HUMAN CAPITAL ANALYTICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF MEASUREMENT 181
The CEO’s remarks can be boiled down to two state-
ments.
1. ‘‘We had a great year last year with record profits (read
between the lines, I got a hell of a bonus).’’
2. ‘‘This year will not be as good, so we are cutting the
salary increase budget in half and might have to have
some layoffs.’’
Do you have any idea why the people responded as they
did? Could you have predicted their behavior after that com-
munication? Of course you could. These things happen, and
people—managerial personnel, especially—have to think
ahead to the predictable response. Most important, they
have to get out of their skin and put themselves in the place
of their audience with its values, needs, and viewpoints. As
an