Since it's Women's History Month, Workplace Fairness is promoting some of its online content that impacts women the most. Women continue to be among the workers who experience disproportionate occurrences of pay inequity, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and more. It's up to employers and workers alike to be aware of and address the injustices experienced by … [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]
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]
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]


























