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About Sharon Jordan-Evans
Sharon Jordan-Evans is a pioneer in the field of
employee retention and engagement.
She co-authored the Wall Street Journal bestseller,
“Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People
to Stay”, the world’s best-selling employee retention
book, now in its fourth edition and translated into 20 languages.
Her follow-up book, “Love It, Don’t
Leave It: 26 Ways to Get What You Want at Work” (co-authored
again with Beverly Kaye) also became a Wall Street Journal bestseller
and has been translated into 15 languages.
As a corporate coach and keynote speaker, her clients
include Fortune 500 organizations, such as AMEX, Boeing, Disney,
Lockheed, M & M Mars, Monster, MTV, PBS, Sony, and Universal.
Her Upbringing
Sharon was born in Spokane, Washington. As she was
about to begin seventh grade, her family moved to Great Falls,
Montana – a town where she knew no one. Her father suggested
that, as a way of meeting people, she run for student body vice-president.
Sharon gave a speech to over 1,000 kids she had never even met.
She made friends and, surprisingly, won.
“Not to get too dramatic,” says Sharon,
“but that election experience has stuck with me my whole
life. My dad really instilled in me a ‘you’re capable
of anything’ message.” To this day, that message is
an integral part of her philosophy, and one she is quick to share
with others.
After graduating from college, Sharon became a dental
hygienist. While working in that field, she opened her own consulting
practice – helping to organize a large-scale dental program
for nursing homes.
Organizations
It was here that she became interested in organizations
and employee turnover. (“Keep in mind,” says Sharon,
“that this was in the early 1980s when terms like ‘engagement’
and ‘retention’ weren’t part of the business
lexicon. ‘Turnover’ was as enlightened as we got.”)
To further her education about organizations, Sharon
went back to school, and in 1987 earned her Master’s Degree
in Organization Development. She wrote her thesis on workplace
satisfaction.
Sharon sold her consulting business, and took a
position with Drake Beam Morin, the nation’s largest transition
consulting firm. The company’s leadership soon realized
that Sharon was at her strongest when working with senior executives.
Sharon started coaching executives exclusively.
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The Research, The Books
In 1996, a mutual friend introduced Sharon
to Beverly Kaye. They made an excellent team, and joined
forces in order to write and create programs for retaining
talented employees. The duo performed voluminous research,
surveying over 17,000
respondents to discover why people remain at their jobs.
Based on their findings, they wrote two best-selling
books, with a half million copies in combined sales.
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Their first book, “Love ‘Em or Lose
‘Em” taught managers how to retain their staff
and get them engaged. It became one of the top selling business
books of all time, and was followed by another huge success, “Love
It, Don’t Leave It,” which was written for the
workers themselves, teaching them how to get what they want out
of their jobs and to be more productive and happier in the process.
Sharon runs her consulting company, The Jordan Evans
Group, where she coaches high-performing executives and speaks
to audiences about engagement and retention.
Today
She lives with her husband Mike in Cambria,
California. Sharon has four, wonderful grown children, who also
live on the West Coast.
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