Contented Cows Still Give Better Milk, Revised and Expanded: The Plain Truth about Employee Engagement and Your Bottom Line, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 14

When the Contented Cows Come Home

Speculations on the Near Future

The Contented Cows . . . What Next?

As before, we’ve put a little pressure on the 12 Contented Cow companies (and a lot more on ourselves) by offering them as examples for others to follow. Their reputations are what they are, and we happen to think they’re well deserved. Yet, one has to wonder just a little about whether they and their shareholders will continue to enjoy the advantages they’ve created. Will they keep living up to and redefining what it takes and means to be a Contented Cow? Or will they rest on their laurels while others pass them by? Only time will tell. Clearly, it’s within their capability to do the former and within human or corporate nature to do the latter. The question is: Will they remain a breed apart? Does it mean enough to them?

Is it possible some of them have already become just a little too enamored of themselves or spend more time than they should reading their own press clippings? We wish we could be more certain.

The Path Ahead

Organizations must realize that just as they have choices, their employees (particularly the better, more skilled ones) do, too. The new rules of the game have been set, and now it’s only a matter of time before everyone learns how to play, and play it to their advantage.

For example, employees will adjust to their newfound responsibility for their work, careers, and future, which is good, because it’s about time. But those organizations that refuse ...