I was in a meeting earlier this week where there was an invited speaker discussing a controversial topic. Several of the meeting participants disagreed with his point of view. Not a problem. In fact, dissent is shown to increase divergent thinking and creative...
By Cathy Francois, career coach at American Public University This year I had the opportunity to attend several conferences in my field. I was excited about traveling to cities I never been to, meeting new people, and gaining new industry knowledge. As a career coach,...
By Dr. Oliver Hedgepeth, Program Director, Government Contracts and Acquisition at American Public University Your career in government can seem easy when you land that GS-5 or GS-7 job right out of college or that GS-12 position after you hang up that military...
When I was growing up in Southern California, our family gathered around the black-and-white TV set on Sunday nights in Southern California to watch The Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan hosted a variety program that exposed American audiences to dozens of stars, novelty...
Cops—even homicide detectives—sometimes get a bad rap. They can be accused of abuse of power, corruption, false witness, violence, racism, you name it. Never has this been brought into clearer focus than on the one-year anniversary of the protests that erupted in...
John, an introvert, and Quinn, an extrovert, were training managers at a regional government agency. The employees in their office needed help with creating viable learning plans. Unfortunately, John and Quinn were overwhelmed with requests for coaching and needed to...
Few things zap your motivation than having a bad relationship with your boss. Trust me, I know from experience, people don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses. I have an executive coaching client. Let’s call her Mary. She doesn’t trust her boss, John. She feels John...
What you are about to read is more the pilot of a television series than a non-franchise movie. As a primer, I will begin by asking the question, how does one advance a career in an organization? I raise this question following two weeks on a new job after staffing...
If you’ve read any of my blog entries for The Persimmon Group (TPG), you know that I’m a hardcore Dallas Mavericks fan, a true blue MFFL (Mavs Fan For Life). Tulsa is my adopted home, though, and much of my work at TPG is in Oklahoma City, so I throw some of my...