Coming soon · Book Profile
Staying Power - Why Your Employees Leave and How to Keep Them Longer
A practical guide explaining why today's employees leave faster than ever and how managers can adapt their leadership to retain talent longer in an employee-driven market.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
Staying Power confronts a hard truth: employee loyalty has fundamentally eroded, and no amount of nostalgia for 'the way we've always done it' will bring it back. Drawing on her own Millennial mindset and years of consulting across industries, Cara Silletto (with Gen X contributor Leah Brown) explains how generational upbringing—shaped by technology, credit cards, divorce, layoffs, and parenting shifts—created a workforce that thinks and works differently. Rather than blaming younger workers, the book reframes turnover as a leadership and cultural problem employers can address. It quantifies the true and hidden costs of turnover, exposes the 'trees vs. revolving doors' staffing reality, and delivers a concrete M.A.G.N.E.T. framework of strategies and tactics—from management effectiveness to transparency—that won't stop the revolving door but will slow it to a sustainable pace. It's a roadmap for any leader who wants their business to still be thriving in five, ten, or twenty years.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A manager, HR leader, or employer frustrated by constant employee turnover who wants a stable, profitable workforce.
- The problem
- Excessive employee turnover is eroding the quality, capacity, and profitability of their business. They feel frustrated, blindsided, and unsure why their proven management approach no longer works.
- The plan
- Understand why today's workforce thinks and works differently before applying any tactics.
- Diagnose the real reasons people are leaving by gathering data instead of assuming.
- Quantify the true cost of turnover to justify investment in retention.
- Become a M.A.G.N.E.T. employer through management effectiveness, recruiting, onboarding, new staffing models, empowered champions, and transparency.
- Continuously evolve management practices alongside the changing workforce.
- The payoff
- A more unified, harmonious workforce with increased productivity and improved retention. · A business that is still thriving in five, ten, and twenty years. · Becoming a place where people want to work, gaining a recruiting and competitive advantage.
See our guide
Related profiles we’ve built
- A Theory of Human Motivation →
- Anxiety at Work_ 8 Strategies to Help Teams Build Resilience, Handle Uncertainty, and Get Stuff Done →
- Applied Multivariate Stats Social Sciences Stevens →
- Assessing Change in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Children and Adolescents (Psychology, Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy) →
- Basics Qualitative Research Grounded Theory Corbin Strauss →
- Bayesian Multilevel Models for Repeated Measures dаta A Conceptual and Practical Introduction in R →
- Beyond Hr Boudreau Ramstad →
- Compensating Your Employees Fairly →
Additional reading
- The Organism · Kurt Goldstein
Maslow sources the term 'self-actualization' from Goldstein and builds upon his holistic view of the organism.
- Explorations in Personality · H. A. Murray, et al.
Cited as providing an 'excellent discussion' on the basic principle of centering motivation theory on goals rather than instigation or behavior.
- Social Interest · Alfred Adler
Maslow credits Adler and his followers for stressing the importance of the 'esteem needs,' which he felt were neglected by Freudian psychoanalysts.
- Wisdom of the Body · W. B. Cannon
Provides the foundational concept of 'homeostasis,' which Maslow uses as the starting point for his discussion of physiological needs.
- Multipliers · Liz Wiseman
Explores how leaders can either amplify ('multiply') or diminish ('diminish') the intelligence and capabilities of their teams, a key concept for creating a positive, low-anxiety environment.
- The Fearless Organization · Amy Edmondson
Provides the foundational research and practical steps for creating psychological safety, which the book identifies as crucial for reducing interpersonal anxiety and encouraging people to speak up.
- Mindset · Carol Dweck
Explains the difference between a 'growth mindset' and a 'fixed mindset,' which is presented as a key tool for helping employees manage perfectionism and see failures as learning opportunities.
- Crucial Conversations · Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, et al.
Recommended as a resource for employees to learn how to navigate difficult, high-stakes conversations, directly addressing the book's theme of moving from conflict avoidance to healthy debate.
- Better Allies · Karen Catlin
The author is quoted on specific, actionable steps for allyship, making her book a practical guide for implementing the principles in Chapter 7.
- Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People · Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
Explains the science of implicit bias, which is central to the book's argument that leaders need to be proactive allies because 'not being racist/sexist' isn't enough.