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Genuine one-to-one communication is needed, today more than ever, to help staff learn, develop and contribute. By Karalyn Brown For almost as long as we've researched human psychology in the workplace, the impact of a manager on the engagement, productivity and loyalty of their team has been clear. Back in 2004, for example, in a global study of 50,000 employees, the Corporate Leadership Council found the employees who are most committed performed 20 per cent better and were 87 per cent less likely to leave an organisation.

Money, power, success, achievement or a calling? What drives leaders to be what they are?

You do not need to convince Ronni Kahn or Paul Henderson that the quest for real satisfaction as a corporate leader often involves taking the road less travelled.

Kahn attributes growing up in racially-divided South Africa and 10 years living on a kibbutz communal settlement in Israel for her philanthropic attitude towards life and work.

Does positive organisational culture hinge on recruiting like-minded people, or is this the worst mistake a company can make? Chris Sheedy seeks answers to the perfect balance. Sportswear giant Nike makes a fascinating case study in the analysis of the pros and cons of the employment of like-minded people. The company's obsession with creating better sports shoes for athletes helped the business grow from one that was selling shoes out of a car boot in 1964 to the multinational giant we know today.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has his work cut out maintaining the premium Qantas brand in a cut-throat market. By Georgina Jerums Most mornings, Qantas boss Alan Joyce heads off from his apartment at The Rocks and pounds the pavement for eight kilometres around the Sydney Opera House before work. A jogger's high - and getting stuck into books by British evolutionist Richard Dawkins - are the 43-year-old's way of "keeping stress at bay" at work.

Flexibility over where, when and how staff work is king when it comes to managing an organisation's greatest asset: its people. Mark Story reports. Admittedly, it was less applicable to some sectors than others - notably banking and finance but abnormally high staff retention levels in 2009 may have had more to do with global-financial-crisis fatigue than genuine loyalty.

For success, companies must communicate within their organisation as well as they do with customers and external stakeholders. Darren Baguley looks at three models. Constant, fast and efficient top-down, side-to-side and bottom-up communications have become a vital part of the corporate landscape. Companies that struggle to communicate that fail to have everyone working from the same play book - are at a disadvantage compared to organisations that keep everyone in the loop. There are several factors that all companies that communicate well share. These include:

Blessed are those who are certain of their goals in business. Sue Jackson is one. By Richard Jones. While many of her peers may have been agonising over what they wanted to achieve or how they wanted to achieve it, Sue Jackson had no such doubts. Jackson is Executive Chairman of Solterbeck - a company that works with clients on performance improvement - a Director of Performance Centre International and a Melbourne board member of the Entrepreneurs Organisation. "I came from a family background of small business," says Jackson.

Few of us enjoy being interviewed for a job, but there are ways of helping yourself during the process. Kelly Magowan provides some winning tips.

In job interviews do you talk too much, too little or say just the right amount to land you the job? Do you say the right things to the most appropriate people or do you shoot yourself in the foot?

Strategy is the subject of many books and articles, yet, according to Michael Carman, when it comes to making decisions about where your organisation is headed, what’s needed is simplicity and clear-headedness. Here are 15 pointers that he suggests you use to help attain that clarity:

1. There is always strategy.

Delivering a winning presentation is an essential skill. The thing is, put the basics in place and it isn't really such a big deal. By Karalyn Brown.

Imagine: Clammy hands; you can barely breathe; your mind goes blank; you're scared. So, where are you; poised at the edge of a cliff or standing in front of an audience? It seems many people would rather die than present in public. Why do we fear it so much? There are many things you can do to improve your presentation skills. Here, two experts share some ideas on delivering winning presentations.