INSPIRED WORK ARTICLES
Are You A Profit-Maker or an Expense?
It was 1990 and one of the nation’s largest banks was starting to fall apart. A rather visionary human resources executive came to one of our first programs to evaluate whether we could help their employees do more than simply transition into another job. Soon after her attendance hundreds of
Elizabeth Holme’s Revolting Impact on Medical Innovation
Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay, and now Elizabeth Holmes have become pariahs by concocting mistruth at such an impactful level that millions of lives are impacted. For years, I’ve said the most important conversation we have is the one we are having with ourselves. If we want to improve the quality
What if the Only Thing We Have to Fear is Forgetting the Practice of Courage?
The moment we commit our lives to avoiding discomfort, we sentence our lives to mediocrity. As a partner to Dachshunds for many years, the picture doesn’t surprise me. These little dogs live life to the fullest. A dog trainer once said, “I would rather teach a Zebra to hold
Why Didn’t You Become You?
For the last 27 years I have watched people change their professional lives every single day. How many? 43,000+ so far. At the very least, the experience has given me insights of all that is possible when we choose to elevate our relationship towards work. First, the very commitment requires
End Your Relationship With Facebook? Really?
This morning, I’m waking up to all of the messages about ending one’s relationship with Facebook. Yesterday, I led the last installment of Inspired Social Networking and was telling our participants that we now live in the world of transparency. The tipping point for sexual harrassment happened because of
How Unlearning Will Change Your Life
In a world where change grows every day, it is vitally important that we become athletic active learners. Over the last two decades, the acceleration of change has impacted each and every one of us. For many, the experience has been stressful and even damaging. New behaviors and outlooks are
Another Shocking Back Story About United Airlines
If only 13% of the world’s workers are fully engaged, there is a high probability that a wide variety of senior executives are disengaged, going through the motions and making decisions without questioning overall impact on the business. In The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press), I highlighted United Airlines as an employer
How Do You Make A Wildly Successful Career Transition?
Mel Spiese devoted his entire life to doing the right thing. He grew up in a very loving and supportive family and yet, they didn’t push him to excel. So, he didn’t. As college approached, he walked into an ROTC office and realized they offered the possibility of becoming someone
How to Avoid the Boss From Hell
“People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” Theodore Roosevelt The single most important piece of information you need to know before accepting a job is, “Who’s the boss?” Many people don’t give it much thought because they are
Self-Help – Built By Cheats, Charlatans & Used-Car Salesmen
When my first book was published, I had a struggle with my publisher because they wanted to put The Truth About Work into the self-help category. I don’t know one truly successful person who practices self help. In fact, when a talented individual tells me they are failing, it is usually because
Don’t Ever Go to Single Friends for Relationship Advice!
Years ago, I came down with a minor illness that required my hiding at home. It didn’t kill me but at one point I told God, “I wouldn’t mind.” While I was at this low point, my office sent over the mail and on the top of the stack was
The Problem With Business & Metaphysics
Years ago, we were leading an Inspired Work Program for a large group of spiritual coaches. At the first break, members of my team came over and told me how lovely the the participants were. I responded, “By the time we have lunch, many of them will be homicidal.” This
The Five-Minute Engagement Booster
“Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we’re too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the
Is Information Overload Making Us Nuts? It has for thousands of years.
People don’t run out of dreams – people just run out of time. Glenn Frey – The Eagles In 1970, my hero, the brilliant futurist Alvin Toffler predicted that by the turn of the century, we would be in continual information overload. This has come to pass. Today, we
Why Pitches Don’t Work on LinkedIn
“You cannot underestimate people’s ability to spot a soulless, bureaucratic tactic a million miles away. It’s a big reason why so many companies that have dipped a toe in social media waters have failed miserably.” – Gary Vaynerchuk Social media is today’s single greatest marketing resource for building a
The Great Political Failure of Work
There has never been a more important time for the workers of America to discover the vast opportunities to make new and better livings. Today, it is easier to start a business, find the “dream job,” and to do work that is far more interesting. In fact, for many, doing
The One Truth That I Know For Sure
For years, Oprah Winfrey featured an annual episode where leaders would share the one thing they knew with certainty. Here’s mine: Every single one of us comes into this world with a unique purpose. Until we find that purpose, to varying degrees, we suffer. Our unique role in
No Matter Where You Are, This Will Make Your Day Better
We all have them. Life is sailing along and then we encounter a real clunker of a day. There is a solution that doesn’t require leaving one’s computer. As the owner of Inspired Work, the recession introduced quite a few difficult days. I began evaluating ways to rebuild
Why Must the CEO be the First to Engage?
If 87% of the world’s talent is disengaged, the probability of CEOs also being disengaged is pretty high. For years, my company has produced engagement with intact teams. We’ve produced great results regardless of the overall engagement level throughout an organization. When I was asked by the business publisher
Does Your Tribe Support You or Own You?
We were delivering an especially large Inspired Work Program. After the first lunch, a group of men came walking in together. They were laughing. They had come up with the “Jewish Mother’s Hierarchy of Acceptable Career Choices.”This narrow range of possibilities was based on how one mother’s eyebrows responded when the
The Five Steps All of Us Use to Kill Off Change
Business media sends out articles every single day about the acceleration of change, about changing technology impacting each and every one of us. But, little is said about how to change ourselves. Learning how to change ourselves is one of the single most valuable of life experiences. For many,
How One Tech CEO Created Talent Stability
The technology industry tends to be very good at hiring people, keeping them is an entirely different matter. Gourmet lunches, pool tables in the break room, gyms, and onsite daycare are certainly nice perks but the tech industry has the highest turnover within all industry categories. Average tenure hovers around
Tired of Mediocre Outcomes? The New Standard
In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy urged Americans to think about how we measure what makes a country great in new ways. He said the Gross National Product doesn’t measure the health of our children, the beauty of our poetry, our courage, our wisdom, or our compassion. He said, “It measures
Einstein Draws a Circle and I Don’t Know My Ass From a Hole in the Ground
This morning, someone close to me said the two most valuable phrases a person can say are, “I need help” and “I don’t know.” When I started leading The Inspired Work Program in 1990, I was thrown into an existential crisis. Growing up with a white-male-pissed-off God had given
Fear of Success is a Big Fat Ugly Lie
Early this morning, I woke up and thought of how frightening it would be to pay all my bills, buy a spectacular beach home in the Malibu Colony and purchase a brand-new Azimut 77S foot yacht with a crew of two. My mind wandered towards getting up and visiting Amazon
Mid-Management. Engagements Final Frontier
In a Harvard Business School study, mid-level managers emerged as the most disengaged of all workers. This is not a big surprise. Mid-managers are overworked, undervalued, and the most at-risk employees during layoffs. Academics and business authors routinely suggest that we get rid of them as a first step to
Shattering the Business of Sexual Harassment
The phenomenon of transparency has led to a tectonic shift in how our culture responds to sexual harassment. For many of us, the surprisingly swift departures of CEOs, bankable celebrities, politicians and other big revenue makers indicate a tipping point. Why are actions like these so very new? For
The Democratic Solution to Engagement
One of the fundamental reasons so many well-intentioned employee engagement initiatives fail is rooted in how we treat the organizational elite. The majority of learning and development dollars are directed towards executive leadership and high potentials, while everyone else gets little or nothing. Rinse & Repeat. True, measurable and sustainable
America, Kindergarten for Apprenticeships
Time has proven that we learn nothing of value by studying dysfunction. Our most valuable lessons are earned by studying success, even if that success represents a small portion of our culture. This past year, Donald Trump announced a $200 million dollar budget to provide funding for apprenticeships. Unfortunately,
The Middle-Class is Not What We Are Losing
These days much is being made about the disappearance of our middle-class. Unfortunately, framing what is occurring as an economic issue distracts many of us from the real truth.We are not witnessing the elimination of the middle-class, we are eliminating task workers. This is a seismic shift so frightening that
Why Active Learners Own the World
We used to derive our security from a job. Today we find our security from growth. Virtually anyone in this country can access almost any information they need 24-hours-a-day. And yet, a wide range of studies indicate that America is less intelligent than just 20 years ago. At the
How Can Work Become Your Greatest Relationship?
When I launched Inspired Work in 1990, I didn’t have a particularly fulfilling relationship towards work. While I was financially successful, my work wasn’t particularly rewarding or meaningful. I believe this is the norm for many of us. In fact, many parents present a black-or-white approach to family career development by
How to Get the Raise You Really Want!
This is a time of year when many of us are taking stock of our professional lives. It is also quite common for organizations to be conducting performance and salary reviews. Some employees will be disappointed with the results. A few will become righteously angry and leave. Others will put
When Do Human Capital Executives Take a Fall for the CEO?
An effective partnership between a CEO and the Chief Human Resource Officer has become one of the key factors of an organization’s success. However, there is an all too common breakdown that very few business journalists discuss. When a chief human resource officer comes to me with a career opportunity.
Find Yourself By Being of Service to Others
“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” Albert Schweitzer There is a dogma about service. It is the notion that service can
New Year’s Resolution? This is Why Goals Don’t Work!
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day the year.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Happy Happy New Years! On December 31st at midnight, quite a few people are going to make resolutions – again. Many of us will know this when we go to our gym
What Is The Single Biggest Indicator Someone Will Succeed?
When we lead someone to the truth, there are many times we have no idea what happens. Every now and then, I encounter a participant or a client that seems to fight my input every step of the way. But, the truth is like throwing a stone into the water.
The Single Most Important Trait in New Hires Might Surprise You
The wise holocaust survivor and philosopher Elie Wiesel said, “When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.” The dynamic can exponentially grow in its impact on an organization. Over the years, I have
Why Do Our Children Need Sales Training?
My colleague Mary Campbell and I are developing a new business that includes a digital platform and book designed to help parents better understand how to prepare for the future of work. Until recently, Mary was the chief talent officer at The University of Southern California. They were our client.
The Most Important Conversation You Will Ever Have
“You create your own universe as you go along.” Winston Churchill Much has been made of “New Age” philosophies such as the Law of Attraction and The Secret. Essentially, these are philosophies and processes that are based on the idea that what we think, how we talk to ourselves,
Today’s Sexual Harassment Shock Wave & the bigger revolution behind it
Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey, Mark Halperin, Bill O’Reilly, Mario Batali, Al Franken and dozens of other celebrities, politicians, and CEOs have one issue in common. You probably know what that is. Why am I so confident you will know? Almost everyone knows. Today’s sexual harassment scandals represent more
Blow Up HR Again?
By and large, I read Harvard Business Review and The Atlantic to raise my IQ or, at the very least, give the appearance that I’ve done so. Recently, HBR published, “It’s Time To Blow Up HR and build something new”.Sounds like consultant-speak to me. Much of the consulting profession puts
Does Every Child Have A Unique Purpose?
Mo’s Bows is a tie and bowtie company founded by Moziah Bridges when he was 9 years old. Like so many successful children, his mother always gave him the idea he could do whatever he wanted with his life. Today, she works for her son when he shows up for
How Humans Kill Off Change Without Thinking
Every single one of us has been trained since birth to wipe out change by using five different filters. Think of the filters as shades in which we see the world. The filters are triggered by fear and of course, change requires courage. The “killer filters” can operate so smoothly that we
Why Goals Don’t Work
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.” Ralph Waldo Emerson We are at that magic time of the year where we look to the past and make plans for the future. There is nothing wrong with that. However, it is wise
The Future. What Will We Tell Our Children?
People that lead fulfilling and successful lives usually have a clearly defined and fully personalized mission, vision, and purpose. They build their success with a comprehensive set of life skills that bring success to virtually any career. Here is the rub. Many people are unwilling to learn the very skills
The Innocence in Helping One Stranger
In February 1965, a young man was driving through a torrential winter storm. It was almost midnight. Through the lashing rain, he could see an older African American Woman standing next to a broken down car. She desperately needed a ride. He stopped to help her, generally unheard of in
Social Networking: How We Transformed the Results
“What emotions would we experience if we weren’t working ourselves to death? What wishes drive us? What fantasies hitch themselves to our continual busyness? Only when we step away from our frenzy can we know.” Arlie Russell Hochschild Human beings are capable of thinking about something other than
Trust Your Answer
Every day, new technology brings obsolescence to another segment of task-based work. For those of us who view work from any remnants of the Industrial Revolution, this is the very time to cast aside complacency and to take action. The work of today as well as tomorrow is more creative,
Buckminster Fuller’s Incredible Letter About Everyone’s Unique Purpose
Every single one of us has a unique gift and I find that until we step into that gift, we suffer. I’ve watched people awaken to their unique gift thousands of times. It is our natural self, well beyond a job description, and it is the one thing no one
How Did the World’s Greatest Futurist Predict 2017 in 1970?
“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler – Future Shock Those words were published in Alvin Toffler’s groundbreaking book, “Future Shock” forty-seven years ago. He spoke of a world speeding up
Will We Ever Get Rid of Fear?
In a culture fixated on security we have reinforced the myth that there is something fundamentally inadequate about us when we feel fear. If buy into the notion, we construct our lives around avoiding fear and as a result, the real and best opportunities don’t even reach our field of
Hope – The Baggage That Can Sink Us
I hope that things will change. I hope that I will get a new job. I hope a client will come through the door. I’ve been hoping everything will turn out. The common thread through these statements is that hope requires nothing from us. In other
If JFK Lived One More Day
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy The following statement is not partisan. It is an issue of need. There has never been a time in history where we needed
The Power of Words
The words we consume determine who we are. Three authors that most influenced the life that I lead include Alvin Toffer, Maya Angelou and Buckminster Fuller. All of them were outsiders. Their rebellious points-of-views changed the world. Periodically, I like to share the best of them as a meditation
How One Boss Changed My Entire Life
Doing the right thing seems to be as much the product of instinct as intelligence. Today, a dear friend and I are getting together with our former boss – Gail Angel. I have not seen her in twenty-three years! Gail owned one of the most successful staffing companies in
United Airlines – The Shocking Back Story
This past year, United Airlines was perhaps this years biggest demonstration in how a disengaged employee culture can impact consumers. Almost all of us witnessed security guards dragging a semi-conscious passenger off of his flight. While the guards were not employees of the airline, the UA employees took a minor
Why We Declared War on Disengagement
Gallup’s latest global engagement survey indicates that only 13% of the world’s workers are engaged. The problem of disengagement is so vast that it is far more than a vexing business problem, it is a tragedy that inhabits our homes, schools, roads, families, and daily routines. Disengagement doesn’t imply
Are Unions Worthless?
Approximately one in ten American employees belong to a union. Most unions are focused on what they did a hundred years ago – protecting jobs and ensuring the safety of their members. But, as the needs of workers change, are unions doing their job? Over the last fifty years,
Why Chief Human Resource Officers Can Become CEOs
Virtually every business publication and relevant academic research paper indicate that attracting, developing and motivating talent is the single most important element in successful business today. One of the most common failures with CEOs not reaching the objectives of their business plan is in their refusal to take charge of
Is This Man A Tipping Point for All of Us?
In the last few days, I’ve made a couple of feeble attempts to say anything about the sexual harrassment scandal with Harvey Weinstein as well as our President. But, I actually have quite a bit to say. When I was in my 20s & 30s, I worked in business development.
The Middle-Class Is Not What We Are Losing!
What we have is the disappearance of task workers. This basic seismic shift is so frightening that many are doing what humans do. We point towards the symptoms rather than the truth. But, for those of us who do tasks for a living, we either need to reinvent ourselves or
How Social Networking Can Drive Innovation
How many people assume the world’s most innovative companies invent most of their technology in house? Far more innovation is found by individuals going out into the world and finding breakthroughs which they bring back. Thomas Edison did not invent the lightbulb. He networked and found the incandescent bulb that
Will Your Tribe Make or Break You?
What happens right after we make a decision to change the business or the course of our lives? We tell members of our tribes. The challenge with tribes is that they have rigid rituals and expectations. When we break one of those rituals, the general response is some form
A Whole New Form of Social Networking
Inspired Social Networking Begins on Wednesday, November 8 from 4-6 p.m. Regardless of how skilled you are with social media, Inspired Social Networking will elevate how you experience the process and transform your results. The program blends the best of high-touch business development practices with straightforward online
Why Employee Engagement Must Have a Democratic Solution
As many of my readers know, I have declared war on disengagement. My new book The Workplace Engagement Solution hit the market last month and has generated many new conversations about the world’s biggest productivity problem. According to Gallup, the trance of disengagement impacts 87% of the world’s workers. Disengagement also hurts families
America’s Real Skills Crisis
In our culture, we have a growing challenge and dare I imply “crisis” around a variety of life skill deficits that impact many adults and will undermine the careers of our growing children. We can witness the impact of these deficits on the American workers who characterize themselves as “underemployed.”
Unlearning – Today’s Shockingly Important Skillset
In a world where change grows every day, it is vitally important that we become athletic active learners. It is equally important that we become “unlearners.” America’s great, late futurist Alvin Toffler predicted that by the turn of the century, most of us would be in a state of “future
Why the CEO Must be the First to Engage
If 87% of the world’s talent is disengaged, the probability of CEOs also being actively disengaged is pretty high. With a purely democratic solution, the global disengagement problem can only be solved if everyone from the entry-level worker to the CEO/owner is dealing directly with his or her own engagement.
Conquering Change – How to lead rather than follow a rapidly accelerating world
We live in tumultuous times. The industrial revolution is being replaced so quickly that few people have adequately defined “what’s next.” But the prelude to change is already in front of us. Simply play out the impact of 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual Reality, and Information Filtering and we
The #1 Solution with Being Bored at Work
“Perhaps the world’s second worst crime is boredom. The first is being a bore.” – Jean Baudrillard I had a friend many years ago who had an ongoing problem with men. Once over dinner, she took responsibility for the problem as she said, “I can walk into a church
Guns Are Big $$$ – What Can We Do?
After they met, Sonny Melton became an RN and worked alongside his wife Heather, an orthopedic surgeon. They devoted their professional lives towards improving the lives of others. Last Sunday, they were running from the ambush in Las Vegas. They were gripping each other’s hands when the bullet hit Sonny
Why Social Entrepreneurs Own the Future
Not long ago, I spoke to a group of CEOs in Calgary. The city was something of a ghost town. Most of the business executives were in petroleum and natural gas. After the presentation, I pointed out that hanging on for dear life with the petroleum industry was lowering the
Why Your Employer Brand is Definitively More Important Than Your Consumer Brand
Who would you rather work for? United Airlines or Southwest? Google or Yahoo? Vons/Safeway or Trader Joe’s? Consider the following. Whatever talent you attract is what your organization becomes to the world and to the consumer. If you can’t attract the best talent in your industry, you will never achieve category leadership.
The #1 Way to Get That Raise
Human beings are hard-wired to think about something other than themselves a maximum of 15 seconds. This science-based outlook turns pitch-selling on its head and the news also paves the way for a more enlightened approach towards getting a raise. So, you are probably already thinking, “How does this relate
What Brand Are U?
Business journalism spends lots of time presenting the power of brands. Let’s just bring up a few names as examples: Google, HBO, Disney, and Lloyds of London. What imagery and stories do these hallowed brands bring up? For many, Google is the number one brand representing progress. HBO is the
Why Is Courage Essential in Any Engagement Program?
How could there possibly be a link between employee engagement and the way we relate to fear? As we shift from an industrial revolution based workplace to one that is driven by accelerating technological change, the way we relate to fear has profound implications of whether or not we are
27 Years – What Did I Learn?
The life I lead began 27 years ago today. That morning opened with a drive down Pacific Coast Highway to the Loews Beach Hotel. Walking through the lobby, each step felt like a jump out of a plane without a parachute. But, an inner voice suggested I would find my
Engagement’s Morals, Values, and Ethics (Part One)
A good racing sailboat is built to get through any storm safely and quickly. It requires a keel to stay upright. One of the world’s most successful and upright leadership organizations the US Marines. Its keel is a code of conduct based on a series of morals, values, and ethics.
HR 20.18 – What Does the Future Hold?
The human resources profession is undergoing the “Hero’s journey.” In literature, the Hero’s Journey typically involves someone who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed. The narrative might sound familiar to anyone who works because the degree of
The Global Talent Crisis That Will Impact Every-Single-One-Of-Us
We have a massive global crisis on our hands around work and livelihood. The numbers speak for themselves. 48% of Americans view themselves as underemployed. In other words, they are living from paycheck to paycheck. It is impossible for people to have self-esteem if they are not having a direct
What Is The Real Price of Diversity?
Yesterday, I was walking to the bank in Pacific Palisades when two elderly women ran out of the beauty salon wearing ugly cardboard and plastic sunglasses. Their hair was covered in the foil used during dye jobs to achieve that “natural look.” In unison, they yelled at me, “Do you
The 7 Engagement Questions Every CEO Needs to Answer
I wrote The Workplace Engagement Solution with a commitment to define a practical and actionable response to disengagement. According to Gallup’s last global survey, about 87% of the world’s workers are disengaged. The consulting world treats employee engagement as a chronic illness. Surveys tell us how big the problem is. It is
Mid-Managers – Engagements Final Frontier!
In a Harvard Business School study, mid-level managers emerged as the most disengaged of all workers. This is not a big surprise. Mid-managers are overworked, undervalued, and the most at-risk employees during lay-offs. Academics and business authors routinely suggest that we get rid of them as a first step to
Why We Must Trade-In Old-Fashioned Security for Growth
How many of us are conscious enough to be excited about trading in a sense of old-fashioned security for perpetual growth? Most of us need to be educated to even realize what the opportunity means on a personal level. For the vast majority, real change is a frightening prospect. For
There is No Such Thing as Fear of Success
Early this morning, I woke up and thought of how frightening it would be to pay all my bills, to buy a spectacular beach home in the Malibu Colony and purchase a brand-new Azimut 77S foot yacht with a crew of two. My mind wandered towards getting up and visiting
Is It Time to Turn Your Life Upside Down?
“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.” John F. Kennedy I often find that when someone looks at whether she or he is going to follow what the soul is telling them to do, someone often responds, “If I do this, it is
The Single Most Important and Overlooked Trait in Good Hires
The wise holocaust survivor and philosopher Elie Wiesel said, “When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.” This dynamic that Mr. Wiesel describes can exponentially grow in its impact on an
This is What a Laser-Like Brand Looks Like
Over the years, I have helped many of our graduates launch new businesses. It is a growing trend. More and more participants define that their ideal next step is to go into business for themselves. It is one of my great joys to watch them include the fears and concerns
How One Tech CEO Created Talent Stability
The Workplace Engagement Solution – How One Tech CEO Created Talent Stability The technology industry tends to be very good at hiring people, keeping them is an entirely different matter. Gourmet lunches, pool tables in the break room, gyms, and onsite daycare are certainly nice perks but the tech industry
No Shortcuts – Adam Miller’s Road to Talent Success
The only true shortcut to success is in recognizing there are no shortcuts to success. David Harder’s new book, The Workplace Engagement Solution, points out how disengagement often begins when we attempt shortcuts in how we build our talent. Instead of developing a robust employer brand, some organizations hire for expedience.
Science Fiction? Employee Engagement in the Near Future
Career Press officially publishes The Workplace Engagement Solution! Amazon will make sure you have a copy in your hand tomorrow by simply clicking here. A shout-out to the many people that helped crack-the-code around the employee engagement challenge including Mary Campbell, my colleague, editor and former partner from USC; Adam Miller, Engagement
An Engagement CEO Gives a Million-Dollar Coaching Session on One Page
Full and sustainable employee engagement begins with a CEO or business owner. According to David Harder, author of The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press), most employee engagement programs fail because they are turned over to someone with less authority to initiate what in essence is a life-changing directive. Time-and-time again, we
Why Disengagement is Our #1 Culture Problem
According to Gallup’s latest engagement survey, 87% of the world’s workers, to varying degrees are disengaged. With numbers like this, how do we get anything done? Well, we do it in a trance. These figures represent more than a business problem, they are tragic. Here’s why: The great
Our Uncivil War
The daily dose of vulgarity continues to distract our country from very real solutions. We stand at one of those fundamental turning points in how people live and work. There are quite a few casualties but the biggest seems to be casualty of thought. For years, employment and
HER
I’m waiting to board the plane back to LA and working on our new book that will help families prepare their children for the future of work. In a world where the average college graduate will change careers four to six times, everything in how we engage with our children
Break Out of the Frenzy Trap
Frenzy is part of the trap against leading engaged, happy, and fulfilled lives. Between increased workloads and constant access, we’re too busy to really connect, talk, take care of ourselves, reach out to others in meaningful ways, listen intently, pay attention to our peers, smile to our customers (and mean
Ageism? The disgrace of generational generalism.
A few days ago, someone a few years younger than I blamed ageism for his unemployment. I responded quite strongly, “Well, of course, you’re not getting a job because you are carrying around that energy.” Resignation is giving up and it is usually driven by the notion we are not
The Astonishing Tenure at Trader Joe’s
Every other week, we drive from the beach to make our Trader Joe’s run. Saturday was the date. As we neared our favorite cashier, she flashed her signature grin and called out, “Hi, it’s so good to see you!” “Well sister, it’s good to see you as well!” I