Too many people equate “Girl Scouts” with “ Girl Scout cookies.” The program is far more comprehensive and defies a simple summary, but it’s true that the cookie sales program keeps Girl Scouts in the public eye. Girl Scout cookies have come a long way from when, baked at home by the Girl Scouts themselves for fundraising, they were also evidence of culinary skills. Local … [More]
Risking: The Heart of Daring Leadership
Vulnerability is not a concept I learned in business school. Nor, for that matter, theories about soft skills such as self-awareness, risk, emotional IQ, shame or courageous leadership. Yet, for today’s leaders to be relevant, effective and impactful, these ideas must become part of our everyday vocabulary and being. “Command and control,” “armored leadership” and/or fear … [More]
Legal Pitfalls of Unsolicited Texting and Calling
For businesses that use texting as a marketing tool, it is critical that they become familiar with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Some of the largest well-known companies in the country have paid millions in settlements and verdicts for alleged violations of the TCPA. Capital One reportedly agreed to pay more than $73 million to settle a TCPA class action. Dish … [More]
Gender-Specialized Telehealth Solutions Can Improve Employee Productivity
As the price of healthcare continues to rise, many businesses have to make tough decisions where it comes to providing benefits that offer care and services their employees want and need. Those decisions must encompass what to provide and to what extent, in order to maximize employee engagement while controlling costs. And, in today’s low unemployment environment, companies … [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]
Investment in Smart Buildings Moving Up the Agenda
Our new research among landlords, property managers, agents and suppliers reveals that investment in smart building technologies is finally moving up the agenda. There is increasing recognition of their ability to create efficiencies in commercial real estate, bringing costs down, increasing tenant satisfaction, improving space management and ensuring strong energy … [More]
Leadership Disrupted
At its core, leadership is about cultivating relationships, building trust and inspiring influence. Leadership guru Dale Carnegie was so convinced of this reality that he spent his lifetime teaching people how to “win friends and influence people.” Leadership development consultants Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman studied 300,000 business leaders and identified 10 key qualities … [More]
Paranoia and the Big Attention Gap
The problem with industrial espionage is not only that is growing in volume and complexity every day, but that its threat is being used by rivals and governments to discredit perfectly honest and legitimate businesses that do not deserve the slur. What is also curious is that the danger need not be only non-existent, but not even something an individual rival is greatly … [More]
Tax Issues for Arizona Retailers and Taxpayers
In the summer of 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court officially recognized our country’s significant shift from local to online sales of goods by overruling the longstanding precedent that previously prevented state and local governments from imposing sales taxes unless a seller had a physical connection or “nexus” with the state. While earlier decisions had determined that physical … [More]
Pushing Down the Pain
Something is stirring deep beneath the often-polished exterior of startup founders, CEOs and entrepreneurs. Studies have revealed startling rates of toxic stress and disruptive mental health conditions among this population. A study by KPMG Enterprises revealed that 66 percent of founders say their role is extremely or very stressful and 40 percent reported working seven days a … [More]
Financial Wellness Is Workplace Benefit for All
As more and more business owners offer retirement and healthcare benefits for their employees, the question is: What else can I do? This isn’t purely altruistic; while employers do want to help employees live well, benefits are also critical to a company’s success. Eighty-five percent of Americans are nervous about their financial lives, and 65 percent lose sleep over money. … [More]
Cutting through the Weed(s)
The legalization of marijuana in Arizona has created an exciting buzz in this State. Medical marijuana has proven itself a unique, and potentially lucrative, business endeavor. Medical marijuana has also caused some serious frustrations; this is especially so for employers. Many employers find themselves confused as to whether they can still drug test and, particularly, how to … [More]
Suicide in the Workplace
The suicide rate in the United States has increased to more than 33 percent within 20 years. Trends have shown a surge in workplace suicide, with the most recent count recording more than 280 deaths. Suicide is not a-spur-of-the-moment decision but is likely the result of ongoing suffering or struggle that the victim feels to be undefeatable. The highest rates of suicide for … [More]
Blue Light Could Be a Big Problem for Corporate America
Last fall, Arick Wierson, writing for the New York Observer, posed a simple but highly provocative question: “Is Blue Light the Tobacco of the Digital Age?”. Wierson was referring to the energy being emitted from digital devices in increasingly higher and more potent doses. Today, the average American is staring into some device on average 12 hours a day; from the screens of … [More]
The Compounding Effect of Community Carry
It’s in the headlines on a daily basis — yet another startup secures major investment from one venture capital firm or another. On the surface, this appears to only be great news for the investors and the ones on the receiving end of those funds, but the impact actually reaches far beyond that. Funding a startup sets off a ripple effect. It’s not just an investment into that … [More]
Ditch the Techie Jargon – Improve Your Organization’s Cybersecurity
An office memo that tosses around terms like “DRM,” “botnet,” “FTP,” “spear phishing” and “worm” could be a quick, easy read for the head of the IT department. But for everyone else in the organization, it may be one big mass of confusion. And with that bewilderment comes potential danger. There’s a serious gap in communication skills between cybersecurity pros and their … [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]
Building an Alliance to Help Arizona
In today’s economy, being a good corporate citizen has taken on a greater meaning than ever before. And the practice of respectable corporate citizenship has become increasingly more prevalent. Businesses understand that they can leverage what they do in order to positively impact society, and they are taking steps to activate these resources and help the communities where they … [More]
