Employment Learning Innovations & Workplace Culture Blog

Make it Right BEFORE Disaster Strikes

Stephen M. Paskoff August 6, 2010 No Comments

I’ve been watching BP’s television commercials flooding the airways. They provide an impressive narrative on the wide range of actions and the commitment the company is making to clean up the Deep Horizon oil spill disaster. As I saw my third or fourth ad today while exercising, I wondered how much BP was spending to spread the word about its response as part of its “We will

Understanding the Triggers of Workplace Violence

Stephen M. Paskoff August 4, 2010 No Comments

Take a harsh economy, add an unstable personality, mix in daily personal and workplace pressures and toss in a triggering event – small but repeated offenses or cruel indignities. Sometimes the perfect storm will lead to unfathomable tragedy. We don’t know what trigger caused Omar S. Thornton, 34, to open fire and kill nine of his co-workers in Manchester, Conn. We know from news reports that he

Lessons in USDA Controversy: Rush to Judgment Rarely Ends Well

Stephen M. Paskoff July 21, 2010 No Comments

Remember last year’s furor involving the Cambridge police arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and the subsequent beerfest hosted by President Obama at the White House for Mr. Gates and the police sergeant? In many ways, we’re seeing a replay of that situation in the current controversy over the remarks made by Georgia USDA official Shirley Sherrod. If you’re not familiar with the story,

The Terror of the Red Light: Shut Off that Blinking BlackBerry

Stephen M. Paskoff July 19, 2010 No Comments

I saw the red light go off – it blinked rapidly, insistently. The vibration began a few seconds later. I looked down: “You need to call the office immediately. We have to talk.” I called in. You have to make a decision – now. I didn’t have time to think. But I made the decision and made a big mistake. It cost me $10,000. After

928,000 Emails Down, 72,000 to Go: Avoiding the Email Trap

Stephen M. Paskoff July 12, 2010 No Comments

Some time ago, I had lunch with a colleague, a compliance officer for a widely known and respected organization who told me he’d spent several months reading almost one million emails as part of discovery in an employment case. Now he had only about 72,000 more emails to go. During the discovery process, he reviewed executive correspondence, middle-manager emails, and exchanges between entry-level personnel. He

Work Should Be Like Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival

Stephen M. Paskoff July 6, 2010 No Comments

A week ago, I listened to the best guitar music on Earth with my good friend and colleague, Ray Amelio, and 80,000 other fans at Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads Guitar Festival” in Chicago. For 12 hours, the hot Chicago sun blistered us, despite lots of suntan lotion, as we listened to performances by ZZ Top, Robert Randolph, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, BB King, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and Jonny Lang, to name just

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Make it Right BEFORE Disaster Strikes

Understanding the Triggers of Workplace Violence

Lessons in USDA Controversy: Rush to Judgment Rarely Ends Well

The Terror of the Red Light: Shut Off that Blinking BlackBerry

928,000 Emails Down, 72,000 to Go: Avoiding the Email Trap

Work Should Be Like Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival