Managing the Hybrid Office   Today’s office environment, in many ways, is hardly recognizable from that of just a few years ago. Although many have been talking about the “new normal,” no one yet knows what that will look like.   Supervisors are perplexed as to how to manage when some of their employees may be in the office, at least part-time, while others are working remotely. This turns the role of manager into something that they don’t recognize, nor have any experience with.   Traditionally, most employees aspired to become managers, seeking more money, more responsibility, a nice office, and the perks that go along...

Rise of the Pocket Office     There has been a lot written lately about the need for employees to return to working in the office. There are many reports of companies that have insisted that employees return. There are other reports about companies that are embracing the "pocket office,” and still others that are adopting a hybrid approach; some work from home mixed with time required in the office.     In 2007, there were, globally, 122 million smart phones circulating. By 2021, this had risen to 1,536 million. With the power of the smart phone, it's possible to almost literally have an office in...

Is Your Company the Next Hudson Hornet?   “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”.   We have all seen this warning on our car’s side-view mirror. Unfortunately, we don’t always take it as seriously as we should, which can have some rather nasty consequences.   Bringing this analogy to our businesses can be a healthy exercise. But before we go there, let’s examine the history of the Hudson Motor Company which, for several decades, was one of the leader automobile manufacturers in North America. Hudson was an American car company that was founded in 1909 by Joseph Hudson, a Detroit department store entrepreneur. They...

Are Unions Rising From The Ashes?   For the current generation of workers, the idea of a union is a foreign concept. Something that their grandparents may have been involved with. An archaism from a simpler time, or something once needed to protect workers from an all-powerful company.    Ronni Sandroff, writing in Investopedia, explains "Winning gains for all workers and citizens—such as a shorter workday and a minimum wage—has been a key part of union activity. In 1866, the National Labor Union was created with the goal of limiting the workday for federal employees to eight hours.7  However, the private sector was much harder for unions to...

Monetize Your Knowledge     Greek philosophers coined the phrase “knowledge for knowledge’s sake.” Aristotle stated, “wisdom at no end but itself… is one of the excellent natures of human action,” while St. Augustine wrote that the specific role of wisdom is “loved for its own sake.”   In our businesses, knowledge is critical to our success. Knowledge is our product, whether directly or indirectly. Basically, if we don’t know what we’re doing, we won’t be in business very long.   In the business world, for better or worse, we treat knowledge as transactional. Essentially, we ask ourselves, what do I know that I can monetize, or...