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There is an explosion happening all around us.  We are getting grayer as a society - much grayer.   As a result, organizations are faced with a diversity-related challenge.   Younger managers, on a much broader level than ever before, are finding themselves in the position of having to supervise older subordinates.  Early on in my career, I found myself in a similar position.   As a very young, first-time manager, I found myself with subordinates who were considerably older than me.   To be honest, I didn't think much of…

Much has been said about the contribution of the “skills mismatch” to the United States’ elevated unemployment rate. Even President Barack Obama weighed in during his State of the Union address, calling it “inexcusable” that there are job openings in many industries that can’t be filled while millions of Americans are looking for work.   Although most economists argue that joblessness is largely a function of lowered demand at the moment, simple math says there’s also something else going on: There are 13…

2011 Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge   The Cleanup X Challenge offered $1 million to the team that could invent an oil-recovery system able to recover oil from the surface of the ocean at a rate two times the industry standard. The building and testing of such a device was already an improbable feat, but the stakes were raised even further: contestants have 90 days to complete it.    Team Elastec met the challenge    When Donald Wilson, the CEO of Elastec, the largest manufacturer of oil-spill-cleanup equipment in the US, read about the innovation contest, he enthusiastically jumped. They…

During the past decade, much of work/life research has been dedicated to identifying and measuring the bottom-line benefits of workplace flexibility to an organization and its employees. Unfortunately, far less attention has been paid to the challenges that managers face when integrating flexibility into their work groups.   A 2010 survey report, Alternative Workplace Strategies in the Current Economy: Results from New Ways of Working’s Benchmarking Study, cited executive buy-in…

It’s that time of year again, when we sit around and try to predict what will happen in the months to come.  I just read an article that 2012 could be the year of payback.  Employees will really make those moves that have been predicted since 2009.     If that’s true, I see an overall trend of companies shifting toward training and development as a retention and recognition tool.  Here how it could impact how training might look this year.   1. Social learning and gamification will…

Mentoring Saved Best Buy’s Future President

Brian Dunn started with Best Buy in 1985 selling VCRs, but his first day was so bad that he wanted to quit. He confessed to his store manager that it had been a “lousy experience.” At that the manager invited Brian to come in on Saturday morning and he would personally teach Brian how he operated on the sales floor when he was in Brian’s position. The manager mentored Brian. In doing so, he cleared the way for Brian to not only be good at his…

I work very hard at what I do with every client, presentation, and article I write.  Some may call me an overachiever.  I work long hours, solve complex problems and do it all with a passion and smile most days.  I love what I d0, but not everyone loves me back.

Hate is a very strong word.  It’s an emotion, a feeling.  Tied very closely to love and lust.  So why do organizations, leaders, and co-workers hate overachievers?

Over the weekend I watched one of my favorite…

Whole Foods Employees Vote for New Hires

Every new hire at a Whole Foods store is subject to a peer-based selection process. The newbie is provisionally assigned to a team, for example in bakery or produce, pending a 4-week trial and a team vote. After the trial period, that team votes on the newbie’s suitability and ultimately his or her fate. A two-thirds majority vote is needed to achieve a full-time slot on the team.

Pret a Manger Employees Vote Too

Similarly, to secure a job at Pret a Manger, a…

There has been an astronomic increase in employment litigation. The result is that there is almost an apoplectic fear of litigation. Indeed, because the cost of litigation can be so high, sometimes we try to avoid risk at all cost.

But we cannot avoid risk. It is not a question of risk avoidance, but rather risk selection.

In my experience, here are the top three mistakes that are sometimes made in managing risk and can result in buying one risk to avoid another.

The sudden, unexpected and potentially catastrophic event that threatens a business is a CEO’s greatest challenge. Ever since the Tylenol tampering recall 30 years ago, the performances of companies in crisis have come under public scrutiny. The entire world was touched by the most environmentally destructive business crisis of all time — BP’s oil spill in the Gulf. Everyone watched as CEO Tony Hayward made blunder after blunder while their crude killed. Three weeks after the explosion, Hayward…