Best Managers in U.S. - Thanks to Challenge

In its November 26 issue, BusinessWeek includes a small but interesting piece about the world's best managers.

Stanford, McKinsey and the London School of Economics combined to study the management practices of 4,000 midsize companies in 12 nations.  They found that the U.S. companies had the highest average score for people management.  A key reason for the U.S. lead, cited by the study is simple:

• "Because a mobile labor market makes such a skill necessary."

In other words, the low unemployment rate (low supply) and relatively high growth rate (high demand) is a challenge that forces U.S. companies to manage their people well.  Compared to other nations, managers in the U.S. must manage well, or fail in the free market.

Challenge leads to improvement.  U.S. companies grow and its employees benefit from better management.