It’s a tough time to navigate the labor market. Organizations are still desperately seeking candidates. The Great Resignation rolls on, as the “quiet quitting” trend underscores people’s shifting attitudes about work. Meanwhile the looming threat of recession has some employers wondering if it’s time to slow hiring efforts. But—here’s the real question—are we so focused on … [More]
On International Women’s Day, Leverage the Tribal Knowledge of Female Mentors
The 2023 campaign theme for International Women’s Day is #EmbraceEquity. While this hashtag highlights the tremendous strides women have made in and out of the workplace, it also calls attention to the many areas where we’re still striving to gain ground: pay, promotions, political representation, gender bias, the so-called “motherhood penalty,” and sometimes, our own … [More]
Navigating Murky Waters?
‘Sacred Six’ principles will help you succeed like a shark
Whenever we open a news app, we’re inundated with headlines on foreboding topics. Looming recession. Political turmoil. Social unrest. Climate change. It seems there’s no end to the doom and gloom. In times like these, the path toward success isn’t just murky; it seems to have fallen away altogether. How can leaders navigate the challenges ahead — and come out on top — if we … [More]
Build a Culture of Safety and Human Reliability
Seven practical steps that take good ideas from talk to action
A technician spills a toxic chemical. She isn’t injured, but easily could have been. The Hazmat cleanup costs more than $10,000, and shuts down a critical building for a week. An electrical engineer flips the wrong switch in a substation control room. He isn’t injured. But within seconds, a $50,000 transformer is destroyed. Three financial clerks in two different … [More]
Build Strength in Your Business through Stakeholder Engagement
Organizations build a sense of community while promoting their brand reputation
Often, we arrive at a business idea and approach and decide: This will be our business, our mission, our purpose. The excitement of the opportunity and our depth of knowledge encourage us to move forward with the belief that we have all the knowledge and resources internally to succeed. Often, that may not be the case, and in the rush to create, we overlook a key component: … [More]
Todd Sanders: Embracing Change and Diversifying Fuels Growth
Strengthening the Phoenix Chamber and community businesses
As a leader, I don’t fear change. Since assuming the role of president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Chamber in 2009, at the height of a recession, I have spent the last 13 years helping thousands of companies across Arizona anticipate, prepare for and, ultimately, thrive through change. The recession in 2008 was a wakeup for me that the Chamber had to become more dynamic. … [More]
Exposing Pay
Should employees be allowed to discuss their pay with other employees? Should managers explain the logic underlying pay structures and decisions to employees? Should companies disclose more information on pay for particular positions or even an individual’s actual pay? Pay equity has become a hot topic in recent years with pay transparency viewed as an important way to narrow … [More]
Six Best Practices for Evaluating Creative Project Proposals
The meeting is about to begin. The creative team has spent days, weeks, maybe even months massaging their concepts, tactics and messaging into the perfect presentation. You can see the beads of sweat forming on their foreheads, signaling something big is at stake here. The speakers speak, and the ideas … miss the mark. There’s no way around it: this presentation fell short of … [More]
Podcast: Reducing High Friction Behaviors in an Organization Leads to Increased Career Prospects and Higher Rewards
“To actually get something done inside an organization means working across it effectively with low friction,” says Taylor Griffin, Chief Operating Officer of The Miles Group/TMG in a new episode of C-Suite Intelligence released today. In the new episode – “Low Friction Leadership” – Griffin joins Stephen Miles, Founder and CEO of TMG, to explain how reducing “behavioral … [More]
Experts Offer a Plan for Raising the Bar on Workplace Safety
Compliance with OSHA and industry safety standards should not be the ultimate goal for an organization; it should be the baseline, say workplace safety experts Ken Chapman and Tony Orlowski. In their new book, Safety Beyond the Numbers: A Path to Principled Leadership, Chapman and Orlowski address the “what now?” question when a company has a robust safety compliance program … [More]
Valley Leadership Selects 16 Arizonans for Explore Class 2
Explore is the second of VL’s reimagined leadership development programs that will take participants to explore the wide variety of Arizona’s communities. Valley Leadership has selected 16 Arizonans to be part of the second class of its Explore program. The program takes participants out of their home communities to get to know the great diversity of Arizona and how our most … [More]
Blueprint for Change Agents Opens New Possibilities for Workplace Success
“Transformational leadership” by definition means embarking on uncharted territory. It’s about curiosity, courage — and sometimes doing the impossible. In her new book, Cultivating Transformations: A Leader’s Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practical, consultant and keynote speaker Jardena London extends a hand to those tasked with leading a company’s transformational … [More]
Michael May on Evolving a Family Business for the Future
Changing the focus from product to people
A family company often takes on the character of the family who owns it. Early startup struggles and difficulties become ingrained in its culture and fixed in its corporate identity. My father’s struggles in establishing our company set our culture at Wisdom Natural Brands, makers of SweetLeaf Stevia. When my father, James May, first introduced stevia to the U.S. market 40 … [More]
Rising Together
Participants at leadership conferences often tell Sally, “Please don’t spend your time telling us why developing and retaining a diverse workforce is important. We get it. The problem is, we don’t know how to do it.” Rising Together provides that missing know-how in full detail by identifying both what holds us back and specific tactics that can help us move forward. This book … [More]
Phoenix-Based Global Nonprofit Names First Chief Strategy and Diversity Officer
As one of her first directives after being named president and CEO of Make-A-Wish America in September 2022, Leslie Motter created the chief strategy and diversity officer position focused on integrating the organization's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts into the organizational strategy. Some of the key responsibilities include developing strategies, driving … [More]
Executing a Business Plan with Strength and Commitment
Creating a strategic plan is a process that a business and its employees either love or hate, and once a plan is developed, it needs to be implemented. The plan or framework is designed to help a business chart the future and envision the opportunity that lies ahead, but once the plan is completed, how does an organization move the execution of such strategy and direction into … [More]
