January 16, 2015 (Reston, Virginia) – With temperatures dropping to the low teens this winter, the Hunter Mill Coat Closet has too many empty hangers. The Winter Coat Closet, sponsored by Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and Cornerstones, distributed approximately 5,000 donated warm coats last winter season to children and families in need. Ranked as the third wealthiest county in the United States, it’s surprising to learn that there are 1,700 children, women and men that face homelessness in Fairfax.[1] Add that to the 64,600 living in poverty in Fairfax County,[2] and the number of coats donated doesn’t seem to be nearly enough.

If you are familiar with Helios, you know that we are infamous for the color orange. Naturally, Halloween is one our favorite holidays to celebrate. Not only because our CEO loves practical jokes and “releasing her energy” around the office by hiding under desks, behind doors, or any other unexpected places she finds fitting to shout “BOO!” to a casual passerby (not that I’ve ever been a victim), but because it allows us to engage our employees. Utilizing opportunities like the holidays to further engage your team can really make a BIG difference with their experience of your corporate culture.

Apollo Honoree, Salient Federal Solutions, shares the challenges of merging two cultures and what they do to help employees engage and embrace the change. Read more about how Salient brings cultures together in this interview with their Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resource Officer, Kay Curling, below.

At Helios, we often talk about 'building a culture of intention'. We coach our clients on being more intentional, we honor and award organizations who do (i.e. The Helios Apollo Awards), and we even wrote a book compiled of interviews we had with local leaders on how they build these 'cultures of intention'. We were delighted to read a blog post by our friends at Inspirion today that shed light on giving feedback intentionally. Here's CEO Misti Burmeister's advice: “If your intention in giving someone feedback is to judge or criticize, you’ll fail to inspire a shift in their behavior.” — Misti Burmeister

Alvin Bowles, CEO of Grab Media has a track record of leading teams to develop innovative strategies and deliver exceptional results. With prior senior level positions at leading media brands BET, Time Warner, AOL Networks and Sony Music, Alvin shares his secrets on how he does it below.