Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable . . . About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business

Chapter II. Plot Point

FIRST DOMINO

There was never any doubt among the executives that employee morale was a little lower than they would have liked. But it was never bad enough, in their opinion, to warrant much attention.

Until the day Casey hired the company's first vice president of human resources, Michelle Hannah. Within weeks of joining the firm, Michelle conducted an employee survey to get a sense of her new company. The data she received indicated that morale was indeed lower than in other organizations where she had worked, and more important, that employees throughout Yip "seemed largely unconcerned about the business," as she described them.

Strangely, Michelle's presentation awakened and unnerved the executives a little. Somehow, having ...