The Secret to Retaining Top Employees: Ask These Four Questions
Ethan Bernstein and I have a new piece in the Wall Street Journal based on the research in our bestselling book Job Moves. It’ll be in Monday’s print edition (C-suite Strategies as well).
The article, titled “The Secret to Retaining the Best Employees: Ask Them These Four Questions,” argues that today’s playbook for retaining high-performing employees is pretty straightforward: more money, a fancier title, better benefits and a greater sense of “purpose.”
The problem? It isn’t working.
Rather than bribing people to stay, we argue that managers should start by asking employees smarter questions.
Check out the piece—and let us know your thoughts. And if you’re interested in having us speak to your team about the research in the book and the broader implications for attracting and retaining top talent, reply to this newsletter. We’d love to engage.
Future U. Wrap-Up
Meanwhile, at Future U., Jeff Selingo and I concluded our 8th season with our customary wrap-up show where we look back and ahead.
We hit a lot of topics:
Jeff’s upcoming new book “Dream School”;
the Trump administration’s impact on Jeff’s view that 2025 was going to be a “year of reckoning” for higher education;
whether there might be a shift in the balance of power in research in higher education to colleges in the SEC like Vanderbilt and the University of Florida;
how colleges can demonstrate real value to citizens and stakeholders;
the impact of AI on and its role in higher education;
and more broadly, how should colleges evaluate what they do in-house versus when they partner.
Yes, that’s a lot. I recommend you listen (or read the transcript) to the whole episode here—or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
As always, thanks for reading, writing, and listening.