What Saves Us

“Life sucks and then you die” was a popular saying when I was younger, and from what I can tell that saying still holds true today. My father-in-law, may he rest in peace, used to put it this way: “The chances are only one in a million of something going wrong, but then again thereRead… Read more »

TSP Talk Weekly Wrap Up

Stocks opened higher this past Monday but things went sour pretty quickly as volatility picked up, and by Thursday afternoon there was a little bit of panic in the air. On Friday the bulls stepped up and bought the oversold market and we saw some key support levels hold. Here are the weekly, monthly, andRead… Read more »

Nobody Is Ever Ready

When I was five years old my mother announced we were moving. “Pack your things,” she said. I had just walked in the door and was sweating. “What?” Dizzy, the feeling of falling. Raggedy Ann hung wearily off the windowsill. “Daddy got another job, and we are leaving for Ohio. No time.” We moved around pretty frequently inRead… Read more »

What You Need to Know About Using StrengthsFinder For Employee Engagement

More and more, managers are being encouraged to use positive reinforcement in their employee reviews, rather than focusing on weaknesses. The argument is that by doing this, employees are more productive and engaged in their work. Opponents of such a management technique say that discussing negatives, or ranking employees against each other, can actually encourageRead… Read more »

Improving Police-Community Relations Before It’s Too Late

Civil unrest in places like Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore has local government leaders across the country concerned about police-community relations in their own cities and towns. While it’s true that larger cities with greater diversity – whether economic, ethnic, racial or religious – are more at risk, government leaders in cities of all sizes canRead… Read more »

Creating a Digital Transformation Plan of Action: A Guide for Leaders

In earlier SMART Articles, I discussed the evolutionary phases in becoming a digital organization, described how all business functions are being transformed by social and digital technologies, articulated the primary barriers to digital engagement, and offered a digital transformation framework (to read these and other related pieces, click here). This article extends those pieces by proposingRead… Read more »