“No one can teach anyone anything of significance,” wrote the famed psychologist Carl Rogers in his classic book, On Becoming a Person. This philosophy is the foundation of effective mentoring. I learned a lot of insignificant things in grade school. Even today, I...
Recruiters and Older Job Seekers
We all know being an older Job Seeker is just a state of mind. Most of us are ready to contribute right now, regardless of our birth generation. However, it seems there is continuing bias against workforce veterans… and that relevancy as a candidate is perhaps...
Why Women Should Not Shy Away From Leadership Positions
It is a well-known and controversial topic that nationally, we are lacking women in leadership positions both in the public and in private sectors. The campaign to ban the word “Bossy” has received plenty of media attention as has the one encouraging women to lean in....
HR Innovation Plan 2014
Our CEO Stan has started taking Xanax, an anti-anxiety pill Why is he worried? The revenue stream from new products is only “semi wow “due to limited innovation and feeble leadership provided by R&D Chief Comrade Carl Marks and his hapless team. Since Comrade Carl...
Performance Management: A Leadership Perspective
Recently, I have been challenged to understand the relationship between leadership and performance management. This relationship is important to understand because performance metrics are found everywhere. You can’t escape them. From test scores, to quotas, to...
Veterans Are Taking Off Their Boots To Put On a Suit
The biggest problem with Taking Off the Boots To Put On A Suit is the transition from service member to civilian. Every service member knows that the mission to protect America comes first. This means your time while in service is consumed with tactical and strategic...
How to Stick with Your New Year’s Resolutions at Work
Oh, January. The month always starts out with so much promise—it’s a chance to set goals for the upcoming year and wipe the slate clean of past bad habits. We start out strong, buying fresh ingredients at the grocery store or starting a gym membership, but midway...
The Three States of Momentum
There is an intriguing co-existence of frequencies in all organizations that leaders are quite familiar with: That individuals typically are driven by motivation, while organizations (or substantial groups within them) predominantly run on morale. Leaders--and...
What Makes a “Good” Government Leader?
In its 2012 Best Places to Work survey, the Partnership for Public Service found that US federal civil servants are less happy with their jobs than at any time since 2003 (when the organization first started compiling its rankings of the best places to work in the...