February 10, 2014
“Most of us don’t think about workplace rights. We think because we live in America we have the rights we need. There are no constitutional protections in the workplace. Federal laws protect you from being fired because of race, gender or disability, but it doesn’t protect you for saying the boss is overworking you or the company’s actions are immoral. […]
January 27, 2014
The scene – the window from my midtown Manhattan hotel facing an office building. The time – 6 am – the usual time I wake up when working in New York City (unless I can help it!) More than a decade ago, when I started staying at this hotel, the offices were mostly dark at 6 am. But in recent years, more lights […]
January 23, 2014
“What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge.” (New Jersey Governor Christie in his 1st public statement on the “bridgegate” scandal) “We do not market food […]
October 24, 2013
Mindsets aren’t a new concept to me. I’ve been working with my own for a long time. I’m now conscious that I’ve constructed walls and obstacles that are buried deep within my thinking patterns. I’ve also had the good fortune to understand that many of these blocks in my thinking aren’t even my own. I inherited them or was taught […]
October 14, 2013
“Fear is an aggressive predator of joy and creativity in the workplace.” Terence Deal & M.K. Key The price tag on fear is high – for business and our own well-being. Emotional contagion is real. Fear is catchy. Old fears get easily activated. The way we talk to ourselves is a critically important factor in how we activate our fears. External […]
October 10, 2013
“Forgiveness is a lovely idea until you have someone to forgive.” C.S. Lewis I’ve thought a lot about forgiveness lately. Often when we face life’s major passages, a flood of old thoughts and feelings suddenly reappear. But I must admit that I am not at the place where I started when I began to think about the concept of forgiveness for this […]
September 12, 2013
The historian and author, Studs Terkel, famously wrote, “Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirits.” A few of you might be reacting to the title of this article thinking, “Hey, my work is my life,” or “My job is the most fulfilling thing in my life.” But that’s not what this article is about. Because life isn’t work. […]
September 9, 2013
“The problem with business is that it is afraid of dealing with the business of people.” W. Edwards Deming Honestly, we don’t get it. Why is business still so ignorant about the basics of human dynamics? Awareness of human psychology as it applies to work has evolved at a glacial pace while technology flies by it at the speed […]
August 29, 2013
I refuse to buy into the belief that there are more takers in the world than givers. Naïve? The media is filled with stories about the greedy, the callous and the downright meanness of some people today. Greed’s gotten so bad that we’re now applying scientific study (a good thing) to understand it better. While we recoiled when Gordon Gekko proclaimed […]