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Miners used to carry a caged canary into new coal mines. As long as the canary kept singing, miners knew their air supply was safe. A dead canary signaled the need for an immediate evacuation.

The last canary disappeared from English coal mines in the late 1980s. Since then, miners have relied on inspections, instrumentation, regulation, administrative processes, complaint investigations, and their gut instincts to safeguard their lives.

Unlike human whistleblowers who often are ignored, called troublemakers, demoted, ostracized or fired, canaries send a clear and unmistakable signal of danger. With the recent tragedies at the Massey coal mine in West Virginia and the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, it may be time to bring back the canaries or listen to employees or others whose voices deliver the same message, as I suggest in this brief  video.

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.

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.

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

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.

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