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 My youngest son came home from school the other day with a packet of information from one of his coaches. Included in the packet was a sheet of paper titled “The Leadership Continuum.” It outlines five levels of leadership and what is necessary to demonstrate each. I hadn’t seen this before, but […]
by Dan Oswald Over the weekend, I was watching a piece on legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The documentary chronicled Lombardi’s life growing up in Brooklyn through his storied years as a championship coach with the Packers. As a Packers fan, I’ve read biographies on Lombardi and other books that have discussed the […]
by Dan Oswald If you, like me, were one of the tens of millions of people who watched the Academy Awards Sunday night, you saw a celebration of excellence in a profession. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in 1927. And, according to its website, “one of the first Academy committees […]
by Dan Oswald A man is in a restroom standing in front of a urinal when he finds himself with a dilemma. He has somehow dropped a $5 bill into the urinal. As he is contemplating what he should do about his five bucks, another man enters the restroom. The second man quickly sees the […]
by Dan Oswald When I flipped on the television yesterday to check out the Olympics, I found myself watching the men’s Super-G Alpine skiing. By the time I had tuned in, the celebrated American skier Bode Miller was safely at the bottom of the slope and sitting in first place. This is believed to be […]
by Dan Oswald While watching the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics, I was struck by the many similarities between a country’s Olympic team and a company’s employees. It might seem odd to draw that particular comparison, but let me explain and see if you also notice the correlation between the two. At the […]
by Dan Oswald The other day my 19-year-old daughter told me, “It takes teamwork to make the dream work.” I’m sure she didn’t come up with that on her own, but it was new to me. Teamwork is defined as a “cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together […]
by Dan Oswald Today we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Inarguably, he accomplished much during his lifetime, and there certainly are lessons we can learn from his approach to life and leadership. King was a man who developed a followership that numbered in the hundreds of thousands—if not millions—made up of […]
by Dan Oswald If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve undoubtedly heard about what is now being called “Bridgegate.” (I, for one, am tired of “gate” getting added to every controversy and scandal, but I’ll leave that rant for another day.) It seems that one of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s top aides, […]
by Dan Oswald As we kick off 2014, it’s my hope for you that you have the courage of your convictions both in your personal life and at work. I hope you will speak and act according to your beliefs, even in the face of disagreement or criticism. We live in a world where being […]