What really sets the best managers above the rest? It's their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives - consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly. As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in "The Progress Principle", seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees' inner work lives. But it's forward momentum in meaningful work progress that creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day. This book shows how to remove obstacles to progress, including meaningless tasks and toxic relationships. It also explains how to activate two forces that enable progress: catalysts - events that directly facilitate project work, such as clear goals and autonomy and nourishers - interpersonal events that uplift workers, including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality. Brimming with honest examples from the companies studied, "The Progress Principle" equips aspiring and seasoned leaders alike with the insights they need to maximize their people's performance.

Teresa Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration and a Director of Research at Harvard Business School. Originally educated as a chemist at Canisius College, Amabile received her doctorate in psychology from Stanford University. Her research investigates how everyday life inside organizations can influence people and their performance. Initially focusing on individual creativity, Amabile’s research has expanded to encompass subjective experience at work (inner work life), individual productivity, team creativity, and organizational innovation.

Amabile was awarded the E. Paul Torrance Award by the Creativity Division of the National Association for Gifted Children in 1998, and The Leadership Quarterly Best Paper Award by the Center for Creative Leadership in 2005. She has spoken to dozens of groups in business, government, and education around the world, and has taught courses on creativity, leadership, and ethics at Harvard Business School. Before moving to Harvard, she was a psychology professor at Brandeis University.

Amabile was the host/instructor of Against All Odds: Inside Statistics ,a twenty-six-part instructional series originally broadcast on PBS. She has served on the boards of Seaman Corporation and other organizations. Amabile is the author of Creativity in Context and Growing Up Creative ,as well as over one hundred articles, chapters, and case studies.

Steven Kramer is an independent researcher, writer, and consultant in Wayland, Massachusetts. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from UCLA and his doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of Virginia. He has served as a postdoctoral research associate at Vanderbilt University, a psychology professor at Brandeis University, and a researcher at Epidemiological Resources, Inc. Kramer’s current research interests include adult development, the meaning of work in human life, and the subjective experience of everyday events inside organizations (inner work life). Previously, he researched the perceptual and cognitive development of infants and young children.

Kramer has published several articles in Harvard Business Review on topics including inner work life, managerial awareness of work motivators, and the influence of time pressure on creativity. He has also published in the Academy of Management Journal and The Leadership Quarterly . In 2005, he won The Leadership Quarterly Best Paper Award from the Center for Creative Leadership.

Kramer is an avid landscape photographer.

Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer have been married for over twenty years.