The Employee Advantage
Reckoning with Dr. Stephan Meier
This week Reckoning continues to push its bounds by talking with behavorial economist Dr. Stephan Meier of Columbia University. Now I know what you’re thinking: “what the hell is behavioral economics?” Great question and it’s one I asked Stephan during our conversation. Essentially it’s the study of how psychological factors influence people's decisions and how these decisions differ from traditional economic theory. In other words, it’s a really cool way of looking at the decisions we make and how they affect us
Further, “what do I have to gain from this conversation?” As it turns out, a whole lot. If you’re a business owner or in business yourself, his ideas just may revolutionize how you operate. In this episode we explore the importance of prioritizing employee well-being in business strategy. Specifically, we talk about how companies must shift their focus from merely viewing employees as costs to recognizing them as valuable assets. This not only benefits the employee but the business owner as well. One of the cool parts of the discussion is how Dr. Meier argues that understanding what truly motivates employees—beyond just financial compensation—is crucial for organizational success. We also get into innovative practices from companies like 3M and Toyota, emphasizing the significance of employee feedback and personalization in enhancing the workplace experience. And of course, we’re talking about something that probably affects most of us: whether or not remote work will continue, as in the clip below:
One of the great things about this conversation is just how open Dr. Meier is and his ability to explain concepts of economics to a guy like myself. I also have to show you his amazing website, which does a lot of this for visitors. In particular, Stephan and I share a love of Legos, which he ingeniously uses to illustrate his concepts in a series of stop motion videos he created himself. I’ll post one of the videos below but you can find the whole series right here. It’s really cool.
About our guest:
Dr. Stephan Meier grew up in Switzerland, a country where many cultures interact, and has been fascinated by how people interact with each other since he was young. This interest led him to an MA in history, economics and political science at the University of Zuerich (Switzerland) and then a doctorate in economics at the same institution. Ever since his work as a PhD student, he have studied how both motivation beyond income maximization and limited rationality affects decision-making and impacts organization. His doctoral thesis was on non-selfish behavior and its implication for organizations. After he movied to the U.S., he worked as a senior economist at the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision-Making at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. At the Fed, he began to deeply appreciate the value and importance of evidence-based policy making.
Since 2008, he has been teaching and researching at Columbia Business School. He teaches about the ‘human side’ of strategy in our MBA program and executive education programs. As the coordinator for our core strategy course, he shaped how MBA students learn about strategy formulation. In addition, he designed and taught a number of electives about global business, future of work and consulting. He was honored with an award for Excellence in the Classroom.
He lives with his family in Manhattan and have opportunities to observe human behavior on a daily basis in the Big Apple. In his free time, he enjoys traveling to as many places as possible, going to all types of art events, sailing, playing the drums (not good but loud!) and spending time with his family.
Find his book, The Employee Advantage: How Putting Workers First Helps Business Thrive wherever you get your books
Find it on Amazon in time for Christmas right here: https://amzn.to/4fWsoh6
Guys, I’m so excited for you to hear this really conversation with a guy is not only at the forefront of economic thought, but is also a friend.