Leadership & Management

Employee requests for religious accommodation at work are not always handled appropriately; take, for instance, Ashanti McShan's case. Ashanti McShan, a 17-year old high-school student, was excited about her first day of work at Burger King. She had just been hired as a cashier at the fast-food restaurant. The hiring manager had assured her that […]

Firing an employee is never easy, even if the employee is an unlikeable person.  Factor in today’s economy and an employee with a family relying on his/her single income and even Donald Trump may lose sleep over it.  And, if there is ever a time when you want to be extra sure of crossing your […]

Rarely does anyone have anything good to say about a micromanager. And no wonder, because employees hate being micromanaged. Come on, who wants a manager breathing down his neck while giving step-by-step instructions on how to do something he already knows how to do very well? And believe it or not, managers hate having to micromanage, too. Most […]

Sure 2014 may really be the Year of the Horse, according to the Chinese calendar, but since we’re not staring down at the second-order of egg rolls on a paper placemat spelling out the Chinese zodiac, let’s rename 2014 as the Year of the Assessment. A new year tends to open everyone up to new […]

What makes a great employee—the kind of employee who consistently exceeds expectations and keeps coming up with new and better ways to benefit the business? I believe one answer to that question is that every great employee possesses the following seven traits: 1. Curiosity Great employees are life-long learners who often ask “why?” because they […]

Communicating with colleagues is important, and meetings give people a forum to make personal connections, discuss progress and create action plans. However, too many meetings, especially unnecessary ones, will have employees cringing every time they hear their Outlook calendar ding. It is possible to confuse a loaded calendar with actual progress on goals. I once […]