Lawrence Polsky and Antoine Gerschel, Managing Partners, PeopleNRG.com

People resist change. Among 1,300 professionals who responded to our 2012 Global Study, 81% reported they say yes to changes but do nothing. A recent glaring example of this is what has become known as the “GE nod.”

GM recently fired 15 people for just nodding yes and doing nothing for years as the company failed to deal with a major safety problem. It took the company 11 years to recall vehicles equipped with a defective ignition switch. One reason: there was “no demonstrated sense of urgency, right to the very end,” according to an internal investigation by former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas.