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One of the hardest things to do as a leader is to know when to pull the trigger on firing someone.  I’ve heard so many leaders talk about how much trouble they have with making the decision to fire even when the person is under performing or worse a general nuisance.  Yet, these same leaders will…

A couple of weeks ago, the always outspoken John Sumser published a post at HRexaminer titled “Pummeling Equine Cadavers.”  You probably missed it if for no other reason than the title doesn’t even hint at the really interesting points John makes in the piece.  In it, he airs some frustrations around the idea of “thought…

Last week, I spent a couple of days with eighty leaders from across my state working on defining our collective vision for the future of the state.  As a part of this process, we were asked to break into groups to define what makes something “great.” This may seem like a fairly easy task.  But,…

Something has been bothering me but I couldn’t lay my finger on why until this week.  It has become increasingly popular for HR pundits and bloggers to skewer anyone in HR who talks about or writes about having a “seat at the table.”  The argument seems to be that they are tired of hearing about…

Two of my wise friends, Jason Seiden and Roger Fransecky, have both taught me to think of life as a story that is written in chapters as we live it.  Today, I begin writing a new chapter in my life as I leave one job and begin the process of finding my way to what’s…

I find myself in awe of my 21 month old son, Colton, almost daily as I watch him growing and learning to navigate the world around him.  Each moment, it seems, he’s finding something new to try, to learn. The thing that strikes me most about Colt are the things that he’s learned that no…

Earlier this week, I read a post by Charlie Judy on his always thought provoking blog, HR Fishbowl, titled “Stop Playing Nice if it Doesn’t Advance the Ball.”  The post overall is about how we have come to be crippled in business by the desire for majority rule or consensus in business decisions.  Charlie outlines…

For years, I’ve been told not to assume. Assuming, it seems, is assumed to always have negative consequences. I think that assuming has gotten a bad rap. While assuming the negative is a bad practice and often leads to bad things. Positive assumptions can be an equally powerful force to make good things happen. I’ve…

When you are on the elliptical machine, gutting out a workout, and sweating like a mad man when something on the TV makes you laugh out loud, it must be good.  This happened to me on Sunday morning. What got me laughing?  It was story on SportsCenter about the “unusual celebrations” of an Icelandic soccer…

“Can you believe what they did to me?” “Why do they always have to be difficult?” “Why are they attacking me?” It seems to be a common human characteristic to assume that the world revolves around us (at least I hope it’s not just me).  We assume that when something happens that isn’t according to…