October 12, 2009 (1:48 PM) by G. Michael Maddock
Attracting and retaining the most creative and ingenious employees, the Alphas, means feeding their hunger to innovate. Here's how to do it. Much of what we've read and certainly everything we have experienced running our firm tells us that the keys to attracting and retaining the best employees — the Alphas — are working on something 1) meaningful, 2) in a lower stress environment, and 3) with a reward system that makes sense. Now it just so happens that being innovation-focused naturally attracts Alphas, and this in turn drives a better culture. The reason is simple: Successful innovation is intrinsically meaningful. Said differently, you have to be solving a significant need in order to have success with a new product or service. The best and happiest employees want to work on something meaningful. So they naturally gravitate toward innovation assignments. So how do you attract Alphas and keep the ones you have around? Offer them your most heady, rewarding challenge. Think about what would happen if you had a project like that for every Alpha in the organization. The result would be a magnetic culture that attracts and retains the best people. It would be the Alpha Effect.
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Anne Connelly 
