a row, The Wall Street Journal teamed up with Winning Workplaces, an Evanston, Ill., nonprofit that helps small and midsize companies create better work environments, to identify 15 small employers who have built some of the most exemplary, innovative workplaces." Employee retention, having a team-based culture, and transparency are three themes that jumped out at me.

Tags: Small Business, Management

This morning, I noticed this piece in The Washington Post about former San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh’s philosophy of leadership. The piece states, “[g]reat leadership, for him, started with a particular code of conduct. He told me, ‘I believe that an organization is not an inert tool like a shovel, but an organic entity that must have a code of conduct, a high standard of performance in actions and attitudes.’ . . . The Bill Walsh code of conduct -- those ‘standards’ -- started with a simple mantra: ‘Treat people right.’” The 49ers won three Super Bowls under Walsh, who was part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 1993. It’s good to know that someone with that philosophy was so successful.

Tags: Management