Liane Davey

During 1989 to 1993 Davey completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Western Ontario, and from 1993 to 1999 completed both a Master of Applied Science and a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at the University of Waterloo.[6] She published several papers including Preference for the Merit Principle Scale: An Individual Difference Measure of Distributive Justice Preferences[7] and Justice-based opposition to social policies: Is it genuine?[8] She was employed as a Senior Consultant at Watson Wyatt from 1998 to 2005 and then joined Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions where she presently serves as Vice President of Team Solutions.[5][9][10]

Davey has served on the executive of the Canadian Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology and as an evaluator for the APA Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Psychology Foundation and is Chair of the Foundation's Diversity in Action project promoting mental health in immigrant communities.[5]

She was asked for her opinion on leading through a crisis by journalists covering the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.[11]

Davey co-authored her first book, Leadership Solutions: The Pathway to Bridge the Leadership Gap in 2010 with David S. Weiss and Vince Molinaro on the topic of leadership,[3] but more recently she has been focussed on teams. Specifically, in her second book, You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done[4] her thesis is that although healthy teams can be highly productive, they can sometimes slip into counter-productive behaviors that undercut the intended productivity benefit. She identifies several such pathologies; first, glibly agreeable behavior ("Bobblehead teams"); second, teams that only act when a disaster strikes ("Crisis junkies"); third, teams that engage in passive-aggressive backstabbing ("Bleeding Back teams"); fourth, teams where most members sit around and watch one or two members do all the work ("Spectator teams"); and last, teams that engage in fighting for fighting's sake ("Royal Rumble teams").[4]

She claims that a single team member who recognizes these bad habits (the "You" in the book's title, "You First") can cure the whole team by practicing five counteracting habits; first, cure any jaundiced attitude by adopting a fresh start with a positive assumption; second, add one's full value; third, amplify other voices; fourth, know when to say no; and last embrace productive conflict.[4]

In October 2013, her book ranked #8 and #7 on two New York Times Bestseller Lists, namely "Hardcover Business Books" and "Advice, How-to, & Miscellaneous," respectively.[12][13] In addition, it ranked #67 overall in USA Today Bestselling Books that same month.[14]

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