Several years ago, I participated in a women’s leadership program focused on embracing what power was in all senses of the word. Intuition wasn’t one of the topics listed on the agenda. However, it was an incredible component of our leadership work together. On Friday night, the 26 of us were given an assignment: We were to transform a nursing home facility to have a … [More]
Election Year Talk and Tempers in a Virtual Workplace
Take a presidential election year, combine it with a global pandemic and the stage is set for workplace discussions to bubble over into heated discourse, even in a virtual environment. Between the daily stressors of COVID-19 and partisan tensions surrounding the 2020 presidential election, business owners and leaders need to be aware of how these factors can impact team … [More]
The Value of Shareholder Letters
Letters to corporate shareholders contain some of the best writing on business. These communications can be particularly valuable for investors probing for high-quality companies and managers. They are of general value for their insights on business and economics. Shareholder letters have an interesting history. Through the 1970s, shareholder letters consisted, as a rule, of … [More]
Black- and Woman-Owned: Business in the Shadow of COVID-19
Building their businesses here in Phoenix, these two black women business owners had little in common — until the COVID-19 pandemic wrought disruption indiscriminately throughout the economy and put us all in the same boat. Retail is commonly acknowledged to be the hardest-hit sector. As a concessionaire with gift stores in airport terminals, Lachele Mangum’s retail … [More]
The Monday Blues
With the impact of COVID-19, Americans across the country went from wishing for the weekend, to living it daily. To many, it is feeling a bit like the film Groundhog Day. But the current state of the country won’t last forever, and before too long Americans will be back to counting down for the weekend. The typical countdown begins when they arrive to work on Monday. From … [More]
There’s a New ‘Business as Usual’
In this third week of mass social distancing (with more than 225 million Americans ordered to stay at home), CEOs are beginning to ask not only how to survive the pandemic, but what they will be surviving into. Radical events bring radical change, and the American workplace — and quite possibly the American economy — is in the midst of its most significant disruptive and … [More]
Mentoring in the Workplace: A Modern Approach
Mentoring relationships in the workplace are key to ensuring long-term employee success, strengthening both the people and the organization. After all, workplace mentor programs not only demonstrate that the organization cares about its people and their development, but they also give workers a safe space to grow. But with aspects like invasive technology and the shift to open … [More]
Banking AI Advantages Business
For businesses, gaining visibility and control of spending is vital to maintaining adequate cash flow. However, currently, this is something many U.S. businesses, SMEs in particular, struggle with, as shown by the fact 82 percent of business failures are due to poor cash management. As banks begin to address this problem, we are seeing the adoption of more technologies that … [More]
Courage Drives Emotional Intelligence
In The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and her friends set off on that yellow brick road, they needed three things to succeed: a heart, a brain and courage. Most of the time, when people think of emotional intelligence, they think only of heart. They think heart = empathy, compassion and kindness. But emotionally intelligent leaders who are full of heart possess more than just … [More]
How to Halt the Tide of Environmental Decline that Threatens the Viability of Our Modern World
This question haunts everyone who cares about the world our grandchildren will inherit. Older readers will remember how it was just half a century ago — vibrant and thriving. In the post-war economic boom, governments were oblivious to the slippery slope ahead, the warnings of respected ecologists left unheeded. In due course, this generation will pass on, and, like those who … [More]
A Corporation’s Biggest Threat Is Its Leaders
Most organizations and leaders say they want to empower people to contribute at their fullest capacity. But most leaders are never taught how to do that. Those who started their corporate careers 20 years ago or more were given a formula for success by their bosses: Do these 10 actions to drive these 20 outcome; multiply those actions and outcomes across a department, and … [More]
Performance Review: Useless Procedure?
Evidence from a recent survey by Gallup and others has found that two-thirds of organizations feel their performance reviews are not effective. Described as “subjective and highly ambiguous,” performance reviews can be a very impactful tool when used appropriately, but, as this research shows, most companies say they are falling short of the mark. As a response, some … [More]
Have the Best Benefits Open Enrollment Ever
Open enrollment can be a stressful time for employees and HR professionals alike. Educating employees on how their choices will affect them and their families is important when it comes to making decisions like how much to contribute to a 401K, or if a high deductible health plan is the best option. To help your company have a successful open enrollment, I’m sharing some of my … [More]
What Business Owners Should Know about Lobbying
What do you picture when you think of a lobbyist? Perhaps an older gentleman, with a slick suit, power walking down a marble hallway in Washington, D.C., flanked by a team of big-money corporate executives congratulating each other on the deal they made on the golf course? Most people have a Hollywood idea of what lobbyists do; they have no idea what the day-to-day work of a … [More]
