“Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People”

Rodd Wagner opens his latest book with the line, “Your people are not your greatest asset.”

“They’re not yours, and they’re not assets,” Wagner, a contributor to Forbes, writes. “Assets are property. You don’t own your people.”

Employees are too often minimized to assets, resources or even widgets, Wagner argues in his book, “Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People.”

That mindset hurts employee engagement and weakens employee performance, according to Wagner. His book, written largely from his own research, acts as a guide for companies in reframing the ways they treat and value employees as he lines up a dozen rules for companies to follow. Among those rules: Make employees fearless, help them thrive, unite them and let them lead.

As Wagner states, “If executives obsess over product quality, shouldn’t they also obsess over the experience of working at their firms?”

“Widgets” is available on www.800ceoread.com for $25.60.