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?

We have all seen those straight out of the movies scenarios on the news when tragedy strikes at work. An active shooter comes in and wreaks havoc on anyone and everyone. The haunting images of people running for their lives or the aftermath usually stick with me for days after. These events generally leave you with the feeling of sadness and also thoughts about what if it happened at your workplace. How likely are you to be exposed to this situation?

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).

Organizational leaders that I’ve worked with have always had an innate understanding of some of the basic rights of their employees. What I’ve found to be less well understood, even among some in the HR field, are additional rights that employees have which are less intuitive. A number of these un-intuitive rights are derived from the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA).