We all accept that good leadership requires a balanced, equilateral approach to our team members. Of course, we should never have a favorite employee; HOWEVER as human leaders, every one of us has had that one superstar team member that we rely on greatly and yes, even like a whole lot. It is not hard to prefer “Sally” as the employee who happily volunteers to fill in and rarely demonstrates even the slightest bit of stress. So while we would never have favorites, it is difficult to not favor Sally when her counterpart, Jimmy, is hiding the fact that Facebook is now his home page on the company laptop and that his longer and longer breaks are due to him hunting Pokemon in the back parking lot.

As a suit and tie wearing professional, you would not think it to look at me, but the reality is that I adore all things creepy, dark, and scary, in literature and film. Few things thrill me more than discovering a new frightening tale from around the globe and watching it in utter darkness. I believe that if you were ever to find yourself in a horror film, I am the guy you would want in your corner. What I lack in overall brawn and physique (and that is a lot), I more than make up for with the finely tuned skill to recognize the hidden clues leading to success in evading impending doom.

Human Resources experts see obvious value in creating organizational cultures that attract and retain exceptional people, yet we find it’s not always easy to convince other business leaders to focus on culture. In fact, lots of times, when we talk about spending time or resources on improving culture, leaders instantly think “culture” equals “fluff”: activities that ultimately make people feel good but don’t positively impact the bottom line or mission, and therefore, it’s not worth the investment. But, what happens if we don’t take the time to invest in culture?

One of the hottest topics right now I'm seeing with many of my clients is how to manage multi-generations in the workplace. It is the first time the workplace has seen so many generational "forces" all at once. Today's workforce includes Pre-Boomers (Born 1925-1945), also known as The Silent Generation and Traditionalists, Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964), Generation X (Born 1965-1976), Generation Y, also known as Millennials (Born 1977-1994), and Generation Z (Born 1995 and later).

Regardless of the nature of the transaction, during a merger or acquisition, all employees find themselves surrounded by change, impacting everything from organizational culture to the snacks in the kitchen. From here it is an exercise in simple logic - with change, comes uncertainly - with uncertainty, comes attrition. Is there no way to interrupt this equation?

Globally, the workforce is getting older while also getting younger, creating the perfect conditions for leadership challenges. And that means, no matter where an employee works around the globe today, they probably work for an organization struggling to retain its talent. According to Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends 2016 report, 28% of companies reported weak or very weak leadership pipelines, only 7% believe they are “excellent” at building Millennial leaders and only 13% report they are “excellent” at building global leaders. From the workforce perspective, 63% of Millennials say their leadership skills are not being developed, and in the next year, 66% of employees from this same generation expect to leave their jobs.