Who Are “YOU” When You Do What You Do?
Do people – employees, peers, bosses, customers, everyone – feel valued when they interact with you? Do they feel listened to – and heard? Do they feel you make every effort to address their needs – or explain what you can do for them? In our “get it done,” fast-paced...
A Positive Article About Dying!
I appreciate my demise is a regular theme of my writing. But maybe it is important that I prompt contemplation of this huge, inevitable event that most of us spend our lives trying to ignore. And perhaps a more useful outcome of my reflections is that they were not...
Unleashing the Potential of Women Entrepreneurs
Recent studies have shown that women are half as likely than men to start a business. While this is a gender equality issue, it is also an economic one. We compose over 50 percent of the U.S. population, have earned 60 percent of undergraduate degrees, 60 percent of...
The Root of All Diversity
As 2015 reluctantly winds down to its final days, I find a highly-charged momentum continues on a topic that has become and will seemingly remain among the most important objectives of any organization and its leaders. Across the country, from companies to communities...
Are You Interested in a Freelance Writing Career?
One of the great things about government is that unless something cataclysmic happens, there will always be a government and it will always need contractors in various forms. Freelance writers don’t think to go for government contracts even though they are often...
Twitter Basics for Local Government: The Why and How
Everybody tweets. Chances are your employees tweet from their mobile phones while they’re on the clock. Yes, even government employees. Some are probably very good at Twitter, using it to manage their own personal brands and share their own voices. In an age where...
Retirement in Government: The Silver Tsunami
Stay Ahead of the Silver Tsunami Here at Hennepin County – Minnesota’s most populous county – we’re preparing for the silver tsunami. Almost 43% of our 8,000 employees are preparing to retire in the next five years. When Baby Boomers leave, we will lose not only...
30,000 Ft. Approach to Career Success
Throughout our lives, whether as employees or students, we’ve been trained to focus heavily on the minutia—dates, names, and other tidbits of knowledge. Instead of understanding the “why”, we worry about all of the “what”. The “what” included the name of the theater...
How to Avoid Being an Unemployed Millennial
Recent news has shown an improvement in the unemployment rate, but are all generations created equal among the numbers? Not quite. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found that 40% of millennials are unemployed, the worst being for graduates...
Government Decision Making: A Subtle Art Form
It was a stunning and unexpected defeat. My boss and I were briefing the administrator on our recommended policy position for the agency. We had the research and data; we had a thoughtful, reasonable recommendation; it seemed like a no-brainer. We miscalculated...
Achieving True Diversity in Contracting
By Dr. Oliver Hedgepeth, Program Director, Government Contracts and Acquisition at American Public University What should be the focus of diversity in government contracting? It can be linked to different types of federal, state, or private contracting practices or...
Go Beyond Choosing a Career Field
By Jacquelyn Brookins, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at American Public University You’ve reached the finish line. After years of learning new methodologies, skills, and job specific knowledge, you are obtaining a college degree. Whether it’s your Associate’s,...
KSAs: The Walking Dead of Federal Hiring
Recently, I was working with a client whose job announcement included four Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) in the qualification requirements. As I began to discuss with him the best approach, he quickly informed me that “we don’t have to write KSAs anymore.” I...
Life, Simply the Best!
I was in Amsterdam last week and I took the obligatory stroll through its world famous red light district. I was surprised at what my reaction was. I thought it was all a bit sad. Girls with fake smiles giving false portrayals of their real selves. Men who were...
Information Governance Insights: Is It Time?
Information Governance is easier when you think of it in terms of The Four "Ws" which are What are your information assets? Where are they located? When can you dispose of them? Who manages them and has access to them? In last month's article we talked about the...
Celebrate Health Literacy Month!
More than a third of the country’s population is healthcare illiterate. What does this mean? It means that these members of the population struggle to obtain and process healthcare knowledge and data. Thus, they make less-informed healthcare decisions, ultimately...
Understanding Your Brain Results in Better Collaboration
It happened again…my dog hunted and “captured” a rabbit in our backyard! I have a Basenji, which is a breed from Africa who has hunting instincts, especially rodents. Those hunting instincts are strong and she just can’t help herself. Just as animals have those...
Beyond the Family Tree of Contracting
By Dr. Oliver Hedgepeth, Program Director, Government Contracts and Acquisition at American Public University Remember the yellow, No. 2, FaberCastell pencil? It was the American standard for decades of K-12 schools and colleges and could also be found inside the...