Inspiring workplaces are places where people feel motivated to perform at their best potential and to contribute their ideas for the betterment of the organization. Inspiring leaders understand that there are no motivational shortcuts. Pep talks, team building activities and salary perks all have their place, but creating a highly motivated workforce is not the result of a one, ten or even twenty times a year event. Stoking a fire once every three months is a surefire recipe for burnout. To keep the workplace flames burning bright the fire that [...]

Almost 10 years ago, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that included designating May 21 as The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue. According to the UN, cultural rights are also human rights. This day is intended to promote intercultural dialogue, interreligious dialogue, and culture and development. A grassroots initiative sponsored by several organizations has sprung up in response. This initiative encourages you to do one – just one - thing for diversity and inclusion on Saturday. Obviously, the goal is that you will do more than one thing [...]

No one can argue we had a tough winter. But now, Spring is officially here, and it is clearly time to come out of hibernation. As I’ve suggested before, now is the time to begin implementing some of the hopes and goals we set for ourselves for the new year. As the earth shows rebirth and renewal in so many ways, it is perhaps the greatest opportunity for us to take a look inside of ourselves. After all, if we cannot set aside time to perform some internal spring cleaning, [...]

While the world watched the news coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death, I was thinking about a talk I heard on Friday at the City Club of Cleveland given by Dr. William A. Graham, who asked “How Do Islam & Civil Society Intersect?” Introducing his lecture, Dr. Graham stressed how there is a large and prevailing myth of a monolithic Christian culture that is at war with a monolithic Islamic culture, which is false. For almost the last 10 years, here in the United States, that myth has been personified by [...]

The main theme of my book Road to Respect: Path to Profit is that everyone succeeds when workplace practices are aligned with values, and in particular the ethical value of respect. The reason is simple; values are the glue that unite us in our humanity. I share a story in Road to Respect about an experience I had as a participant in a values exercise at a bullying symposium. In this exercise each individual was given a paper that listed 14 ethical values. The facilitator then divided us into groups. [...]

By now, we’ve all seen or heard about the infamous meltdown of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant during a recent game. And we’ve all heard the derogatory slur he hurled at a referee. Obviously, this is not the first time we have heard an anti-gay slur in the NBA, but it was the first time that a player was seriously fined. Why?? Imagine if you had a similar tantrum at work and called your boss a derogatory term (pick one). What would happen? I am pretty sure you’d probably be fired [...]

*This article first appeared on the Politics of the Workplace website. There are tons of rules in society, some written and some implicit— a red light means stop and most people obey. In the workplace there are established rules of respect as well.  For example, if you physically assault someone, steal, or don’t show up for work, it’s likely you will be fired. For the most part, most employees have grasped those rules, but it tends to be the unspoken, often unwritten rules of behavior that cause the most problems in [...]

Last month someone tipped me off to a blog post on the importance of employee engagement and respect in the workplace written by Paul Marciano. I am not sure how I missed this excellent post or the book he also wrote entitled Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT, but I am glad someone alerted me to it! The post, Engaging employees with RESPECT, is a must read for ALL managers, because he provides seven tangible ways they can show respect [...]

It may be hard to believe but something as basic as listening could just be the answer to creating a supportive and respectful work environment. At work, many people spend a great deal of time talking and wanting to be heard. Some of us are on the phone all day. Others make a career out of giving presentations at conferences. The talkers often expect to be heard. And what happens when they’re ignored?   Most often, people who are not being heard, or listened to will talk even more. Sometimes [...]

Today marks the centennial celebration of International Women’s Day, which was first commemorated in 1911 in several Western European countries. It is now a national holiday in many countries around the world, supporting the goal to increase the awareness of the plight of women. This year the theme is: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women How will YOU celebrate??