WillowTree, a leading app-developer with headquarters in Charlottesville, posted a picture of a band greeting people as they showed up for one of their first all-employee meetings after the pandemic. This, it seems, is their first step in reboarding their team members. In well-run organizations, new employees go through a…

An excerpt from “Hand on the Shoulder: Finding freedom in the confluence of love and career.” As far as I know, Dad never had a day of formal management training in his life. He simply used sound human relations and family values. …

In those days, Orange was a railroad town, a dangerous little town. Two tracks, one owned by Southern Railways and the other by the Chesapeake and Ohio split the town right down the middle, cutting through Main Street with the power and authority of black, smoke-breathing dragons. The townspeople could…

“I feel stuck. We’re just drifting around in circles, and my company’s leadership doesn’t know what the hell they are doing. Because they can’t see us at our desks every day, they keep adding new software to keep track of us. And my team leader has no idea how to…

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the town, Not a smile was in sight, not even a frown; The people were masked as they shopped with care, In hopes that Covid would never be there; The children were online with their computer at home, While visions of real…

The light is on. Last night, when I left the workshop, I checked to make sure it was off. I remember pulling the cord and tripping over a toolbox while feeling my way to the door while cursing the dark. But tonight it’s on again. Perhaps the result of…

Introduction to my book in process. (Yes, it is real.) Like many people, I always wanted to write a book, but also like most of them, never got around to it or thought perhaps my life was too dull to be interesting to others. Yes, there are many business experiences…

This is a story from several years ago, but still relevant today. Are you reading this, hospital executives? A local organization’s HR department wanted to encourage employee engagement so they sent each person a cup of popcorn. Maybe a good slap in the face would get employee’s attention a little…

I blink, trying to see through my steamed-up glasses. I’d stop to wipe them, but my hands are full of towels and massage oil. I’ll just find my way to the sauna. I stumble against the bench chair. Its occupant mutters something in German, not angrily I hope. You never…