DR. JUDITH M. BARDWICK is an influential speaker, author and management consultant and has been an active business consultant for more than two decades. Since 1978 she has concentrated on issues relating to improving organizational efficiency and management structure. She is a leading expert on these subjects and has combined respected cutting edge research with its practical application throughout her career.  Dr. Bardwick is well known for her exciting and challenging speaking style. Her client list has a high proportion of repeat engagements reflecting the productive relationships formed between firms and their clients.  Comments from some clients: “Insightful, thought-provoking insights into human behavior and leadership.” Ned Barnholt, former Executive Vice President, General Manager, Test and Measurement Organization, Hewlett-Packard.  “Dr. Judith Bardwick is unparalleled in her ability to identify and write about human issues that affect business and the people who serve such institutions. You will not be disappointed.” Jim Ferrell, Chairman and CEO, Ferrellgas. “The group was very enthusiastic about your presentation.  We ran out of time long before we ran out of energy or interest.”  Jay Kelsey, State Farm.  Comments on her latest book: One Foot Out the Door is a splendid and invaluable book. As always, Judy Bardwick has zeroed in on compelling problems, offering sensible and sensitive resolutions.” Peter Bidstrup, Founder and Former CEO of Doubletree Hotels and MetHotels.  “Judy Bardwick is one of the great management thinkers of our time.” Marshall Goldsmith, author of ‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’. 

Dr. Bardwick earned a B.S. degree from Purdue University and an M.S. from Cornell.  She received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and subsequently became a Full Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Literature Science and the Arts at that university.  Dr. Bardwick left the University of Michigan in 1982 and served as a visiting Professor of Management at the School of Business Administration at San Diego State University during 1982 – 1983. Since then she has devoted herself to consulting and business-related research and writing. She is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego.  Her most recent book, One Foot Out the Door: How to combat the Psychological Recession that’s alienating employees and hurting American Business, was published in October, 2007 (AMACOM Books),  and has been recognized as the #1 Human Resources/Organization Development Business Book of 2007.  Seeking the Calm in the Storm: Managing Chaos in Your Business Life, was published in 2002, and In Praise of Good Business, was published in 1998 Danger in the Comfort Zone, was published in 1991. She is the author of three other books, The Plateauing Trap, In Transition, and the Psychology of Women. In addition, she has published more than 100 articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics during her distinguished career.

MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Capturing Employee Commitment and Engagement
Commitment - feeling proud of being part of the organization and
Engagement - having a passion for achieving the organization's mission.

When employee's self-esteem is partly the result of their being in their particular organization, and they feel fulfilled because they contribute to their organization's goals, those employees have strong feeling of commitment and engagement. High levels of commitment and engagement are so powerful that they predict success and profitability. On average, organizations with high commitment and engagement are 30% more profitable, and their share price is double to triple peer organizations in which employees are not emotionally involved. The reverse is also true: low commitment and engagement predict failure.

In hard times, when budgets are tight and downsizing is common, organizations have to work harder and smarter to achieve and maintain the critical factors of employee involvement and enthusiasm. This talk is about what needs to be accomplished and how to do it.

Getting to the Performance Zone
The Comfort Zone - risk is too low because security is a given - people are complacent
The Fear Zone - risk is too high because there is no way to earn any security - people are paralyzed by fear
The Performance Zone - risk is medium so people are always alert and some security may be earned - people are highly motivated.

Entitlement cultures develop when individuals are not required to earn what they get and the organization has been too comfortable for too long. Those organizations are unprepared for competition: they focus on rules and not outcomes; kissing up is far more valuable than speaking out; playing it safe is more valued than successfully innovating.

The opposite is also true: In conditions in which even significant contributions offer no protection, people are also unable to develop confidence and resilience because they can never feel successful. People who are chronically fearful and depressed are emotionally exhausted and unable to work well. In this case, morale plummets, rumors of disaster proliferate, leadership falters, and the best employees leave.

Women: The Glass is at Least Half-Full
A Perspective, Not a Blueprint
In most industries and organizations, the number of women in middle management and vice-president ranks has increased enough so women with decision making responsibility are not exceptional. In other words, the presumption that women in management are tokens has pretty much disappeared. The great majority of women who are now competing for career success are appropriately educated, experienced and skilled and that only began to be true in the 1980s.

This means that as more women succeed, they need to focus less on the potential impact of their gender and more on what they need to know and do to be effective. They will need:

• to understand what power and leadership involve. Having power involves having more responsibility, visibility, expectations, accountability - and pressure.
• to understand what kinds of leadership styles are acceptable and therefore effective in your organization. Traditional organizations' decision-making is top-down whereas in flat organizations knowledge and influence determine who leads. And, while it is currently popular to criticize "charismatic" leadership, when there's a crisis, this kind of leadership can give scared people hope for a better future.
• to have perspective and some sense of humor. Many women don't realize they can appear too driven and make others uncomfortable because they don't lighten up. Many men learned when they were boys to be friends with guys they were competing with. The aggressive teasing that is characteristic of male humor is actually a way men create feelings of closeness with each other.
• to realize that plans and goals are necessary, but as John Lennon said, Life is what happens when you're planning something else. Therefore, every leader needs to be flexible, take reasonable risks, say yes, try something new, and give it their best shot. And if things don't work out, take a deep breath...and start over.

Moving Off "Stuck"
For the past several years the bad news keeps raining down, drowning us in unrelenting pessimism. The worst feeling is that of hopelessness, the overriding sense we don't have any control over what's happening to us. When we couple that with anxiety, the shapeless feeling of dread, we have the worst of worlds. We became passive observers without the energy or will to act.

In this case we need to act. We start to regain control by converting vague anxiety into specific problems and goals. It's not hard to do; it simply requires knowing that is the task. People need to seize the initiative by identifying no more than three specific tasks that are important and achieve them.

There are also three general ways in which people feel stuck or plateaued. 

• Structural Plateauing refers to the end of promotions. This is primarily the result of the dramatic decrease in the number of positions at the higher levels of an organization. For those who wish to continue to compete they need to maximize what they do well and try to avoid tasks they don't do well. To be competitive you need to stand out as excellent in especially important ways.
• The second kind of plateauing is Content Plateauing. Here, the tasks have been mastered and there's neither challenge nor learning. Getting out of this box is easy: start something fresh, establish a new goal in a new task, and achieve.
• In a way, the third kind of plateauing is the most serious: Plateauing in Life means your life has evolved into repeated and predictable habits. The problem is when things are habitual, nothing is noticed; nothing is vivid. Getting your life back doesn't have to mean giant steps. Baby steps of new friends, new involvements and new experiences may be enough.