Human resources manager Frank Heberer frowned. The internal-mail envelope he’d just torn open with great expectations contained the report he’d labored over for months. It outlined the long-term human resources strategy he believed Medignostics needed to adopt in order to remain competitive in the next 20 years. On the title page was affixed a yellow Post-it, with the words “Not a priority” penned in the ornate handwriting of Erwin Baum, the vice president of HR. Noting the crispness of the binder, Heberer doubted that anyone had read beyond his cover sheet.
A version of this article appeared in the October 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review.