Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Dan Oswald, CEO of Simplify Compliance, writes about management, leadership, and the workplace. Occasional guest articles are written by other leaders and C-Suite executives from BLR.
by Dan Oswald Yesterday I happened down a road I drive on occasionally. I typically take the road northbound as a shortcut to a particular destination. But yesterday I found myself driving south on the same road and barely recognized it. In fact, I had to turn to my wife and ask if we were […]
by Dan Oswald Against my better judgment, I’m going to address the tragic death of Michael Brown. Any time an 18-year-old boy dies, regardless of the circumstances, it’s a tragedy. And yes, I believe he was just a boy despite legally having reached adulthood. I have a son who is just months away from his […]
by Dan Oswald With the recent tragic death of comedian and actor Robin Williams, my family and I decided to watch one of his many great films over the weekend, Dead Poets Society. The movie is about a group of boys at a private prep school. It’s there that they meet Professor Keating, their new […]
by Dan Oswald You don’t spend nearly enough time simply thinking. Before you take offense to that statement, consider how much time you spend talking, responding to e-mail, even reading—my guess is that you spend more time doing any one of them than you do thinking. Why do so many people claim they have had […]
by Dan Oswald Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world. —Joel A. Barker Do you have a vision? Does your team, department, or company understand what you’re trying to achieve? Businessdictionary.com defines a vision statement like this: “An aspirational description of […]
by Dan Oswald Among my favorite movies is the 1991 film City Slickers. Billy Crystal plays radio ad salesman Mitch Robbins, who is having a bit of a midlife crisis. Mitch and his two best friends decide to leave New York City to spend two weeks on a cattle drive in the Southwest. It’s there […]
by Dan Oswald A colleague shared with me an article published recently in the New York Times Sunday Review. In addition to the fact that the article had been recommended, its title, “The Secret of Effective Motivation,” was certainly enough to get me to read it. Who in management doesn’t want to know the “secret” […]
by Dan Oswald Let me see if something strikes a chord with you as it did with me. As a manager, you’re asked to be a wise steward of the resources given to you. That means not only generating an appropriate amount of revenue and profit with the resources you manage today but also investing […]
by Dan Oswald In my last post, I wrote about an article that appeared in the June issue of Harvard Business Review (“The Big Idea: 21st-Century Talent Spotting”). The subject of the article was hiring for potential. Of course, to do so, one must know how to determine a person’s potential. The article’s author, Claudio […]
by Dan Oswald The cover article in the June issue of Harvard Business Review is titled “The Big Idea: 21st-Century Talent Spotting.” Since all of us as managers are constantly on the lookout for talent, the title of course grabbed my attention. The author, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior adviser at a global executive firm, boldly […]