Google ‘goal setting’ and you get close to 500 million search results. A popular business practice with many points of view, and some management gurus touting its inefficacy. What should leaders do – abandon setting goals and resort to “do your best”? This is the question we asked Dr. Gary Latham, the world’s foremost expert on the topic of goal setting. In this podcast, he shares the scientific-evidence on three types of goals: “do your best,” “specific and challenging,” and “primed” goals. Only one of these is backed by substantial evidence, and another bears great promise but requires additional research. Dr. Latham elaborates on the conditions that make goal setting work and what not to do. A must listen for managers who set goals.
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Dr. Gary Latham has over 200 research publications and several books on the topic of goal setting. He is currently the Secretary of State Professor of Organizational Effectiveness at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. In a prior career, he served as the staff psychologist at two organizations, Weyerhaeuser and the American Pulpwood Association. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Academy of Management, CPA, National Academy of Human Resources, SIOP, and the Royal Society of Canada. He is the only recipient of both awards: Distinguished Contributions to Science and to Practice from SIOP.

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References and links
Latham, G. P. (2018). Becoming the evidence-based manager: How to put the science of management to work for you. Hachette UK.
Ganegoda, D. B., Latham, G. P., & Folger, R. (2016). The effect of a consciously set and a primed goal on fair behavior. Human Resource Management, 55(5), 789-807.
Shantz, A., & Latham, G. (2011). The effect of primed goals on employee performance: Implications for human resource management. Human Resource Management, 50(2), 289-299.
Latham, G. P., & Locke, E. A. (2006). Enhancing the benefits and overcoming the pitfalls of goal setting. Organizational dynamics, 35(4), 332-340.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2006). New directions in goal-setting theory. Current directions in psychological science, 15(5), 265-268.
Latham, G. P., & Pinder, C. C. (2005). Work motivation theory and research at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Annual Review of Psychol., 56, 485-516.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American psychologist, 57(9), 705.

​This podcast is hosted by Dr. Shreya Sarkar-Barney