It's a great day in Arizona. Not just because of the idyllic weather, but because it is the first day of Spring Training -- my second favorite day of the year (right behind Thanksgiving.) If you've never been to Spring Training before, you really should come check it out. Picture perfectly-sized stadiums, warm sunshine, unusually accessible ball players, and fans brimming with an overwhelming sense of optimism that this could be their team's big year– it’s a beautiful thing. But sitting in the stadium today, it wasn't long before my brain started crunching numbers. How much does this training cost them? There’s facility maintenance, players' salaries (don't go there!), staff… How do they justify the investment? And how can I duplicate that in organizations? << MORE >>

The word responsibility is being tossed around a lot these days: Lawmakers arguing about fiduciary responsibility; consumers struggling with financial responsibility; corporate giants disregarding social responsibility; doctors demonstrating questionable ethical responsibility... Even President Obama joined in with his reminder of the civic responsibility that comes with the price of freedom. Responsibility is such a heavy word. It starts out innocently enough – make your bed, close the door behind you, eat your vegetables… and then one day things progress to a point where we wake up and think "I just can’t handle one more responsibility!" So what if we start from scratch? What if I told you that from this point forward you only have one responsibility? How would that change your life? << MORE >>

Comedy is at its best when it is able to take a small societal quirk, put it under a microscope, and reflect a magnified version back to us in a way that points out the ridiculousness of it all. Tragedy comes when we realize that the ridiculousness is so wide spread, we shouldn't be laughing. CBS's often hilarious series "how i met your mother" managed to bring us one of those comic tragedies this week with the episode "The Possimbible" in which the characters explore the ins and outs of resumes, identity, and giving Corporate America what it wants. There's always a debate as to whether television reflects or shapes reality. This episode should put that argument to rest. There is no way the writers could have known that by the time this episode aired, hundreds of thousands of Americans would be unemployed and struggling with exactly the same issue as the episode’s premise: figuring out how to best stand out in the crowd. << MORE >>

You don't have to look hard to notice that our Country is experiencing a crisis of leadership. Pick up any newspaper and you'll find dozens of articles recounting the latest leadership shenanigans marked by self-interest masquerading as capitalism. Blagojevich, Madoff, Thain... And then there are the companies that continue to blunder their way through, only to make matters worse. Microsoft posts a $14.7 billion profit, lays off 5000 workers, and then wants props for maintaining its employee giving program this year-- failing to notice the hypocricy of this. Citibank receives billions of dollars of government bailout money and yet somehow it slips someone's mind that they should probably cancel the purchase order for the new corporate jet. The headlines are littered with examples that prove some of the formerly elite Fortune 100 leaders still just don't get it, and in some cases are actually making things worse. The good news is that shakedowns of this magnitude ultimately will lead to a more evolved generation of leaders - leaders who more accurately reflect the values and goals of their stakeholders. Because as appalled as we are at the apparent disconnect this current batch of leaders has with reality, they are still a notch up from the martini swilling, ass-slapping philanderers of the 1960's. (Think Mad Men.) So there is hope. The real question then becomes,"Are you prepared to usher in this new, more evolved, generation?" << MORE >>

Denmark made international news recently when their parliament passed a law requiring all 1100 of Denmark’s largest organizations to publish their CSR practices, or their socially responsible investment policies by 2010. What’s more is that they want all the gory details: the strategies used, the programs implemented, and any results achieved. Although it is voluntary for now, most companies are stepping up and beginning their reporting this year. This is good news for us conscious consumers wanting consistent criteria to help us better determine which brands should earn our hard earned dollars (or krones); it’s bad news for anyone inside those organizations who was surprised by this law and is unprepared to comply. This law is certainly not the first of its kind, and it certainly won’t be the last. And like it or not, it’s only a matter of time before similar legislation shows up in the United States. In the meantime, what is our role as HR pracitioners as it relates to CSR? We could certainly take the wait and see approach – treat it as a compliance issue and deal with it when it does show up. But is that really the best way for HR to add value to this issue? CSR is the single greatest opportunity we have for initiating positive organizational change. So my question to you, my fellow HR practitioners is: Opportunity is knocking. Are you prepared to answer? << MORE >>

One minute it’s there. The next second it’s gone. That pretty much sums up the latter part of 2008 for me. The dismal nature of it all has had me longing for the comfort of a trusted old friend – like Mister Rogers perhaps. I imagine if he were with us today he would come in the front door, take off his coat and wingtips, put on his cardigan and slippers and say to us all “The word for the day is resilience. Can you say resilience?” << MORE >>

Since I am self-employed, I don’t have a boss to acknowledge today. So instead, I am going to give a “shout-out” (since that is apparently an acceptable thing for a person to do these days) to bosses everywhere with some thoughts and sincere wishes for all of you – particularly as you navigate through your days and try to stay the course in this crazy economy. My wishes for bosses on this boss’s day and actually – every day are as follows…<< MORE >>

The weather channel had a severe weather alert for Phoenix this past weekend that read something like this: A cold front will bring cool breezes with rain possible in the higher elevations. For us desert dwellers that means the end of triple digit temperatures and the beginning of 8 or so months of pure heaven. If you live in the metro area and you didn’t spend at least 60% of your weekend outdoors, then to quote Steven Colbert “A Wag of the finger at you!” I kicked off my Sunday with a much needed hike in the McDowellSonoran Preserve. I was looking to trick myself into a good cardio workout by disguising it as a commune with nature. What I ended up with instead was a lesson in on-the-job training and a reminder for all of us in charge of work place learning: Very often the most effective learning takes place in the field. << MORE >>

I don’t typically discuss politics with my family. It’s not that I don’t enjoy healthy disagreements; it’s just that a few years back when every political discussion inevitably led to the latest Rush Limbaugh view being quoted as both factual and reasonable that I decided to walk away. I mean really, if you are going to have an opinion, at least have it be your own. Then we’ll talk. So I’ve learned to stick to lighter subjects. “What do you think of the Pope?” comes to mind. But when my niece posted the video “Burning Down the House: What Caused Our Economic Crises?” to her Facebook page last night, I decided it might be time to bring a healthy discussion back to the table. I realized that by not speaking up about some fundamental truths, I was actually contributing to the problem. By not sharing our history, we could lose the benefit of hindsight and wind up making the same mistakes again. << MORE >>

Like many of you, I’ve been watching the convention coverage over the past few weeks. Yes, I am 100% interested in getting a first-hand impression of the candidates and their takes on the (numerous, critical, future-impacting) issues. But for me it is also about my ongoing love affair with language and words and how when strung together like notes in a song, words can move listeners from passive observers to engaged allies. It is fun to see an audience be seamlessly transported from an overwhelming sense of pride, to one of hope, and then perhaps on to courage or some other equally powerful feeling. I usually react with a bit of envy thinking “Ugh! Why can’t I do that?” But during this election coverage I had a different (much healthier, thank you very much) thought. This time I thought “Why don’t we take some pointers from these speech writers and talk to each other like this more often? If words can create such positive emotions, why not just make it a best practice to use our acceptance speeches on each other every day?” << MORE >>