Work vs. Growth At our company we have a Corporate Guidance where you must work from home at least one day a month. …I’ll explain the “must” part later. Last month I had one of these days, and it was glorious! It was quiet, I had a nice cup of coffee, no interruptions and I [...]
The Only Thing Bigger Than our Heads are Our Hearts The Corporate Communication Recap This past Wednesday, we gathered together as most companies do for a quarterly download of the high, lows, and need-to-knows happening in our organization. It was informational, it was fun, it was two hours long, and I really had to go [...]
6 Things Earth, Wind & Fire Can Teach Us About Employee Recognition 38 years ago, the penultimate pop funk band Earth Wind & Fire gave the world a classic: Shining Star. Released during their peak years, Shining Star delivered the uplifting, positive message that was so needed during the mid-70s. Nearly four decades later, the [...]
Incivility Toward the end of 2012 I had a great honor of doing several very senior level Team Members’ annual reviews (more like annual alignments). I had a pretty interesting way of opening the meetings by giving a full laundry list of disclaimers. I would disclaim that it was not about coming up with a [...]
5 Ways Digital Employee Recognition Shapes Culture Every person, word, action, wall color, email, and vending machine snack at an organization ultimately shapes its culture, but nothing can chisel, sand, and refine company’s vibe like employee recognition – especially when it’s digital. It’s been shown time and time again that praise from a manager and [...]
Employee Engagement Saves Lives (And Money!) OK, saying employee engagement can save the lives of your team members may be a little hyperbolic, but hey – as leaders we need every advantage possible, right? The infusion of wellness programs into corporate America is nearly complete, and you’ll find health-based incentives in most benefits packages. It’s [...]
2+10 – 12 Big Learnings of 2012 Wow! 2012 was an amazing year, and now that the world is not coming to an end (I guess the Mayans didn’t have BigData) I am super excited to see what 2013 has in store. I personally grew with great strides in 2012 for a couple of reasons. [...]
7 Ways to Make Your Employee Recognition Program Rock! By now, every employer should realize that employee recognition and engagement are vital to current and future success. No longer is there a need to prove the long-term benefits of engaging and recognizing employees. The research has been done and re-done. Engaged and recognized employees are [...]
The 4 Steps to Enthusiastic Agreement I have noticed a pretty good misconception, especially from individuals on fast tracks to the leadership levels about power at the next level. The belief that making decisions and implementing new strategies is easier the higher you get. That at the next level, due to hierarchical empowerment and fear [...]
25 Reasons You Can’t Miss Hackathon 2.0 On August 25th, 2012, we are hosting our second annual Hackathon here at SPARC – a chance for developers, spectators, and technophiles from around the region to get together for what is essentially and all day party! It’s easy to register online for Hackathon as a participant or [...]
Jim Collins “Life is ??” and CV#1 This blog post originally appeared on Break the Equation, John Smith’s leadership blog. This Summer I attended SHRM 2012, and it is truly amazing how vast the HR industry is. The show floor could have given even the best Las Vegas casino a run for its money with [...]
What is Hackathon? Today, a former FBI agent asked me, “So, are the hackers going to try and compromise our government’s systems in your competition? Should I call up some old buddies, give them a bit of a heads up? Can I see what you find?!?” This is actually a common reaction when I tell [...]
So far, 2012 has been an exciting year for SPARC products, with the release of SPARCIN, SPARCET, and SPARC’D into the wild. Concurrently, the SPARC520 team has been building a new application for the green energy space – and it’s AMAZING! SPARC520 is a dynamic energy monitoring app built to empower decision makers to cut [...]
The First 7 Words, Always Hello Reader, I hope all is well! For the last 5 years of my life every time I have created a new email I have started it with that or some type of custom greeting. I literally mean every (E-V-E-R-Y) time, it doesn’t matter who you are, a prospect, a [...]
Wrong is the New Right I’m a big quote guy… historic quotes are often nuggets of gold that summarizes an entire lifetime of wisdom into a handful of points and sentences. I have read lots and lots of quotes over the years and have adopted a few into my own thoughts… it’s great to pull [...]