Starbucks employees are not to be color blind, but “color brave” after yesterday’s unprecedented store shut down.This term comes from Mellody Hobson’s 2014 TED talk, “Color Blind or Color Brave.” Ms. Hobson’s idea is that we need to talk about race–even though it makes us extraordinarily uncomfortable. Hobson’s ideas and stories are
Your friend shows you a picture of a photograph she took. It’s absolutely stunning. The lighting, the composition, everything. It’s perfect! What do you say? “You’re so talented!” Why on earth do we say that? Was the picture taken the very first time your friend picked up a
Everybody knows and loves the Muppets. The new documentary, “Muppet Guys Talking,” takes us behind the characters to understand how leadership in the puppet world can apply in the real world. “Are we rolling?” “We’re always rolling.” The puppeteers behind the Muppets, the lovable puppets that starred in
Two things you should know about me before you read this. 1. I absolutely believe in free speech. The government should never, ever punish anyone for voicing their opinion. You should be able to say whatever you want–even if it’s absolutely horrible–without fear of government reprisal. I will
Lean Cuisine launched a new hashtag campaign: #ItAll. The idea was part of a project they had done, asking women individually what they wanted, and then having them say what they wanted out of life when accompanied by a friend. The results were pretty good–89 percent of the women made
The GDPR is at our door, whether we’re ready or not—and an April poll showed a whopping 90 percent of businesses aren’t ready. If you’re part of that 90 percent—or just plain wondering, “What the heck is GDPR?”—read on. What is GDPR? GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It’s a new
My great-grandmother, Ethel Reynolds Smith, died in a mental hospital. Her husband’s biography recorded her illness as follows: “These down moods were cyclical, coming and going at irregular intervals and varying in their strength and duration. In time they came with greater frequency and intensity, causing deep feelings of depression
Did you know that the HR executives at NBC had their offices in the middle of the newsroom staff–and those offices were glass? How comfortable would you be, going to file a complaint about a co-worker if you had to do so in a glass office? If you were going
“I can’t afford to pay my employee overtime, so I made them salaried.” I get this type of email from readers all the time. In every case, it’s a small (and often family-owned) business and the owner has no clue that you can’t just “decide” to make someone
A friend of mine, the mother of six, just had a job interview. While she didn’t try to hide the fact that she had children, she also wasn’t planning to share that she had six of them. So, imagine her surprise when one of the interviewers said, “So
