If you’re looking to advance in your career, securing a sponsor—an influential senior-level leader in your organization—is a smart move. Women, in particular, benefit from having a sponsor because according to this report from advocacy group Catalyst, women are often perceived negatively when they use assertive career-building approaches. There is no ‘silver bullet’ for attracting the attention of a high-level sponsor” states the report. This is good news: you have the latitude to map out a plan that works best for your unique career circumstance. Research Database. Read my book review here.

A few years ago, I read the book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change. It remains one of my favorite business books of the last decade. The authors are part of a consulting firm called Vital Smarts and I’m subscribed to their newsletter. Vital Smarts has recently launch a series called The Behavioral Science Guys (a.k.a. the “B.S. Guys”). It’s hosted by the New York Times bestselling authors David Maxfield and Joseph Grenny, two of the authors who wrote Influencer. love this series! ” Check it out: Let me know what you think about this video from The B.S.

 . I’m a sponsored blog partner with Spherion (a staffing and recruiting organization) and am participating in the release of findings from Spherion’s Emerging Workforce® Study (EWS).  All opinions are mine. When are employees ready to step into leadership roles? Although there is no definitive “right” answer to that question, it’s one that employers increasingly grapple with. The Baby Boomer generation is (slowly) leaving the workforce—and those in charge of filling the leadership pipeline wonder, Will there be enough skilled leaders to replace them? about it. photo credit: istockphoto.

Are you riding the struggle bus right now? Yeah, me too. Heck there are days when it’s like I’m driving that stinkin’ bus! Life has handed me a handful of setbacks over the past months. Taken on their own, each challenge is easy enough to tackle. But when they all pile up? It’s a bit overwhelming. Can you relate? Here’s what I’ve learned: for me, the default mode of “hunker down and just gut it out” isn’t so effective anymore. (If it ever really was effective.) So if I’m not quite as physically tough as I used to be, thank heavens I am smarter. Learn to ask for help before I get stressed.

The Lead Change Group is hosting this month’s Leadership Development Carnival. In it, you’ll find over 20 leadership authors, consultants and coaches who wrote about various leadership topics, including: Leaders who have “real” conversations. Helping people avoid the “drama” that sometimes needlessly occurs in the workplace. How to lead people, even when they irritate you. Leaders who develop a listening culture. and 19 more insightful essays. Check it out: the  November 2015 Leadership Development Carnival on the Lead Change blog. Blog Carnival Leadership

This post is brought to you by Simulation Studios, specializing in creating business simulations and gamification solutions for leadership development, business acumen, and business silo reduction.  See below for full disclosure. Picture this: a group of promising young leaders is seated in their classroom, awaiting the arrival of their instructor. It’s the second week of their two-week leadership development program. The topic for the day is “Business Acumen.” The “Wizard of Wall Street” has arrived! Business acumen? Financial management? What a dry topic, right?

Does leading meetings frustrate you? Maybe you have someone in your meeting who has ideas— lots of them—who can’t seem to shut up. Or perhaps it’s the opposite issue: meeting participants are shutting down good discussion in the interest of “keeping things moving.”  If either of the scenarios sounds familiar, then you will want to read my latest post on Smartblog on Leadership. It’s about the two types of conversational flow that meeting leaders must master to lead effective meetings. Leadership Personal Effectiveness Communication Meetings

John Mattone is a top executive coach, with numerous awards to his name, including the  2015 International Executive Coach Thought Leader of Distinction Award. He reached out to get my thoughts on leadership issues in the workplace. Go Go on over and check out my interview, Jennifer V. Miller About Managing Workplace Dynamics as a Leader. You’ll find out: Why I think everyone has the potential to be a leader, given a very specific set of circumstances. The one thing that many leaders fail to take into account when dealing with their team members. My take on the power of positive thinking.

Nearly a decade ago, management consultancy McKinsey published a highly regarded white paper revealing that women outperformed men in five of nine key leadership behaviors. Three of those behaviors—people development, inspiration and participative decision making—have ties to collaboration. This research, among others, has formed the underpinnings of a narrative that gives a competitive career advantage to female leaders in the 21 st century. Yet for all of their collaboration chops, women often don’t get the credit they deserve. Here is the book review I wrote. Avoid over-delivering.

Nobody likes to be micro-managed. Yet nearly all of us have felt the intense pressure of a manager who was too involved in the minutiae of our daily work lives. There are many reasons why leaders micro-manage. In some cases, a hands-on approach actually has benefits, according to this BBC article  by Sydney Finkelstein. Leaders micro-manage because they have concerns that employees will make a mistake or can’t do the job properly. This is true with new employees or when a new policy or system is introduced. Yet some leaders have a hard time pulling away after the initial learning curve.

How many interviews should a company conduct to find the ideal job candidate? What role does “gut instinct” play in hiring? Is there a perfect applicant screening process? These are the questions that HR directors and hiring managers grapple with every day. The answer is discouraging, yet unsurprising: it’s a lot more complicated than you think. I get phone calls from people in charge of hiring who want to know, “what’s the best way to avoid making a hiring mistake?” They want to minimize their exposure to costly hiring mistakes. Less than that lowers the ability to make a successful selection.

Every summer, I plant a small veggie garden in my Michigan backyard. Even though the location is too shady for some of the sun-loving plants, it’s the only place that works in our yard, so we (and by “we”, I mean both the plants and I) make do. This summer I experimented with the placement of several plants to see if they would thrive in the shadier part of the garden. Surprisingly, all of the vegetable plants did well. One thing I did notice, though, was that my basil plants had an unusual “leaning” thing going on. At first, I attributed it to them being planted askew. And that’s ok.

Engagement isn’t just for leaders and the people they lead. Go on over and check it out to learn how you can: Find out if you’re doing your best to shape interactions with your peers. Help your colleagues learn and grow. Step up to resolve conflicts and facilitate communication. Enjoy! Communication Leadership Bob Anderson employee engagement Mastering Leadership

Many small business owners probably think they can’t compete with big-business perks like nap rooms and fancy corporate cafeterias. Although it’s true that “Mom-and-Pop” shops can’t offer big financial benefits, they can still build a reputation for their company as a great place to work. Head on over to my latest Smartblog on Leadership post to learn four ways that small businesses can create a great company culture with Low-cost ways small business leaders can create a health company culture. Leadership Workplace Issues Corporate Culture

What if Progressive Insurance’s Flo was your HR lady? Or your boss? This was fun to contemplate as I wrote a series of blog posts for Progressive’s newly revamped commercial insurance site. In addition to offering a variety of insurance programs for small businesses (who knew there was a specific type of dump truck insurance?) the site offers a series of informational articles for small business owners. I was tapped to write articles about human resources, company culture and employee engagement. Here are four proven ways to inspire employee loyalty. Bonus: the only cost is a bit of your time.

When my kids were babies, it was fascinating to watch them learn to walk. One of my kids was determined from a very early age—far before it was physically feasible—to stand upright in what my husband and I can only assume was an attempt to begin to walk. We have pictures of our seven-month old child doing a downward dog-type yoga pose, with baby hands and feet planted on the floor, and a teeny, diaper-clad baby butt jutting towards the sky. Of course, it was many months before that baby actually learned to walk. Pursuing a goal with tenacity is admirable. Big goals require grit.

The March Frontline Festival is up at Karin Hurt’s Let’s Grow Leaders blog. As an homage to springtime, this month’s theme is “fresh insights on leadership.” ” As always the topics are wide-ranging, with 22 leadership writers weighing in on: False assumptions your boss makes about your career. Your audience decides if your story is believable. Leadership is not about you or your comfort. Leaders share their most valuable piece of advice. Read it all at The Frontline Festival March 2016: Fresh Insights for Leaders. Blog Carnival Leadership

Charlie is a charming, highly persuasive marketing executive for a growing technology company. He’s a delight to work with—until you tell him what he’s asking for isn’t possible. Then, his charm rapidly dissipates. On a good day, you’ll get a reptilian smile with, “I’m sure someone with as many years in the business can find a way to make this work”; on a bad day, it’s a terse “just find a way.” No amount of reasoning will work with Charlie because, in his mind, there are two types of people: winners and losers. And Charlie doesn’t lose. Persistence and tenacity definitely pay off.

Improving your interactions with employees isn’t rocket science, but it does take effort. interviewed top managers to find out specifically what they do to create connection and engagement with their employees. You’ll find a list of four tips for managers to communicate more effectively with their team members over on TINYPulse’s Employee Engagement & Culture blog with the post, Real-Life Solutions for Employee Engagement. photo credit: istock photo. Leadership employee engagement Kevin Kruse Series Management

As a content expert for HR Answers, I’m always on the lookout for the latest trends in human resources and leadership development. This month, I did a summary of intriguing social sharing trends in the HR field, plus I wrote a few articles related to the employment life cycle. First up is 3 Trends in Social Sharing that Impact HR   in which I look at the societal trend of “sharing” through the human resources lens. And finally, keeping with the employment life cycle theme, here’s an interesting take: what if companies looked at all of the features of employee movement as one integrated process?

Today is the fourth annual celebration of Tim Sackett Day. It was started by HR blogger Laurie Ruettimann  back in the day when she blogged at The Cynical Girl. Tim Sackett Day honors the unsung heroes in human resources – people who may or may not make the list of “Top HR Influencers.” But they are making a real difference in their communities and their workplaces. This year’s honoree is Victorio Milian. He’s a dad, husband, HR professional, blogger, avid reader, and lover of funky music. Actually, he’s way more than that – he’s a total Renaissance Man and that’s why I admire him so much.

Well, here’s a new way to conduct performance management discussions: ream an employee out while you’re on the treadmill. I was at the gym. Near me, there was a guy on the treadmill vigorously exercising while wearing earbuds and talking into his microphone. Loudly. There was little doubt about what was going on: he was having a “performance conversation” with an employee. Apparently, the employee was late. Or didn’t show up to work. In any event, Earbud Guy had a problem with this. What kind of boss does that? This is such a total managerial fail.

Did your New Year’s resolutions include being a better leader? Perhaps not exactly, but if you’re like the many people who want to “get more organized”—it’s the #2 resolution according to research by University of Scranton—then there are opportunities to up your leadership game. But it won’t happen automatically: a mere 8% of people say they fully adopt their New Year’s resolutions, so leaders need a system to stay the course. If you’re one of the 92% who’s already feeling the tug of inertia overcoming your resolution, take heart: you can get back on track. Performance Review Planning. Enjoy!

It’s time for a bit of reflection before the New Year hits tomorrow. So I took a page from my post Tips for Wrapping Up the Year   and looked at the People Equation posts that got the most traffic in 2014. Here are a few conclusions that I draw from this list that might be useful to you at work even if you’re not a blogger. #1 You don’t get where you are in life all by yourself. Three of the most-viewed posts in the blog this year benefitted from extra traffic driven by large media outlets. Writers like me need people in their corner to help increase readership. They want others to shut up.

When my son was three years old, he and I had a wonderful teachable moment while shopping. As we left the grocery store with our purchases, I realized that a greeting card I meant to buy had slipped down into the shopping cart. hadn’t yet paid for it. “Oh, we need to go back into the store” I said. Why?” my son asked. Because I didn’t pay for this birthday card for Grandma.”. “Oh. Is it expensive?”. “No.”. Well, then I bet the store won’t care if you just take it.”. Yes, they will care. And besides, it doesn’t belong to me. didn’t pay for it.”. First, because I don’t steal.

In the new book The Disciplined Leader , John Manning writes about the importance of focus—and how it drives leadership success. After reading the book, I had the opportunity to ask John some follow up questions. What follows is an edited version of our conversation. Jen: In the book’s introduction, you write that leaders must learn to focus on the “Vital Few” in order to achieve results. How does one go about staying focused on the Vital Few?  . John: That’s a great question because making sustainable, personal change is hard. Instead, start with a few changes that you can really focus on.

What’s the single most effective way for a leader to build trust with his or her employees? It’s to show that you genuinely care about your employees’ career well-being. And one of the simplest ways to do this is to maintain consistent, non-distracted face-to-face (or video chat, or phone conversation) time with those you lead. Now, notice I didn’t say it was the “easiest” thing to do. Finding time on your calendar (and making those appointments stick) is probably one of the most difficult things to do and that’s why managers often don’t make 1:1 meetings a priority. Weekly!

People love to toss around the term “micromanager,” but what does that really mean? And, can having a boss that’s super-involved ever be a good thing? These are the issues I explore in my post over at the Café Quill site, called: Feeling Micromanaged? Turn it to Your Advantage. offer five tips for effectively dealing with a micromanaging boss, plus a way to look at the situation in a positive light. Go on over, check it out and let me know what you think. Personal Effectiveness

Here’s a great resource I recently learned about: The Careers Network. The Careers Network has taken on the ambitious goal of cataloging all publicly offered executive development programs throughout the world. So far, they’ve amassed a list nearing 2,500. Natalie Baker, the site’s US editor-in-chief, told me that the site’s goal is to provide the most comprehensive listing of executive education available. It’s free to search the site.  The organizations that are featured do not pay to be listed. So I reached out to the blog team and offered to write a feature.

When I first ordered Shelley Row’s book Think Less, Live More: Lessons from a Recovering Over-Thinker , I was intrigued by the notion of learning to not “over-think” things. Indeed, this book does cover that topic. Yet it explores much more than just how to get out of analysis paralysis. The book also discusses how to identify your personal values, learn to set appropriate boundaries for yourself and create a compelling personal vision. Row was stymied. Feel” about something at work? From that enlightening day in a counselor’s office, Row decided to intentionally “work on feeling.”

When tragedy strikes, the CEO must speak up. Even though it happened over 20 years ago, the memory is vivid: While working in corporate America, I was waiting for a fax for one of my projects. Upon hearing the sound of an incoming fax, I grabbed the paper off the machine, read it, and then lost all thought of the task on which I had been so urgently focused. The message was a memo from our company’s CEO, addressed to the entire organization of 5,000 global employees. He was writing to let us know that there had been a fatality at one of our manufacturing facilities. Humanize the message.

This time of year often brings out the cleaning fanatic in us, so Karin Hurt of the Let’s Grow Leaders blog asked for blog posts about “spring cleaning” for her April Frontline Leadership Festival. The outcome is a blog carnival with 21 essays for leaders who want to learn to “clean up” in three areas: Spring cleaning for their priorities, attitudes and skills. How cleaning up one’s physical environment makes for better leadership. Spring cleaning for company culture and teamwork. Go on over and check it out at Experts Share Their Thoughts on “Spring Cleaning:” A Frontline Festival. Enjoy!

Apparently, there is and it can be found here on the HolacracyOne website. But before you get excited about imitating your boss via a snarky simulation you download on your phone or tablet, be warned: this “app” isn’t about mocking your boss, it’s about eliminating her job as a manager. Or, possibly giving her a new title called “Advocate.” ” The Holacracy movement has been in the news again since Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh announced in an all-company email that the company was moving completely to this form of leaderless, self-organizing organizational structure. Photo credit: Pixabay.

Research shows a strong link between employee engagement, management ethics and employees’ trust in their leaders. No surprise, right? As a leader, you’ve got all the easy bases covered: don’t lie, steal or cheat. But what about those gray areas—the one where you had good intentions, but something got in the way of you completely walking the talk? leader’s trustworthiness is the sum of his or her daily actions. Unfortunately, you can’t stockpile trust in the way that you can money; sometimes trust is completed bankrupted by one act. You can see other installments of the series here.

When you start a new job, what’s your plan for getting acclimated to your new role? Do you even have a plan? Throughout the years, I’ve observed leaders – either coming in from the outside, or transferring departments – launch their leadership journey. The most successful ones start their new job before they walk in to their new office on their first day. Because they understand that to hit the ground running on Day One, they must take prior action. In my latest article on Smartblog on Leadership, I chronicle the actions of fictional leader “Tracey”, a recently hired director-level manager.

A new site just launched called Human Resources Today.  Human Human Resources Today curates content from many sources on the web regarding the people side of HR: employee engagement, leadership, corporate culture, employee retention and workplace communication. Independent blogs like Sharlyn Lauby’s HR Bartender , Steve Roesler’s All Things Workplace  and Robin Schooling’s HR Schoolhouse are featured, along with multi-contributor sites such as TLNT. There’s also a smattering of content offered by HR vendors such as Halogen Software and Globoforce.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Here are some of my favorites posts related to giving thanks and gratitude: 1. Comedian Sarah Silverman is not the first person I look to for inspiration, but I appreciated her take on creating happiness in The Difference between Finding Happiness and Being Miserable. 2. Show your gratitude to the people you work with – here are 11 Ways to be a Giver at Work. 3. What if somebody shows you their gratitude? How do you respond? Their gratitude is a gift; don’t throw it back in their face. still love that quote. 5. really do. Copyright: brebca / 123RF Stock Photo.

“Truth” is a funny word, because, c’mon – one person’s “truth” is another person’s delusion. That’s why I was intrigued when Dwane Lay of the Dovetail Software blog asked us to submit what we’ve learned to be true about the HR profession for this week’s Carnival of HR. chose to focus on the training and development angle. Others looked at recruitment and employer branding. In all, there are 12 essays related to HR, employment, talent management and a few surprises that will make this worth your time.

When I work with executives, I’m wary when they get that “gleam” in their eye when reviewing reams of data with me. If it’s nothing but, “50% margin blah blah” and “trending indicators yada yada,” warning bells go off in my head. There needs to be the counter-weight of people somewhere in that equation to inform their decision-making. Go check it out at Big Data Doesn’t Mean Less Human at Work. Want to view my past Huffington Post articles? Click here. Image credit: Copyright: icetray / 123RF Stock Photo.

Have you ever worked for a company that was listed as “best of?” You know, “Best of XYZ Industry” or “Top 100 Companies to Work for” and so on. Well then you might have wondered: just how cool is it to work at one of those companies? Yet another “best of” list came out recently—Forbes America’s Best Employers of 2015. If you haven’t worked for an award-winning company, from the outside you might see these lists and think, “What an amazing place! wish my company would do more of those things.” And, you might be tempted to put in an application, because you know, “it’s a great place to work.”.

Research indicates that once a company grows beyond the entrepreneurial phase, new leadership traits are needed to continue along the growth curve. Most senior executives in mid-size organizations have a solid handle on strategy and how to go to market, but they often lack vital people skills to build their growing workforce. If you are a mid-level or senior manager leading in a rapidly growing business, you’ll want to check out my latest article on TINYhr’s Employee Engagement & Company blog. image credit:   lightwise. Leadership Career Corporate Culture Management Personal Effectiveness

Who loves getting their job performance graded? Just about nobody. But I was one of those dorky people who actually didn’t mind receiving or giving a performance review. Why is that? love feedback and want to do my job better, and I liked helping my team members do the same. The idea of a “review” of sorts is a good one, but somewhere along the way, it’s become a bureaucratic mess that human resources professionals and managers both dread. Last month, I tackled the issue of the performance appraisal on my HR Answers page. Is the performance appraisal dead? If so, what takes its place?

Is a burned-out CEO the New Normal of the globally connected world? That seems to be the premise of a recent article I read titled, “Death on a Moscow Runway: The Modern, Homeless CEO.” (How’s that for grim imagery?) I take issue with the idea that CEO’s must be this super-human person that “has” to constantly travel all over the world, to the detriment of their health and their personal life. So I wrote an opinion piece in response to the article and published it on The Huffington Post blog. You can read the full article, titled: Are CEO’s Too Burned Out to Think?

This month’s Carnival of HR is hosted by Mark Stelzner of Inflexion Advisors. Mark is one of the first HR colleagues I met on Twitter in 2009. He’s been a wonderful mentor over the years and I finally got to meet him last week (woohoo!) in person. Fun fact about Mr. Stelzner: he used to do radio voiceovers. If you look up the word “mellifluous” in the dictionary, a picture of him speaking would be next to it. As an introduction to the HR Carnival, Mark shares a delightful story of his youthful carnival experiences. You’ll read stories about: Measuring engagement via social interaction.

This month’s Leadership Development Carnival is hosted at The Lead Change Group blog. Curated by Becky Robinson and her Weaving Influence team, you’ll find 26 posts on a wide range of leadership topics, including: – The epidemic risk of inconsistency. – Ways to positively influence people at work. – Leadership behaviors to move up on your priority list. – Qualities all employees want in their leaders. You can see the entire carnival at the August 2015 Leadership Development Carnival. Enjoy! Blog Carnival Leadership

Does leading meetings frustrate you? Maybe you have someone in your meeting who has ideas— lots of them—who can’t seem to shut up. Or perhaps it’s the opposite issue: meeting participants are shutting down good discussion in the interest of “keeping things moving.”. If either of the scenarios sounds familiar, then you will want to read my latest post on Smartblog on Leadership. It’s about the two types of conversational flow that meeting leaders must master to lead effective meetings. Personal Effectiveness Meetings Professionalism

Are you a Plugged-In Leader or an Otherwise Occupied Leader? To find out, go on over to Smartblog on Leadership and read my May post, Are you the wrong type of “engaged” leader? hint: while researching the meaning of “employee engagement” and “engaged” employees, I discovered an intriguing nuance in the definition of “to engage.” It’s wordplay to be sure, but the difference may be enough to prompt you to consider a change in your leadership approach. As always, I welcome comments here on The People Equation, or on the Smartblog site. Photo credit: 123rf   alexwhite.

When CEO Tony Hsieh sent out an all-company email informing his Zappos team that they were moving completely to the Holacracy  organizational structure of self-management, the story was huge. Zappos has long been the darling of the media for its forward-thinking workplace policies, so it’s no surprise that the media (and yes, we bloggers too) have jumped on the bandwagon to offer our take. Quartz was the first to publish  Hsieh’s email, and from that point forward, there have been scoffs, applause, confusion, curiosity and more. My initial reaction was, “Self-organizing teams? That’s so 1990’s.”

This month’s Frontline Festival is about how leaders can inspire breakthrough results with their teams. Hosted by Karin Hurt of the Let’s Grow Leaders blog, you’ll find 19 essays written about both the internal and external elements leaders need to help inspire their teams to greater heights. Topics include: – Business results takes more than smarts. – How to proactively build trust into your business strategy. – Six important benchmarks for high-performing teams. Blog Carnival Leadership Character-based Leadership Communication Management Team Effectivenes

What’s the secret to remaining spry, healthy and happy at the age of 93 years old? Wait, Wait. Don’t Tell Me host Peter Sagal asked this of screenwriter and TV producer Norman Lear on this segment of NPR’s weekly radio news game show. His response was succinct. And brilliant. Lear says it boils down to two simple words: “Over” and “Next”. When something is over, it is over…and then we are on to next,” said the mind behind ground-breaking television show such as, All in the Family. live in the moment.”. Positively sublime. Tell me: How do you relax into the “hammock of the now?”.

Do you have top performers that are ready for promotion? Before you offer more responsibility, determine if your star players are “high potential” or “high professional.” ” This distinction is important because you want to offer the challenge to people who are both able and willing to step into a larger role. How to tell the difference? highlight three areas to focus on in this month’s Smartblog on Leadership post, Is your star player ready for a promotion? Go on over and check it out. Leadership Leadership Development

This week author Frank Sonnenberg published his latest book, Follow Your Conscience: Make a Difference in Your Life & in the Lives of Others. You can read my review here. The book is a series of essays on the important things in life—which Frank reminds us are rarely “things”. He writes beautifully about honesty, compassion, integrity and authenticity. Here are some of my favorite snippets from the book: Fairness : “Fairness—or the lack of it—says a lot about the giver even while it impacts the receiver.”. Living Life on the Edge : “So remind me again. why are you risking it all? Period.”.

I’m a huge advocate of using personality assessments (sometimes called “profiles” or “instruments”) for professional development, if the circumstances are right and the tool being used is appropriate for the situation. That’s a significant “if.” ” Often, I encounter overly enthusiastic executives who want to use a particular assessment with their team because they personally favor that instrument. In many cases, that’s a fine decision, but there are times when the assessment simply isn’t a good fit.

Exciting news! The People Equation is getting some “work done.” ” Over the next few months, the site will undergo a transformation – with the aim of providing you access to useful and timely information to help you “master the people equation.” ” First up, a new “look.” This image works well for your logo given the nature/nurture aspect of communication and people. The hexagon with points around it is a subtle take on people around a table. My thanks to Lauren for providing a visually interesting new look for the blog. Michigan, Inc.

How do you keep your top talent from jumping ship? For starters, let them know how much you value them. According to research, something as simple as conducting a “stay interview”—a conversation in which you review an employee’s likes and dislikes about the job—can help significantly reduce turnover of valued staff members. Want to give stay interviews a try, but aren’t sure where to start? If so, what was the impact on your job satisfaction? Leadership employee engagement Personal Effectiveness

An estimated 85% of companies have some sort of formal or informal leadership development process. Yet, a “process” is not enough to ensure that your company has enough experienced leaders to fill your company’s leadership pipeline. interviewed experts and researched the best practices for developing “high potential” talent – those up-and-coming managers who will someday lead your organization. My insights are over at the Smartblog on Leadership in 3 Tips for Developing Your High Potential Leaders.

This month’s Leadership Development Carnival is hosted by my co-author and friend Jane Perdue. On Twitter Jane is known as @thehrgoddess. She’s rounded up a wonderful collection of essays on leadership, with diverse topics such as: – leadership through the lens of moral character. – becoming an agile and adaptable leader. – how to make better, faster leadership decisions. – Holacracy and freedom. So go on over, and check out Jane’s post on the LeadBIG blog – July 2015 Leadership Development Carnival. Blog Carnival Leadership

Wonder Woman kicks butt. She’s strong, principled, and makes people tell the truth with her golden lasso. When I was a kid, I watched the Linda Carter version on TV. She’s my favorite heroine, as evidenced by the many WW items adorning my home. When Harvard professor Amy Cuddy made news with her 2012 “power posing” TED Talk , I could relate. The posture she exhorts audiences to adopt—legs in a wide stance, hands on hips, evokes a Wonder Woman vibe. The premise of her talk: that powerful body language can help a person feel more confident and competent. So is it all bunk? Yes,” she replied.

When I attend a business conference, I expect to learn things from the presenters. That’s a given.  There’s another great source of information that many conference participants overlook: one’s fellow attendees. Many people know that networking is an important part of the conference experience, but fewer realize that the true gold of an interaction during conference downtime is not necessarily exchanging business cards, it’s learning from each other. At the WorkHuman conference this spring, I took a very Zen approach to connecting with people. Then the rest was up to me.

“I’m going to a conference next month and the keynote speaker is Michael J. Fox.”. Although, I just saw on Facebook that his health isn’t very good. hope he’s able to make the event.”. Such was the conversation I had several weeks ago with a friend. I’d seen the post about Michael J. Fox on Facebook as well and hoped it wasn’t true. A bit of investigative work on my part revealed nothing reported (besides the “news” on Facebook) so I was hopeful it was just a rumor. I’m happy to report that Mike Fox is healthy and still wowing audiences wherever he goes. So here goes. It burns.” See that tree?

For the past three days, I’ve been immersed in Globoforce’s WorkHuman conference. Have you ever been to a conference that was so amazing, you feel like you’re literally bursting at the seams with all the ideas? Yeah, that’s how I am right now, two hours after the conference wrapped. Watch for detailed coverage in the weeks ahead. For now, here are some quick hit ideas that I’ve gleaned from the various speakers: From Michelle Gielan, Positive Psychology researcher. Gielan, who’s a former CBS news journalist, sees life through the lens of broadcasting. It’s a gift they give you.

“When most people think of the word ‘work’ they don’t tend to pair ‘human’ with it.”. How sad is that? But it’s true, especially when you consider the modern office’s use of technology. Technology does everything from scheduling bathroom breaks in a call center to monitoring employee performance reviews. And when technology is used to cull large amounts of data, poorly applied analytics dehumanize the work experience. That’s why it’s refreshing to hear a tech company CEO talk about bringing humanity back to the workplace. This year, I’m attending Globoforce’s WorkHuman conference. Absolutely.