I didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas. It was “their” holiday. It wasn’t until I met my late husband that I experienced the “magic” of Christmas; the amazing smell of a living tree, the fun of decorating, the comfort of lights on dark winter evenings, the eggnog, the gingerbread and of course, the chocolate. I was hooked!

On December 6, 2001 my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He had his first chemotherapy treatment a few days later and spent his last Christmas in a hospital bed. He made me promise to have Christmas as usual for our five year old daughter. I will never forget being in our basement on Christmas Eve, after having put out the milk and cookies for Santa, crying and wrapping, lamenting, “I can’t do this! What do I know about this? I’m Jewish”.

Although my husband has been dead for seven years, we still celebrate Christmas, along with all of the Jewish holidays. As the Jewish holiday of Hanukah is also celebrated in December, on Christmas Eve I have a Chrismukah dinner. Instead of mashed potatoes, I serve latkes, potato pancakes, aka round hash browns. For dessert, along with the Christmas goodies, there is suganyot – an Israeli jelly doughnut, another Hanukah treat. The kids play dreidel, a traditional Hanukah game which involves a spinning top and a pile of gold chocolate coins (or money). My friend’s daughter had so much fun playing dreidel at our house, the following year she asked Santa to bring her a dreidel for Christmas.

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It’s a pleasure to welcome our newest guest blogger David Cowen. David spent his career most recently as an expert on sustainability. He has now turned his focus to personal sustainability. Here he discusses the connection between self-respect, creativity and sustainability.

Respect from Within

In August, the city of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson held a three-day Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit.  It was very engaging and high-energy, and there was a predominance of like-minded thinkers in the room, which made generating goals/objectives and then defining the prototypes and/or initial action steps to achieve them pretty easy.

Without going into detail, there are a number of things that can be done in the near future—harvesting the “low-hanging fruit”—that will move Cleveland toward being more sustainable. In the long term, however, we will need to be on a different level of thinking that Einstein referred to when he said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Creativity and the subsequent innovations will be the key to becoming sustainable as a region. This is no different than in business where sustainability has become the key driver for creativity and innovation.

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We are happy to announce that we have joined HRM Today as an expert contributor. As part of HRM Today, we are pleased to join a distinguished group of Human Resource Management professionals sharing resources, tips and suggestions to elevate the profession.

We will continue to provide the most current information on diversity and respect in the workplace through our posts. Our contributors will still represent a multitude of workplace perspectives. And now, we will be connected to a larger audience. We look forward to seeing you there!

With the holiday season in full swing, there will be lots of joyful opportunities for celebration. This is the time of year for office parties as well as time for colleagues and special friends to get together for festive luncheons and dinners. During these special meals, it is not at all uncommon for alcohol to be consumed. In moderation, a glass or two of wine or a martini can loosen up inhibitions and sometimes make for a jollier time.

Unfortunately, too many times this gets out of hand. There are serious legal consequences to be aware of concerning the service of alcohol. Of utmost importance, keep in mind that there is a high level of responsibility. Some companies do not allow alcohol at their holiday parties because over-imbibing can lead to a whole host of inappropriate results. Some alcohol induced behavior could be construed as sexual harassment or bullying. At lunch, wine or wine spritzers are usually safe drinks. Nonetheless, it is always a good idea to remember what your particular level of tolerance is and to stay within a reasonable state of sobriety.

At office parties, a very basic but fundamental rule of business etiquette is that at all times - during working hours or not - you are representing the company for which you work. Sloppy behavior, physical and/or verbal, has no place in a civilized world. This is not to say that merriment has no place. Awareness of one’s limitations for consuming alcohol is really no different than limitations for anything else. How much fatty or sugary food we eat, how much we drink, how much personal information we impart or even what topics of discussion we chose all require a good sense of judgment. Alcohol, too often, clouds our ability to make appropriate choices. The question then is how do we make a plan, while still sober, to avoid making a terrible gaff?

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