Jenny Machida describes how healthcare organizations can improve care and create a competitive advantage by providing empathetic customer service.

This article by The New York Times describes how some executives are kept in the dark about setbacks because employees are too afraid to be the bearers of bad news. Niko Canner describes his tactics for ensuring that bad news gets delivered quickly and consistently.

Cost-cutting efforts could be a reality for some time to come. One dimension of cost-cutting is often disregarded—the critical need to ensure cost cuts occur in ways that obtain positive emotional commitment within the context of the culture.

This article describes how businesses and non-profit entities are influencing one another as they become increasingly interconnected. Niko Canner comments on the opportunities this creates for people who work in both worlds.

Empathetic customer service can increase the performance of healthcare companies and have a postive impact on patient heatlh outcomes.

A BusinessWeek blogger writes about "The Young and Restless in China," a documentary about Katzenbach's CHINA 2024 effort set to air on PBS in June.

Americans demand healthcare service and will switch providers to find better care. Poor service can drive patients out of the system and hurt healthcare organizations. To improve service, providers must do more than talk about care: they must become "empathy engines."

Tension is an essential component of the architecture of high-performing organizations. Using tension productively, so that employees are neither complacent nor overwhelmed, requires 3 key skills: picking the right fights, leveraging informal networks, and developing proactive leadership skills.

Tim Galpin lays out the hard truths and key things to get right when managing - or repairing - a merger.

This feature story discusses how the concept of the informal organization emerged from our work and why it matters.

Traci Entel, author of "The Empathy Engine," writes about the importance of delivering locally tailored service, and what companies such as Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and Macy's are doing to provide it.

Tim Galpin comments on how long it can take for an acquired company to become a part of the whole.

This cover story describes thirty young consultants who are "changing the world."

Cognizant noticed a work-around that its most successful teams were using -- then designed the whole organization around it. This case study analyzes why "two in a box" was right for Cognizant.

As professional service firms strain to satisfy clients, they often neglect career development. This article lays out four principles for retaining and developing associates, and cites Katzenbach Partners as an example to follow.

This article explores why and how companies are moving toward a concept of customer service as an emotional transaction. Traci Entel describes the connection between feeling empathy and meeting customers' expectations, and recommends storytelling as part of institutionalizing this skill.