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• The pharmaceutical firm that keeps selling a profitable medication though its researchers know it has significantly adverse side effects
• The hospital that tolerates physicians’ abusive behavior though aware of the distraction their conduct causes during day-to-day practice
• The automobile manufacturer that conceals a discovered defect that could cause fatalities rather than absorb the costs of expensive product recalls

Organizational disasters have resulted recently from each of these fact patterns. I know I’m not alone in noticing how the same kinds of action keep causing avoidable catastrophes.

“We’ve completed the investigation, and the matter has been resolved.”
“Did you verify what I told you? Has he/she been disciplined? Will this stop? What happens next?”
“All I can tell you is that this has been resolved; if you have further issues, please let us know. We are required to keep our findings and actions confidential. I’m sure you understand.”

Checklists save lives. That’s the key theme of Brigham and Women’s physician Atul Gawande’s insightful new book, The Checklist Manifesto.

“We’ve always worked through lunch.”
“I do all my admin stuff before the shift starts so I can focus on my real job.”
“I’ll do the training on my own time. I’m more productive that way.”

What’s striking in the daily employment law bulletins I read is that the biggest cases involve the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), until recently a long-slumbering phoenix.

Quick – name the largest employment discrimination settlements of 2009. Any of the top 10 will do.

The EEOC recently announced that retaliation charges topped the number of claims filed in fiscal year 2009.

Tiger Woods is in sex rehab, Jay Leno is returning to Tonight, Curt Schilling loves the Yankees, and Johnson and Johnson is charged with kickbacks and failure to address product safety issues.

Gilbert Arenas is a great basketball player. Not only does he have super skills and talent, but let’s not underestimate his smarts as he’s mastered a game with rules as complex as the Uniform Commercial Code.

As we enter into a new year, it is now time for resolutions and plans for 2010. Here's what I see as Ten Trends for '10, specifically as they apply to Civil Treatment^® topics...

My friend will lose his job soon – like too many others already have in this cruel, exhausting recession.

Safe cigarettes and risk-free investments are laughable verbal constructs used to lure the hapless, foolhardy, and unwary into buying hazardous products and parting with precious dollars at the cost of healthy caution.

Tiger Woods has been the premier sports brand for the past several years. We’ve wanted our businesses to perform like he plays golf, our kids to behave the way he acts, and our commitment and intensity to approach his impossible standards.

The New York Post made its own headlines last week, after being sued by a former employee for a range of blatant, outrageous acts of sex- and race-based discrimination and retaliation.

“We need your help – a doctor abused our patients. He’s gone, but this can’t happen again, ever.”

I’ve wondered when it would happen – for years there have been stories of athletes, proxies for other celebrities, who say and do what they want while their behavior is ignored, minimized, or attributed to “locker room” humor or conduct.

Steve Paskoff announces the three (3) Wii winners.

Steve Paskoff talks with a recently certified instructor about ELI’s programs and learning methodologies.

David Letterman is lucky. Some may question how that can be when his private affairs, literally, are now so public. And some may say, if he can do it and keep his job, so can I.

Last week’s White House meeting with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Sergeant James Crowley, President Barack Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden must have been the most publicized happy hour of the last 50 years (assuming, that is, that happy hours have been around that long).

View Stephen Paskoff's Video Blog about the changes to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

I wish the whole world lived by the Prescriptive Rules^®. Have you ever been out with friends and had the deep desire to ask them to Guard their Words and Actions or to Get Help?

I just returned from a fantastic bike trip in France with my daughter, Rebecca, and my first cousin Craig, her godfather. We biked along the coast of Normandy and saw where our courageous soldiers stormed the treacherous beachheads to begin the D-Day invasion.

No matter what budget cutbacks or resource constraint we are faced with, one simple fact remains clear: It costs nothing for leaders to lead.

I recently facilitated a session for senior leaders of a public utility. In all ways, they were confident that they successfully lived by their values, with one exception: accountability.

Steve discusses the top HR challenge(s) organizations are facing.

View the latest Video Blog. Steve announces the iTouch winner of the ELI contest!

I had the recent opportunity to participate as a panelist at the Women in Cable Television (WICT) Event held in Seattle. Grace Killelea, Senior Vice President at Comcast, offered a keynote on The Four Cornerstones of Staying Essential.

ELI^® President Steve Paskoff announces the winner of the ELI contest.

Watch Steve's latest video blog on the Employee Free Choice Act.

ELI^® President Steve Paskoff welcomes viewers to his first video blog and announces the details of an ELI contest.

I was a discouraged defense trial attorney. During case after case, I was brought in to resolve a situation at a point where the facts had been established for as much as three years or more.

I’m a then and now member of the ELI^® team.

In late October, I had the privilege of speaking to 300 leaders employed by the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in Nova Scotia.

Recently, I completed my first power-lifting competition.

This past May, I traveled with an ELI team to Glasgow, Scotland, to conduct a pilot session for a new client with offices in the U.S., Asia, and Europe.

A few months ago, I was in Belgium helping a U.S.-based client with a global mission...

I vividly recall a conversation I had in 2002 about a training company called ELI.

Actions may speak louder than words, but few things speak louder than words that are documented.

This fall we’ll introduce an updated version of Civil Treatment® for Managers and Civil Treatment® for Employees.

I remember times in my past life in human resources when I was juggling 23 (count them!) things at once and felt that no one could help with any of them.

The 2008 SHRM conference held in the windy city of Chicago was a glowing success.

I just watched Michael Phelps win his eighth Olympic Gold Medal.

A heat wave rolled through the South, and Atlanta has been swelteringly hot.

I've been hearing a lot lately about “The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work.”

Recognizing that unprofessional, disruptive workplace behavior can adversely affect patient care and safety, JCAHO (the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) announced new accreditation standards this month for healthcare organizations and their leadership.

Can business culture learn a lesson from the high-priced gasoline culture?

The blatant cases of harassment and discrimination are gone, people keep telling us.

A few months ago, I was speaking to a client who told me there had been incidents of bad practices and ethical issues arising in her workplace.

Last Friday I dead-lifted 260 pounds. In other words, I picked up a 45-pound bar with 107.5 pounds attached to each end and stood it straight up. It was heavy. It was also one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done in my life.

I have had several back-to-back trips this past month, flying from one city to another.

We piloted a Professional Global Management^® session in Brussels, Belgium last week, and I could not have asked for better results.

Beyond the political significance of Barack Obama’s epic speech this week, whatever its effect  on this year’s election, I hope and believe his remarks will kindle continued, thoughtful discussions about what race and color mean in our daily lives.

I’ve thought a lot about leadership over the past few years – it’s what every firm says it needs to build better, more efficient, inclusive ethical and lawful workplaces. Go to any bookstore and the shelves will be lined with first-person or biographical accounts of epic leaders –Washington, Lincoln, King, Patton, Schwarzkopf, Welch, Jobs, Gates. Those leaders are few and far between, and most of us read about them hoping to find nuggets of wisdom we can apply.

Our training sessions with Memphis, our German Shepherd pup, have continued.

We’re updating our Civil Treatment^® programs now, a complex, creative, and exciting process.

On Sunday, my wife and I attended a rally protesting the genocide in Darfur. 400,000 people have been killed, 2.5 million are homeless, there is untold violence, and the genocide continues.

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday -- he would have been 79 -- and as the upcoming holiday celebrating the man and his achievements approaches, I'm reminded of something he once said that is a driving force behind what we're all hoping to accomplish in the workplace:

In the midst of this exciting primary season, I’ll stay non-partisan but make this observation: Candidates in both parties are revising their messages in light of what the voters are saying is important.

Memphis Rae, our newest family member, is an 8-month-old German Shepherd puppy who we found through the Georgia Shepherd Rescue. She’s a great looking dog, very bright and mostly friendly, and gets along with our whole family, including Monroe, a gentle, regal Shepherd also from Georgia Rescue, who is about 2 1/2.

The Falcons are 3-11 having just lost to Tampa Bay. They may well lose the rest of their games -- an awful season. But the wins and losses are not what will be remembered.

I just got back from a long roadtrip from Atlanta to Boston to New York to Atlanta. Like just about everyone else I saw, I carried my version of the necessary road warrior package – a laptop, Blackberry/cell phone, ipod, and camera, plus separate chargers for each.

We just completed a major renovation to our office space, and I’m happy to say my new office is clean and it will stay that way.

Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye to old friends – or, in this case, old characters who feel like old friends.

When it comes to fashion, it seems everyone has an opinion, and our course vignettes are no different.

The New York Times Test is mentioned often in the context of corporate misbehavior.

With millions watching a game that will make football history, the Super Bowl is a high-stakes event – the very definition of stress, tension, and intensity.

On a recent morning, our company visited the Martin Luther King Center and toured the MLK birthplace here in Atlanta.

We’ve been hearing stories of bloggers who’ve lost their jobs for writing entries that their employers decided were inappropriate.

So many conversations go nowhere because they’re monologues and the wrong person is talking.