It started with a turkey. In the early days of a start-up company I once worked for, a plump turkey was a small thank you token given to employees around the holidays. The turkey-giving practice lasted maybe three years, until the growing size of the organization necessitated its change. And while enhanced benefits emerged to replace that poultry gift, I found it amazing that the missing turkey still appeared as a resentmen...

Once upon a time, a prince and princess lived in stressful palace, surrounded by a stressful village, inside a stressful land. They knew it was stressful because everyone said it was. Their parents, the king and queen, worked from sunrise to sunset hearing issues from their kingdom, weighing the requests, and appropriating the collective harvest to the people of their land. The people also worked from sunrise to sunset, doi...

A paperweight sits on my desk, etched in silver the message: Life isn't always black and white. It serves as a reminder there are few absolutes at work (or in life). Yet, it would be easier if there were; if good ideas from bad, trustworthy people from non-trustworthy, and right paths from the wrong ones could easily be discerned. I've learned in twenty years in management that increasing one's perspective increases the gre...

Watching a rerun of "What Not to Wear" on The Learning Channel, I was struck by the dialogue between the individual being transformed and the cast of experts. While agreeing to follow the advice and input from these style-masters, "Joyce" was closed to the ideas presented of what she should wear, how her hair should be cut, and her make-up enhanced.Her resistance sounded familiar. It echoed reasons proclaimed by people at w...

As I turned on the national news, two "experts" were debating one of the societal issues that divide this country. For minutes their ping-ponged comments volleyed about a controversial book and a soon-to-be-released movie. Then, the commenter asked both guests if they had either read the book or seen the pre-released movie. "No," answered the first man "but I've heard from people who have." "No," answered the second, "but I...

An industrious black-tailed ground squirrel has his home beneath a stump not far from my office window. I’ve been watching him squirrel away provisions for winter. He reminds me of people I’ve worked with. Starting his journey by standing tall on the stump, the squirrel hurriedly looks side to side. When he’s certain it is safe he leaps into the grass, jumping then running to a group of nuts nestled beneath a medium-size pi...

It was a dimly lit restaurant. Still she was dressed in pink, and while I admit it's hard to tell the gender of three month old babies, clothing color is a reliable clue. So, it surprised me when the waitress began playing with my granddaughter, asking "How old is he?" Twenty minutes later, that same waitress served our dinners into my daughter-in-law's lap, spilling the contents of her tray as she approached the table. We...

I learned in first grade that one plus one equals two. But, that's not the right equation when counting work experience. We often think we're building experience to help us get ahead. In reality, we're passing time. Ten years working like a cloned Bill Murray in Groundhog Day is not ten years worth of experience. Doing the same thing again and again yields an experience formula more like: ten times one equals one. I used to...